Corsair is well known for its great performing XMS series DDR ram.
Memory modules are available all the way up to PC4000 XMS for the hardcore enthusiast,
but what about the budget conscious overclocker that wants the best bang for their buck?
Corsairs PC2700 has been rumored to be a good performer and claims of hitting a 200 mhz bus from the 333 MHZ ram run rampant on the net.
So today we will be testing out the claims for ourselves with a stick of 512 meg PC2700 XMS.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Part Number: CMX512-2700C2
Speed: 333 MHz
Size: 512 MB
Organization: 64M x 64
Package: 184 DIMM
CAS Latency: 2-3-3-6-T1
Memory Type: DDR
RAM Type: 32M x 8
Test System
AMD XP 2600+ 333 MHz (AIUHB)
Asus A7N8X Deluxe rev 2.0
Corsair PC2700 XMS 512 MEGS
Thermalright SLK-800
Vantec Tornado Fan with speed controller set for 46 CFM
Maxtor Diamond 9 30 gig harddrive.
Memory timings where set to optimal and DDR Voltage was left at 1.6. AGP bus was locked at 66MHZ.
The first attempt i made was to run the front side bus at 186 MHZ x 12.5. A boost to the CPU's Vcore up to 1.725 was needed but the system ran stable.
A FSB of 188 was easily attainable, and so i moved up to 192 x 12.5. An increase of the VCore 1.825 was needed but it ran stable also. After checking asus' probe a monitoring program included with the motherboard which shows various stats such as voltage, i noticed the Vcore was actually 1.85 not 1.825 like i had in the bios. That number seemed a bit high but i did manage to try a 200 FSB at 12.5 and was able to run stable but the Vcore voltage that high had me worried.
As a compromise i reduced the CPU multiplier to 11.5 ( 12 was still too high in my opinion) and set to a 200 FSB.
The Vcore was set to 1.725 and was very stable.
One more last effort i tried going beyond 200 FSB and finally hit a barrier at 202 FSB. Anything higher would result in application crashes.
So in conclusion i have to say that i was extremely impressed with Corsairs PC2700 XMS ram. The ability to run at 404 MHZ bus with 333MHZ memory is quite amazing.
Pros:
-Heat spreader included
-Great over clocking
-Reasonably priced
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