OCZ 2x1GB DDR3 PC3-12800 Platinum EB Review

Benchmark Methodology:

Now that we are fully aware of what this memory is capable of running, we can find out what the performance is like in a few benchmarks at the frequencies we just saw in Stability Testing. As an added bonus, we have decided to throw in results from a DDR2 platform with some high clocked OCZ Reaper PC2-9200 memory. Here is a quick summary of the hardware used on the DDR2 platform:

• Motherboard: Asus P5B-Deluxe Wifi-AP
• Processor: Intel C2D E6850
• Processor Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120 w/AD1212MS-A73GL 2050RPM/80.5CFM
• Memory: OCZ Reaper HPC 2x1024MB PC2-9200
• Power Supply: Silverstone Zeus ST56ZF
• Video Card: Biostar 8600GTS 512MB
• Additional Fans:
  120mm AD1212MS-A73GL 2050RPM/80.5CFM
  120mm Vantec Stealth SF12025L 1500RPM/50CFM
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 7200.9 80GB SATAII 8MB cache
• OS: Windows XP SP2 (with recent updates)

This above setup will be shown as the transparent blue bar (2) in all of the benchmark graphs.

The grey bar in the graphs (1) indicates the 'stock' timings of the OCZ Platinum EB PC3-12800 memory. The timings had to be set manually in the BIOS and the FSB had to be raised to 400MHz in order to run the rated frequency of DDR3-1600, but the secondary timings were all left on AUTO for these results. We lowered the multiplier to 8X for this setup as well as the DDR2 setup in order to provide results that should be attainable by most C2D based systems. Obviously not everyone will be running at 3.2GHz and some may be running higher, but we figured 3.2GHz was a nice average frequency to run the CPU at.

The last three red results in the graphs (3 / 4 / 5) are of the overclocked settings that we found to be stable previously. Unfortunately there is no way to change the memory frequency without adjusting FSB and CPU frequency so the results aren't really comparable to each other, but we can use them to see what type of performance is going to be had at the various combinations of CPU/RAM frequencies and timings.

The testing methodology for the results we are about to see is as follows:
a/ Windows is installed using a full format.
b/ Intel Chipset drivers and accessory hardware drivers (audio, network, GPU) are installed followed by a defragment and a reboot.
c/ Programs and games are then installed followed by another defragment.
d/ Windows updates are then completed installing all available updates including .NET Framework followed by a defragment.
e/ Benchmarks are each ran three times after a clean reboot for every iteration of the benchmark, the results are then averaged.

For all results, all settings are set in the BIOS and no adjustments are made in Windows. The same theme, and other system options are identical between the two systems as well as between the overclocked results with the OCZ Platinum EB PC3-12800 kit. The benchmark versions are all listed in the graphs and were the most up to date versions at the time of testing.

The only other settings to note are the Performance Level and Chipset Strap. For all benchmarks, Performance Level was manipulated to be a constant 7 and Chipset Strap remained at 266. The Performance Level setting is for the chipset latencies of the motherboard. A lower Performance Level setting equates to greater performance and conversely, a higher Performance Level value provides lower performance. This setting can greatly influence the results of certain benchmarks and a constant PL was determined to be the best way to go.

We have tried to outline the testing method as best we can here but if there are any further questions about settings or the OS setup, please do not hesitate to ask in the discussion thread which is linked to at the bottom of the review. So without further delay, let's see how the benchmark witnesses will influence this case.