Enemy Territory - Quake Wars
With Enemy Territory also the outcome is pretty much predictable. The performance scales with higher speed and tighter timings.
Prototype
Prototype seems to respond pretty well to higher speed and tighter timings compared to some other game we have seen earlier. The scaling is pretty impressive if you take into consideration that only memory is responsible for the increase in performance.
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 has become quite popular choice these days for benchmarking. As you can see from the graph, the performance increase is pretty steady. An increase of almost 4 FPS between stock speed and over clocked speed is not bad at all.
Wolfenstein
Wolfenstein is the latest offering from the ID stable. It succeeds the successful title, ‘Return to Castle Wolfenstein’ which was a big hit. With a newer engine being used, the graphics were expected to be much superior compared to its predecessor. This also meant a more powerful system to run the game smoothly.
As per the graph, the memory seems to be influencing the performance so a faster memory would definitely help in boosting the performance.
Crysis
Crysis has been a favorite benchmark for a long time now. The sheer fact that it brings mightiest of systems to their knees is sufficient enough to make this a popular benchmark.
If you consider the fact that our test machine had Nehalem running at 4GHz and Geforce GTX 275 doing the duty of rendering the graphics, the figures clearly indicate how taxing this game can be.
It is pleasing to know that faster memory does make a difference in overall performance. So you may want to consider faster memory with tighter timings for your next PC upgrade.
3DMark Vantage
When we were deciding what benchmarks to use, it was clear that 3DMark Vantage would be included but we were unable to decide whether to include it in gaming benchmarks or synthetic. Finally we decided that since it’s a purely system intensive benchmark it is better to include it in gaming benchmarks.
Although a synthetic benchmark, the entire 3DMark lineage has always been the most popular benchmark for testing the performance of a graphic card.
Here we see that even though CPU speed and Graphic card clocks speeds make the most difference, it is interesting to note that even memory makes a little bit of a difference.
Also, you may notice that 1T and 2T command rate is making a considerable difference. A boost of ~60 points between stock and max OC is not bad at all.
3DMark 2006
Arguably the most popular 3D benchmark till date, 3DMark 2006. Similar to what we have already seen in Vantage, here too, memory does play a role in improving your overall score.
Now that we are done with the Gaming benchmarks, lets move on to the Synthetic benchmarks
First in line is Cinebench R10 64Bit,
Cinebench R10 64Bit
Although the memory does seem to impact performance here, the difference is marginal. This benchmark is more CPU dependant than anything else.
Winrar 3.80
This is one benchmark where this kit really shines. A boost of almost 600 KB/s is commendable. Winrar is an application that we tend to use almost daily. So paying a bit extra doesn’t seem unjustified, does it?
Lavalys Everest Memory Read
Everest is a synthetic benchmark where there are multiple benchmarks included to test difference components in your system. They also have a dedicated tool for benchmarking purely the memory. Although Everest does not show you the actual picture when it comes to real world performance it is good enough to have a rough idea of the boosts that you get.
Lavalys Everest Memory Write
Once again, the command rate has come in the picture. 2T seems to be affecting the performance slightly.
Fritz Chess benchmark
The difference in performance between the crucial value series and A-Data is pretty significant. Although the difference between A-Data at stock speeds and overclocked speed doesn’t seem to be a lot. Once again we see that performance is taking a hit because of the command rate.
SuperPi 32M
We saved our favourite benchmark for last, SuperPi. Another extremely popular benchmark amongst hardware enthusiasts and overclockers.
Even though this benchmark is more or less CPU clock speed dependant, memory timings and frequency plays a significant role here.
The difference between Crucial Value series at stock speed and A-Data at overclocked speeds is quite a lot.
Conclusion
When we received this kit from A-Data for reviewing we didn’t have a clear idea as to how it would perform.
We need to first understand that A-Data is not marketing this kit as a kit meant for enthusiasts and overclockers. This kit is meant for gamers, power users and so on. So the targeted customer base is one which expects a kit which is rated at higher speeds, consumes lesser power and most importantly is stable from the word go.
We have sort of a mixed opinion about this kit. On one hand it runs at 1600 MHz at stock timings with just 1. 5V (JEDEC Spec) which is quite good and gets the job done without much fuss for normal users but on the other hand its not a kit which would be an overclockers choice.
Overall we would say that it’s a pretty decent kit for the price. To cut a long story short, if you use the kit for what it was meant for then you won’t be disappointed and vice versa.
Pros –
1) Excellent build quality
2) Rated at 1600MHz at 1.65V but can run at the same speed/timings at 1.5V
3) Price (based on international prices it should be on the lower side)
Cons –
1) Rated at CL9
2) Doesn't clock high with tight timings
Score Card
Features : 8/10
Performance : 8/10
Value For Money : 9/10
Overall : 8/10
Before ending this review, we would like to thank
A-Data for arranging this review sample