Memory Kit Review

Super Talent - Project X DDR3 Memory Kit

Introduction

Super Talent Technology is headquartered in San Jose, California. The company designs and manufactures a complete range of DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 memory modules, Flash based storage devices, and even power supplies. Super Talent describes its Project X memory kits as following : "The world's most advanced DDR3, Project X supports extreme clock speeds, aggressively tuned latencies and an elite new thermal dissipater." We had the opportunity to check this description by testing a PC3-14400 DDR3 dual-channel kit.

Packaging

The modules are provided in a plastic blister, that ensures a good protection during transport.

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Specifications

Feature summary

SPD Content

The standard SPD content refers to PC-8500 DDR3 memory, namely a max frequency of 533 MHz with a cas# latency of 7 clocks. The timing table however contains a profile at 610 MHz with relaxed timings.

Memory type             DDR3
Manufacturer (ID)       SST (7F7F7F7F7F7F3400)
Size                    1024 MBytes
Max bandwidth           PC3-8500F (533 MHz)
Part number             SST-W1800UA1GP

Attributes
Nominal Voltage         1.50 Volts
EPP                     no
XMP                     yes

Timings table
Frequency (MHz)         457   533   610	
CAS#                    6.0   7.0   8.0	
RAS# to CAS# delay      6     7     9	
RAS# Precharge          6     7     9	
TRAS                    18    20    23	
TRC                     24    27    31	

Our modules are XMP 1.0 compliant. Two profiles extend the SPD specifications : 800 MHz at 1.8 volts, and 889 MHz at 2 volts.

XMP revision            1.0

XMP profile #1          XMP-1600
Specification           PC3-12800
Voltage level           1.800 Volts
Min Cycle time          1.250 ns (800 MHz)
Command Rate            2T

Timings table
Frequency (MHz)         600   700   800	
CAS#                    6.0   7.0   8.0	
RAS# to CAS# delay      6     7     8	
RAS# Precharge          6     7     8	
TRAS                    18    21    24	
TRC                     24    28    32	

XMP profile #2          XMP-1778
Specification           PC3-14200
Voltage level           2.000 Volts
Min Cycle time          1.125 ns (889 MHz)
Command Rate            2T

Timings table
Frequency (MHz)         762   889   1016	
CAS#                    6.0   7.0   8.0	
RAS# to CAS# delay      7     8     9	
RAS# Precharge          7     8     9	
TRAS                    19    22    25	
TRC                     25    29    33	

Photos gallery

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Results

Test platform

The test of the Project X memory kit was made on a Asus P5K3, based on an Intel P35 chipset. This board is a good candidate for extreme overclockings, especially because it provides a wide range of voltage settings. Unfortunately, the BIOS of that board does not take XMP profiles in account, that can be great help with such memory modules.
To complete the test platform, we used an Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 and a Geforce 8600GT based video card.

800 MHz ...

Reaching 800 MHz is a piece of cake for our modules, but required a small voltage increase. Note that legacy SPD table reports 800 MHz at DDR3 stock voltage of 1.5 volts. We could not achieve that speed, even with relaxed timings.

... 900 MHz ...

Getting 900 MHz rock stable required to increase the RAM voltage to 2.1 volts, and the NB voltage to 1.4 volts (instead of the default 1.25 volts).

... 1000 MHz ...

The 1 GHz barrier (2 GHz DDR !) required a lot of voltages increases : RAM voltage to 2.2 volts, and NB to 1.6 volts. Those values are pretty high, but are necessary to obtain a complete system stability.

... and beyond.

Our test system did not boot at a memory speed above 1 GHz. We then decided to use SetFSB to continue the overclocking. Thanks to the software, we reached 1020 MHz, but with some instabilities. The highest 100% stable frequency we reached is 1010 MHz.

Timings

The frequency of 1010 MHz goes with timings equals to 9-9-9-25. At that clock speed, a cas# latency of 9 clocks means a raw time equals to 9 clocks / 1010 MHz = 8.9 ns. In comparison, a DDR2 memory kit that runs at 400 MHz with a cas# latency of 5 cycles results in a raw cas# latency time of 12.5 ns. Consequently, 1010 MHz at 9-9-9-25 is far from being a slow setting.

Performance

We used Lavalys Everest to measure the memory bandwidth at 1010 MHz. With no surprise, our system appears at the top of the chart, with a raw read bandwith of nearly 10GB/s.

The measures at 800 MHz and 1010 MHz reveal a raw bandwidth increase of 26%, that reflects the frequency increase. The memory access latency is also reduced of 26%, that seems logical considering that the two measures were made with the same timings.

Conclusion

With a speed of 1 GHz without too many efforts, the Super Talent ProjectX DDR3 memory kit is definitely one of the most overclockable kit available on the market today. Reaching speeds above 1 GHz requires some manual tweaking, more than the XMP profile could provide. However, this memory kit is definitely targeted to power users and overclockers, who do not need (and do not like) assistance. The only real default of this kit is its price, 459 euros in january 2008. DDR3 is still very expensive, and selected modules are even more expensive. The price of DDR3 will become affordable during the next spring, and this kit will follow the move and will become a real good choice.

Super Talent Project X DDR3 Memory Kit

Useful links

• Super Talent Home Page.

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