Corsair TWINX1024-4400 Memory Review - Conclusion
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One of the most surprising things I noticed while doing this review was how little the extra bandwidth was gained by using the 1:1 ratio as opposed to the 5:4 ratio. The gains were there, but not like they were on the older 845 chipset. It makes me wonder if Intel engineers realized what they were doing by picking a front side bus of 200 MHz. Is the Pentium IV starting to end of performance gains directly related to bandwidth? This is akin to the way AMD’s Athlon XP processor, with dual channel memory, and the Intel Pentium III processor with DDR, both of which were only able to realize modest gains in real world performance. I'd really like to get a hold of an unlocked Pentium IV to put this theory to the test.
It seems like I say this every time I do a RAM review, but to date, the Corsair PC4400 is honestly the fastest RAM I have used. I only wish I had a motherboard that had the ability to run it more aggressively and to maybe even up the voltage a little to see how the RAM could really perform. It is quite intriguing that Corsair has come up with memory that most systems won't be able to fully be able to utilize.
One benefit of buying really fast RAM in the past was that you could use some really aggressive memory timings if you were running the RAM below its rated speed. However, the Corsair PC4400 seems to break that trend; I could not get this memory to post at CAS 2 even at PC3200 speeds.
Highs
Fastest rated RAM on the market today
Only requires 2.75V to run properly, no voltage mod needed
Absolutely great company, outstanding customer service, and a lifetime warranty they honor
Lows
I can't finish a memory review without mentioning one thing; if you are in the market for memory right now do yourself a favor a pick up 1 GB of memory. While there is little to no difference between frames per second or CPU speed over 512 MB, it makes your system much nicer to use. And no, you don't have to be a video or image editor to realize the difference. For a simple test, start up a game like Battlefield 1942 or Unreal Tournament 2003.Once it is running, minimize the game window and open Internet Explorer and see how long it takes with 512 MB. Frequently, even exiting/closing a game and immediately starting another application seems painful with 512 MB. Using 1 GB these actions are nearly instantaneous.
Thank you for joining us today for this review. I would like to give special thanks to Anna, from Corsair, for giving us the opportunity to review the Corsair PC4400 memory. If you have any questions, gripes, or concerns, feel free to contact me in the Dev Hardware forums or email me at Memphist0@devhardware.com.
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