Installation & Testing:

Smackover I7 Power!

Well, there are a couple things to keep in mind when installing the memory. First, the motherboard of your choice may have 4 or 6 slots. Naturally, at least 3 slots will be of the same color indicating which are the corrects slots to achieve optimal Triple-Channel karma. The Intel DX58SO in question here has 4 slots and three of them are blue which is where the three memory sticks were installed.

For testing purposes and to answer some questions of curiosity, the Patriot Viper PC3-12800 6GB Triple Channel Memory was tested in both dual and triple channel. Not everyone is going to be able to afford triple channel kits right away. So, if you feel inclined to purchase a 2 x 2GB kit due to budget restrictions, this should help. Plus, it'll answer any questions as to just how triple channel works.

Component		Name/Model
Processor		Intel I7-965 Extreme
Motherboard		Intel DX58SO "Smackover" Zotac 790i Supreme
Memory		Patriot Viper PC3-12800 6GB Triple Channel Patriot Viper PC3-16000 4GB Dual Channel
Graphics		Asus 9800 GTX 512MB
Audio		Integrated Realtek 7.1HD
Power Supply		Antec Quattro 850 Watt
Operating System		Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit) Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
CPU Cooling		Thermaltake V1 Copper
Monitor		HannsG 22" HDMI (1680 x 1050)
Driver		High Quality Settings (Default Installation)
Test Software		Sisoft SANDRA Professional Game Titles: Crysis and COD4
CPUZ	Mainboard	Memory	SPD

Sure, a single channel stick looks sheepish, maybe even weakly, but the memory bandwidth was anything but weak. Comparing a single 2GB 1600 MHz stick to a dual channel 2GB kit, revealed that the memory controller "promise great Kung Fu". As a matter of fact, it rivals a dual channel AMD system. The result averaged 12,200 MB/s which is requires an overclocked Core 2 system with 1800 MHz DDR3 memory to be close.

After adding another stick, the system immediately recognized the module and was at desktop in no time. Dual channel benchmarks averaged 20,125 MB/s! (Yes, I ran the benchmark three times in utter surprise.) I was expecting a a 5000 MB/s boost at best given some of the preliminary forum posts seen around the net. This alone is just fantastic!

Dual Channel

Again, the final third stick was added. After a small pause at the BIOS screen, Windows loaded up. In all honesty, it seems that Vista 32 and 64-bit loaded quicker as each stick was loaded. That's not much of a surprise in itself, but the programs and utilities were noticeably quicker to load each time. And this is the point where the Patriot Viper PC3-12800 6GB Triple Channel Memory displayed its strongest Kung Fu.

After running three memory benchmarks, an average of 27,720 MB/s of memory bandwidth was readily available. (Wow!) Have you seen any AMD based systems produce this kind of memory bandwidth at stock frequencies? Some of you may be wondering what the big deal is in regards to this kind of bandwidth. Well, for one, this is means increased input/output performance aiding the processor in ways that multi-threaded programs can put to use.

Triple Channel

Since all four cores of the X965 have two threads constantly doing work, there is essentially 8 cores active in a multi-threaded environment. Those 8 cores can quite capably put that average 27 GB/s memory bandwidth to use in ways content creators (audio, video, and 3D creation users) would appreciate immensely. This will all be covered in Part 2 of the I7 review.

Got News? Send 'em in!