SuperTalent T1000UX2G5 DDR2 memory

Results

The higher the megahertz, the bigger the bandwidth - that's the general rule when it comes to memory. Whilst this is not a real-world benchmark, it's an indication of theoretical performance.

What we can see here is that the system is CPU limited, with all of the machines coming in within a few seconds of each other, except for the overclocked 1000MHz memory system. Memory performance doesn't appear to make much of a difference here.

The extra speed of the 889MHz SuperTalent is clearly negated by the drop in timings required to get there. The hike up to 1000MHz is clearly worth it though, with the combination of the CPU overclock and the extra memory bandwidth working well.

Even with the CPU and memory overclock, FEAR is a monster and the difference isn't massive.

Overclocking

We had a play, but we weren't able to get the memory to clock up to 1067MHz, even with a little extra voltage. The memory is rated to 1000MHz, and doesn't appear to want to go any further. It's possible to tighten the timings a little if you want the memory to stay at 800MHz, but you'll get more mileage out of extra speed if your processor can take it. The overclock you can get will also be very reliant on the individual modules.

Conclusions

The SuperTalent memory is clearly pretty nippy. It does exactly what it says on the tin, getting to 1GHz with the appropriate timings. This is the first kit we've seen to operate at this size and speed, although we understand that OCZ are soon to be shipping 1GHz modules (PC8000) and Corsair are already shipping the first modules rated at 1066MHz (PC8500), which is even faster. If you want 2GB of RAM in two sticks, these are really your only options - although as our real-world benchmarks show, the difference between standard speeds is probably minimal unless you're going to do some decent CPU overclocking.