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Test Setup

For this review, we again chose the best performing Intel 975X motherboard we had in house, our excellent Asus P5W DH, and paired it with an Intel Quad Core QX6700!  We will be comparing the G.SKILL PC6400's with some of the best modules out there - like the OCZ FLEX XLC and the power house Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 which we reviewed last month. Needless to say, this should prove extremely interesting, interesting indeed.

Benchmarks

Software used during testing consisted of the following:

• Windows XP Professional
• NVIDIA ForceWare 93.71 graphics drivers 
• RightMark Memory Analyzer
• SiSoft Sandra 2007
• WinRAR
• Doom 3

In order to keep the testing as fair as possible, we will use the following test platform:

• Intel Core 2 Quad QX6700 (Kentsfield) 2.66GHZ 1066MHZ FSB 8MB L2
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (Conroe) 2.13GHZ 1066MHZ FSB 2MB L2
• Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard
• Asus P5B-E Deluxe motherboard
• Asus P5N32-E SLI motherboard (review soon to be published)
• Corsair XMS2 "Dominator" PC2-8888 memory
• Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2-8000 memory
• Corsair PC2-8500 memory
• SuperTalent PC2-8000 memory
• SuperTalent low latency PC-6400 2GB memory 
• OCZ PC2-9200 memory
• G.Skill PC2-6400 4-4-3-5 memory (the memory being reviewed today)
• XFX GeForce 7800 GT video card

As normal, we'll discuss our overclocking adventures at the end of the article. However, for the results you'll see in the following pages we include overclocked benchmarks to show you what gains you could expect if you also achieved similar overclocks - our test sytems were all stable at the settings shown with air cooling, thanks to ourNoctua NH-U 12 CPU cooler. The chart labels incorporate a lot of information about the test configuration. The first line shows the socket type and the model of the processor. Since all the processors shown are dual/quad core devices, we did not specify that on the charts, but simply the processor type for reader reference.

The second line shows the "FSB/HT clock rate" x "CPU multiplier" and the effective DDR memory speed. Please note that all DDR2 tests were run at 4-4-4-12 timings where possible.

One change from our usual testing strategy that needs to be highlighted out is that the Asus P5B-E results for the OCZ PC2-9200 were obtained with an Intel E6400 processor as that was the chip installed in that particular board at that particular time. The two core vs. four core issue is moot as the memory benchmarks are not multi-threaded (Doom might slightly benefit from the additional cores) and while the 4MB vs. 2MB cache size differences will cause some performance differences, they will be relatively minor for the purposes of this review.

Methodology

As usual, I will be concentrating on seeing how far I can push the G.SKILL PC6400 memory compared to these other  DIMM's - how fast can they go with a 4-4-4-12 timing?

Given that the 975X is currently one of the best chipsets available (especially for memory), it is not surprising that we were able to obtain excellent results. What you may find surprising is just how much "headroom" these dimm's have for being pushed beyond specifications...

Ok, enough talking... let's get on with the testing!