Test System Setup

Processor(s): Intel i7 920 @ 3.2GHz (200MHz x 16)

Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P (Supplied by Noctua)

Motherboard(s): GIGABYTE EX58-UD5 (Supplied by GIGABYTE)

Graphics Card(s): GIGABYTE GTX 285(Supplied by GIGABYTE)

Hard Disk(s): Western Digital 300GB Velicorapter (Supplied by Western Digital)

Operating System: Windows Vista SP1 64-Bit

Drivers: ForceWare 182.06

Today we'll be taking the time to see how the Crucial PC3-12800MHz Tracer 6GB kit runs at its rated 1600MHz DDR 8-8-8-24 and also see what kind of performance boost we get when running them at 1720MHz DDR 9-9-9-24.

One thing worth remembering, though, is when we're running the modules at 1720MHz DDR, the CPU also gets a 240MHz bump. For this reason we try to keep the focus on synthetic memory benchmarks that let us know the raw speed that is being produced.

wPrime

Version and / or Patch Used: 1.62

Developer Homepage: http://www.wprime.net/

Product Homepage: http://www.wprime.net/

wPrime uses a recursive call of Newton's method for estimating functions, with f(x)=x2-k, where k is the number we're sqrting, until Sgn(f(x)/f'(x)) does not equal that of the previous iteration, starting with an estimation of k/2. It then uses an iterative calling of the estimation method a set amount of times to increase the accuracy of the results. It then confirms that n(k)2=k to ensure the calculation was correct. It repeats this for all numbers from 1 to the requested maximum.

The extra MHz on both the CPU and memory help give the 1720MHz DDR setup a nice little boost in performance under wPrime.