Mushkin v. Generic (CAS 3)
This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.
For these tests, we had to disable the CAS 2 features of the Mushkin memory and move it down a notch to CAS 3. The generic memory was unable to reach CAS 2 speeds with stability, so CAS 2 vs. CAS 2 testing was out of the question.You may wonder about the validity of these benchmarks, since we are basically slowing down the Mushkin Enhanced memory to lower standards. While this is true, putting both the generic and high-end memory on the same playing field and then comparing them both in this fashion will allow us to gauge the difference in the speed of the memory itself, and not any outside variables or conditions.
Here is our system for testing purposes:
| CPU | AMD Athlon 1 GHz |
| Memory |
Mushkin Rev2 222 256MB PC133 Generic 256MB PC133 |
| Motherboard | Abit KT7-RAID |
| Hard Drive | 45GB IBM Deskstar 7200 RPM |
| Video Card | Hercules 3D Prophet II GeForce 2 GTS |
| Video Drivers | NVIDIA Detonator 6.13 |
| Operating System | Windows 98 SE |
As you can see, the Mushkin memory, when placed on the same playing ground as the generic PC133 memory performs slightly faster in the SiSoft 2001 memory tests. What this suggests is that even when pushed down to run as CAS 3 speeds, the Mushkin memory is out performing the less-expensive, generic PC133 memory that can ONLY run at CAS 3.
In the real world tests, Mushkin again has a lead, although this time it is minimal. With all the overhead of the CPU and video card, memory does make a difference in the 640x480x16 tests, though not a huge difference.
I decided to run this high resolution test just to see if any new information showed up. As you can see, none did. Still the same conclusion as the 640x480x16 tests.
