DDR2 – Performance

Of course, all of this talk doesn’t really mean anything until we can see what the addition of bandwidth and latency does for performance.  In an attempt to get as direct of a comparison as possible, we are using strictly synthetic memory benchmarks to get these numbers, in order to show you with as much certainty as possible, DDR1 vs. DDR2 and not taking advantage of other platform changes.

System Setup

  • Intel 3.4 GHz 478-pin w/ 875 Motherboard
  • Intel 3.4 GHz 775-pin w/ 925 Motherboard
  • 1 GB Memory
    • DDR-400 @ CL2 on 478-pin
    • DDR2-533 @ CL4 on 775-pin

First, let’s take a look at what SiSoft Sandra 2004 and Cachemem have to say when it comes to the overall bandwidth of the two systems.

Intel 925X and Socket 775 Platform: PCIe and DDR2 - Processors 82

Intel 925X and Socket 775 Platform: PCIe and DDR2 - Processors 83

On the Sandra test, both the DDR and DDR2 platform are nearly identical, with a very slight lead going to the Intel 550 setup (about 1.5%).  The Cachemem results show the older, DDR Intel 3.4E doing slightly better on Read speed but falling behind on the Write test by 30% or so. 

These next two graphs are a bit to take in, so read them carefully.  They show the latency (number of clock cycles) required by the system in order to walk through memory in a certain size step.  The horizontal (Y) axis (0-400) is the number of clock cycles required for the walk.  The X-axis (4- 4k) is the number of steps the memory tester is taking with each block of size found on the Z-axis (1KB — 32768KB).  Yes, it’s complicated, but it can tell us a lot by looking at it. 

Intel 925X and Socket 775 Platform: PCIe and DDR2 - Processors 84

Intel 925X and Socket 775 Platform: PCIe and DDR2 - Processors 85

 

If you look at the larger block sizes and larger step sizes (the back corner of the graph) you will see that the DDR2 memory does have a longer latency time, but not by as much as I was suspecting.  But as we saw in the SiSoft and Cachemem bandwidth graphs, it IS enough to topple any speed benefits DDR2 is offering right now.

This leaves us with the fact that DDR2 memory doesn’t have much to offer us right now over current DDR400 memory platforms.  From what I have been hearing from people at Corsair and Kingston, once we get to DDR2-667 speeds, things begin to look up for the new memory technology on Intel’s 925/915 chipsets.

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