Test system
- Pentium 4 LGA775 3.0GHz 2MB cache with HT
- Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
- XFX GeForce 7800 GT PCIe
- 2x Seagate Barracuda 200GB SATA HDDs
- 16x DVD drive
Overall performance is very good across the board. We first tested how the memory performs at the default timings. The memory would easily reach DDR2-720 speeds when the timings were relaxed to 4-5-4-12. There is a lot of overclocking headroom, so there is no reason to run the ram asynchronously. You should be able to run a 1:1 CPU:FSB ratio with this ram, so your system can overclock as high as your CPU will allow.
The PC2-4200 Gold GX does not gain any overclocking performance when the voltage is increased, so save your time. This is probably due to the elctronic overvolt circuitry on the module. Generally overvolt circuits act as a filter, and output only the correct voltage to the chips, which has the added benefit of reduced electronic noise and is less succeptible to electricity fluctuations. You can throw up the voltage to your motherboard’s maximum but the EVP circuit will filter out any excess. In short, this memory does not respond to additional voltage – all you will do is make the EVP circuit hotter.
We set the maximum voltage of 2.9 and could not achieve any higher overclock. Going from DDR2-533 to DDR2-720 without any voltage increase is extremely impressive. You can also tighten the timings with little stability loss. 3-3-2-4 tight timings are close to the limits of many chipsets, and there is still enough headroom for some overclocking.
