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Posted by
Toby Crundwell
on November 08, 2001
Manufacturers: Crucial
Technology / Crucial
UK & OCZ
Tech
Search
for Memory
prices here.
The
new naming system for SDRAM is no longer based on the number
of clock cycles, indeed if this was the case I would be
reviewing PC133/PC150 memory. Contrary to apparently popular
belief, DDR RAM is no different in design to SDR SDRAM. The
differences being data is transferred on both the rising and
falling sides of the clock cycle, a different sized DIMM
slot is used, and the chipset needs to support DDR. This
does not mean you can put 184 pin DDR modules into 168 pin
SDR DIMM slots or vice versa though.
The
new naming system is based on an apparently more accurate
statistic: the bandwidth. The bandwidth is found by
multiplying the effective frequency (which in the case of
DDR is twice the number of clock cycles) by the width of the
memory (in the case of SDRAM this is 64 bit) and dividing
the result by the number of bits per byte, which is always
8. You can use this technique to work out the speed of other
memory, but beware RDRAM has eight bit registers rather than
the 64 bit width on SDRAM.
Well,
isn’t the highest number going to lead to the highest
performance? Not necessarily. PC2400 is essentially just
PC2100 that is guaranteed to reach 150Mhz. Running a system
with a front side bus of 117Mhz is not always attainable,
and so the OCZ RAM is only going to reach 150Mhz if the rest
of the system is up to it. With a reputable manufacturer
like Crucial, hopefully speeds of over 150Mhz could be
achieved with the 133Mhz rated memory, thus competing with
the OCZ module. Lets find out…
Features
OCZ
Performance PC2400:
Crucial
CT3264Z265:
Impressions
The
well-packaged Crucial memory also came with a multilingual
booklet explaining installation, although it must be said
this was not specific to the PC2100 and covered everything
from EDO to RD RAM. In true OEM style, the OCZ module came
in just an antistatic bag.
Now
many of you will have heard of Crucial, as a division of the
memory giant Micron. But what you don’t know is that the
modules OCZ sell are actually made by Kingston, Micron and
Infineon. Which means that both modules could plausibly be
from Micron.
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