Our Ballistix PC3-12800 kit is identified as PC3-8500 memory in its SPD data. There are two standard JEDEC profiles which have a set voltage of 1.5v programmed. This ensures that the memory will be voltage compatible with most DDR3 motherboards.

There are also Intel XMP profiles programmed into the SPD. These are set to the memory's maximum rated speed of 1600MHz. There are two XMP profiles, one at 7-7-7-20 timings at 1.9v and the other at 8-8-8-24 timings at 1.8v.

Performance Test Platform

For testing DDR3 memory performance, circuitREMIX has created test bed configuration. The hardware chosen was picked to reflect that of a relatively modern computer system that an enthusiast may own. The heat production of the system is an above-average repesentation of one of these computer systems. The configuration of the system is as follows:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
• Thermalright Ultra-120 heatsink + 120mm Yate Loon fan
• Asus P5K3 (P35) Deluxe motherboard
• Diamond MM Radeon 3870HD 512MB PCI-e video card
• Seagate 7200.7 120GB SATA hard drive
• Samsung SH-S203 SATA DVD-writer
• Windows Vista Business Edition (patched to 09 Feb 2008)

For performance tests, the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 is set to run with a multiplier of 9 and FSB of 400MHz. This results in a final clock speed of 3600MHz. The FSB:RAM divider is adjusted, which results in changes to the memory clock speed, but no change in processor clock speed. This allows memory performance to be the only changing factor when benchmarking.

Our Windows Vista installation is configured to allow for the least possible amount of operating system overhead as possible. This includes turning off features and services such as:

• Disabling all power saving modes, screen saver, and Vista visual effects
• Fax & Scanner Services
• Hard Drive Indexing Service
• System Restore
• Windows DFS Replication Service
• Windows Meeting Space
• Windows Search
• Windows Update

For the SiSoftware Sandra configuration, we test memory bandwidth with buffering schemes including MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 disabled. These settings are configured within SiSoft Sandra itself.