CES 2007: Motherboards and Memory
by Gary Key on January 17, 2007 12:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
G.Skill, GeIL, and Team Group
G.Skill is now shipping their F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ kits that feature two matched DDR2-800 2GB modules with 5-5-5-15 timings at 1.8V~1.9V. We found with some additional voltage up to 2.1V that the memory would run at 5-4-4-12 at DDR2-800, and we can expect lower latency memories in Q2 and beyond in the 2GB modules. However, for most general users the current latencies are fine at DDR2-800, and dropping down to DDR2-667 will net 4-4-4-12 timings.
G.Skill is also introducing their new value DDR2-800 F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK 1GB modules featuring 4-4-3-5 timings at 2.0V. We have seen this memory reach DDR2-1000 at 4-4-3-5 timings at 2.20V on our ASUS P5B-E motherboard. We would not recommend running this memory above 2.20V and strongly advise adherence to the maximum 2.1V listed by G.Skill. At 2.1V we could reach 4-4-3-5 timings at DDR2-950 on the same board.
GeIL introduced their Black Dragon series of product that should be shipping this quarter. The initial product will feature low latency, low voltage, 3-3-3-6 DDR2-800 1G modules that will feature extensive overclocking headroom.
Their new Ultra Plus modules are running at DDR2-1100 with 4-4-4-12 timings at 2.4V and we can expect speeds up to DDR2-1200 at 5-5-5-15 settings.
GeIL is also expanding their new value product lineup with 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB dual-channel kits. Their value DDR2-800 2GB kit features 5-5-5-15 timings at 1.8V, although with a voltage increase to 2.0V they will operate at 4-4-4-12 timings in current testing.
Team Group was showcasing a new cooling design by Thermalright for their upcoming high end modules featuring speeds above DDR2-1000. The somewhat large heatpipe/heatsink arrangement aims to provide improved memory cooling. It should also help to improve memory cooling by extending the cooling above board level into areas that are more likely to see significant airflow. The drawback of course is that the modules require quite a bit more clearance than your typical DIMMs, and many motherboard/HSF combinations will not work.
Team's Dark series was developed for entry level overclockers and gamers with the top end 1GB module featuring 4-4-4-12 timings at DDR2-800 speeds. These modules feature voltage ratings up to 2.35V on an eight layer PCB design that will easily run at 3-3-3-9 timing with 2.30V in our limited testing to date. Pricing is around $250 at this time for a 2GB kit.
G.Skill is now shipping their F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ kits that feature two matched DDR2-800 2GB modules with 5-5-5-15 timings at 1.8V~1.9V. We found with some additional voltage up to 2.1V that the memory would run at 5-4-4-12 at DDR2-800, and we can expect lower latency memories in Q2 and beyond in the 2GB modules. However, for most general users the current latencies are fine at DDR2-800, and dropping down to DDR2-667 will net 4-4-4-12 timings.
G.Skill is also introducing their new value DDR2-800 F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK 1GB modules featuring 4-4-3-5 timings at 2.0V. We have seen this memory reach DDR2-1000 at 4-4-3-5 timings at 2.20V on our ASUS P5B-E motherboard. We would not recommend running this memory above 2.20V and strongly advise adherence to the maximum 2.1V listed by G.Skill. At 2.1V we could reach 4-4-3-5 timings at DDR2-950 on the same board.
GeIL introduced their Black Dragon series of product that should be shipping this quarter. The initial product will feature low latency, low voltage, 3-3-3-6 DDR2-800 1G modules that will feature extensive overclocking headroom.
Their new Ultra Plus modules are running at DDR2-1100 with 4-4-4-12 timings at 2.4V and we can expect speeds up to DDR2-1200 at 5-5-5-15 settings.
GeIL is also expanding their new value product lineup with 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB dual-channel kits. Their value DDR2-800 2GB kit features 5-5-5-15 timings at 1.8V, although with a voltage increase to 2.0V they will operate at 4-4-4-12 timings in current testing.
Team Group was showcasing a new cooling design by Thermalright for their upcoming high end modules featuring speeds above DDR2-1000. The somewhat large heatpipe/heatsink arrangement aims to provide improved memory cooling. It should also help to improve memory cooling by extending the cooling above board level into areas that are more likely to see significant airflow. The drawback of course is that the modules require quite a bit more clearance than your typical DIMMs, and many motherboard/HSF combinations will not work.
Team's Dark series was developed for entry level overclockers and gamers with the top end 1GB module featuring 4-4-4-12 timings at DDR2-800 speeds. These modules feature voltage ratings up to 2.35V on an eight layer PCB design that will easily run at 3-3-3-9 timing with 2.30V in our limited testing to date. Pricing is around $250 at this time for a 2GB kit.
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syzygy - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
Did anyone else notice the solid state capacitors that this mobo will be equipped with - for under 120.00 !!! The 650is have already been shown to overclock rather well and are an infinitely better price-to-performance option than the splashier 680is.Hulk - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
Is this a "seat of the pants" recommendation or have you done some testing that shows 4GB to be faster than 2GB for Vista?Gary Key - Thursday, January 18, 2007 - link
We have completed testing in several areas at this time with 4GB being consistently faster than 2GB in several games, Photoshop, Recode (still trying to figure that one out), and a few other desktop applications where we feel the consistency of the benchmark is valid. The issue we have now is consistency of other benchmark scores. In XP we generally see several benchmark runs of the same application not vary over .05%. In Vista the same benchmark differences might vary up to 4%. The patterns do not make sense (high,low,mid,high, mid scores, reboot and it might be low, mid, low, high, high) and we attribute the differences to Vista's caching scheme along with some other possibilities that Microsoft brought up to us.Samus - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
all that graphics power on that northbridge and only that tiny heatsink?mamisano - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
Is it me, or are these new C2D mainboard prices totally absurd? I just don't get why people are willing to spend $250+ on a part that is aimed at a crowd of people who constantly upgrade. Are they really worth double the price of i965P based boards?IntelUser2000 - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
I would think people who can constantly upgrade has much more money to spend than the ones that don't :P.
Most don't need better than P965.
IntelUser2000 - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
Where's the newer drivers and benchmarks for it?? Did Intel give up making newer drivers?? The newer drivers should have been out month ago, and the one after that should be out now.Indeed it is, but considering that both the GMA 3000(X3000 core but no new features like T&L,SM3.0) and GMA 950(older core) beat the X3000, there's still much performance to be gained before making conclusions. 690G isn't even out yet for sale.
duploxxx - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
that's true but you know from older days what the x700 was capable off, so you can compare this with other chipsets... and easy to say nore 6150/g965 intels will come near that performance the only thing that will up the performance is the core architecture, the same reason why a compare between G965 and 6150 is in favor of Intel, we'll see if the it is still the case with the new 690, this will sell alot to oem vendors due to sales from the same vendor (byebye many amd nvidia chipsets for oem, probably less influance in retail due to the fact that they also by high end nvidia graphics and will choose the nvidia chipset)btw check the heatsink on the chipsets and compare those with the nvidia ones (and they don't have a grapics inside....) and the intel g965 easy to say nvidia/intel better start working on a chipset that consumes less power.
hint to anand to keep it a litle fair review systems from the same budget...
x2 3800 - whatever netburst
x2 4200 - e6300 / e4300
IntelUser2000 - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
LOL. 690G is nowhere near X700. 690G will probably get close to X700 in games where it requires full SM2.0 to run, but X700 is a significantly more powerful core. 690G has half the pixel pipelines(4), with core clock speed equal to regular X700(400MHz), 1/3 the amount of vertex shaders(2), slightly greater memory bandwidth(12.8GB/s vs. 11.2GB/s for regular X700)that's shared with the CPU, which doesn't even have a crossbar memory system.
http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/hwdb.php?tid=728310&t...">http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/hwdb.php?tid=728310&t...
30-40% faster than GF6150/Xpress 200
It happened before, integrated GPU based off a dedicated GPU coming out to be slower than the slowest dedicated version. Xpress 200, based off X300, doesn't even beat X300SE.
Intel and ATI is pretty close: http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2891&am...">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2891&am...
"Our system at stock voltages ran very cool but we did see power consumption increases almost equal the 975X when overclocking both platforms. We will present these numbers along with CrossFire results shortly."
And many enthusiasts overclock, making zero advantage.
MadAd - Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - link
omg, what IS that gargantuan heat pipe array doing stuck to a strip of memory?What is it lately, this is the 3rd ridiculous design ive seen in as many weeks.
If someone (at anandtech preferrably) would go to the trouble of benchmarking this ram before and after removing these ridiculous cooling arrangements I would be very grateful. Personally I think its just spin and glitter for the no sense fat wallet crowd but without testing, its just an opinion however the more and more of these ridiculous designs we see, the more it needs to validated by a forthright site such as yourselves here at AT.