Testing (continued):
While gaming performance is more dependent on things like the CPU and GPU, two benchmarks were executed to see how the results would vary if the system memory was changed. Keep in mind that the speed of the processor was about 3.0GHz (9x 333MHz) with the memory running at 1333MHz, 3.2GHz (8x 400MHz) with the memory running at 1600MHz, and about 3.4GHz (8x 425MHz) with the memory running at 1700MHz. Looking at the three kits while running at 1600MHz will provided a direct comparison, while the 1333MHz and 1700MHz results for the Crucial kit will show the effect of overclocking.
3DMark Vantage:
3DMark Vantage was executed in Performance mode (higher is better for all values). The chart below shows that at 1600MHz the scores for the Crucial kit are the lowest, and not all that much higher than what it achieved at 1333MHz. Overclocking to 1700MHz was necessary to get the Crucial kit to put up the best numbers, and of interest is that the total score cracked the 10,000 point plateau.
World in Conflict In-Game Benchmark:
The final test executed was the benchmark built in to the game World in Conflict. With the resolution at 1680x1050 and the settings on high, I set out to see what impact memory would have on gaming performance (higher is better for all values). In terms of average frames per second, overclocking from 1333MHz to 1600MHz yields a boost of over 10%, and going from 1333MHz to 1700MHz yields a boost of over 20%.
