Installation and Testing:
 

ASUS Blitz Formula and Patriot Memory 4GB

Since these kits appreciate the most stable voltage management possible, the ASUS Blitz Formula motherboard had to be included in the testing. This is probably the easiest overclockable motherboard to cross this test bench capable of reaching 500MHz CPU Bus from any Core 2 series 266 or 333MHz Bus Speed. This all equates in to an extremely overclocked Core 2 processor with what seems to be plenty of voltage up until the 500MHz area. Installation is always a simple task of inserting and reseating the memory a couple times to make sure there are no possible issues.

CPUZ

Manual BIOS Settings

Mainboard

The memory and motherboard communicated well with the memory's timings being up to speed and correct which was verified with CPUZ. Auto BIOS settings don't always report properly which could be either the memory's or motherboard's fault which really isn't a big deal as far as I'm concerned. Users often have no idea that their memory modules aren't running to their rated specs unless they use something just like CPUZ to check and see how what the memory is operating at.

4GB Timings

4GB SPD

2GB Timings

2GB SPD

A couple things I want to test other than typical gaming and processor performance, is whether or not 4GB can truly increase your system's load and access times whether in XP or Vista. We know that 2GB can greatly increase your system's performance and is easily noticeable during operations over a 1GB configured system. But, does 4GB have the same kinds of noticeable benefits? That's the big question potential Vista users are really concerned about given all the Microsoft and vendor hype that you really, really should use 4GB of memory in your system.

I ran two little tests that involved comparing load times of my game drive which has a few start up programs that take up memory to load. Game load times and general PC response time were also recorded. This was done to compare 2GB versus 4GB to show what kinds of real world results others can expect. Boot times received the most dramatic change due to the larger amount of available memory where as opening games didn't show it at first. If the game was already running, another program loaded quicker than the 2GB kit by about 8 to 10 seconds.

Game Time!

Naturally, all the games tested had very, very similar frame rates and basically matched across the board, except where overclocking was concerned. The 2GB kit can easily reach 1066MHz, where as the 4GB kit managed 900MHz at 5-5-5 timings as well. The 100MHz overclock affords about a 14% gain in all the games tested. Most of the reason was due to the memory and Front Side Bus staying matched which gives the processor a bit more frequency. This of course will increase any kind of performance.

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