OCZ 3700 Gold Rev. 3: DDR500 Value for Athlon 64 & Intel 478
by Wesley Fink on September 22, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Several weeks ago, OCZ introduced a new PC4000 Gold Rev. 2. The new revision was very interesting, since it carried the high performance Gold name, but was priced about 25% lower than other OCZ DDR500 memory. It was our plan to review the DDR500 to see how it compared.
As we completed testing of OCZ 4000 Gold Rev. 2, we were told by OCZ that yields were so good with the new Hynix memory chips, they had decided to use the same memory chips in their new 3700 Gold Rev. 3. This means that the current 3700 Gold Rev. 3 and the 4000 Gold Rev. 2 are the exact same DIMMs for the time being. This could always change in the future, if yields do not maintain the same high levels that OCZ is currently seeing, but for now, you can buy 3700 Gold Rev. 3 and be assured that you are receiving memory which has been binned for DDR500 performance. This certainly makes the 3700 Gold Rev. 3 a particularly good buy right now.
While the price of the OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev. 3/PC4000 Gold Rev. 2 appears a good value, the proof of value is in how the 3700/4000 performs compares to similarly rated memory. We have run the new Rev. 3 through our full benchmark suite on the standard Intel 875 memory test bed. We also ran the first complete series of memory tests on a new Athlon 64 memory test bed. So, how does the OCZ 700 Gold Rev. 3 compare?
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Rags - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
I was debating between this and the Crucial Ballistix 3200 for my new machine. Which you guys think I should go with? Hope the October high end buyer's guide comes out soon...KrazyDawg - Sunday, September 26, 2004 - link
Can someone recommend me a cheap pair of 1GB RAM capable of running at 250? The charts on here aren't clear as to exactly what module I should purchase. If I were to cross reference it with newegg, you would see different names and prices and that doesn't help me. The deal time search engine on here only shows some memory prices and they're only for 512MB.Pumpkinierre - Saturday, September 25, 2004 - link
Why does the dual channel a64 have a lower unbuffered Sandra score than the intel when its buffered score is clearly much higher (up to 40% higher). SSE2 implementation on K8 was supposed to be not all that good from early reviews, so you'd expect a worse buffered result. Maybe the real world meaning of these tests should be revisited for the different cpus.Anemone - Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - link
Well the Ballistix 4000 is cheaper so that makes it a "better buy" in terms of price. It certainly clocks fairly high in the tests, and at rather tight timings. The 3700 EB while rated 3700 vs the 4000 seems to clock quite high but at looser timings. I have, maybe just due to people talking about the newer 4000, been reading more high clock success stories (A64's) with the 4000 than I have read about the 3700EB. Maybe OCZ will grace us with 4000EB or 4200EB? Maybe but probably they would have if they could have.Anand will clear us all up soon with some kind of a grand review of memories on the A64 I hope. This article did have that new A64 testbed up and running so there is hope!
Right now a tie between the 4000 cheaper but slightly lower clocks but always seems to clock that well vs the 3700EB which is more expensive and seems to "usually" get a higher possible clock at looser timings than the 4000.
Thus, a tie.
saechaka - Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - link
so which would be the better buy right now for an abit AI7 the crucial ballistix or ocx 3700 eb? thanksOCedHrt - Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - link
Oops! Wow blank post. Anyways, doesn't the Crucial Ballistix already cost less? Crucial sells their 512 PC4000 stick at 144.99.OCedHrt - Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - link
ciwell - Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - link
Wondering the same thing as #2...Can't wait for a "Value" RAM Roundup.
Anemone - Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - link
It has become rather important since am building a system now to see that Athlon 64 memory review you've mentioned was coming :)3700EB is the old standby but it seems that like this 3700, and the Ballistix 4000, there are some memories out lately that do particularly well at 500-550 speeds on the A64's.
As always this article was a very good read and I learned yet another memory of interest.
Now I'd like to see them all layed out and compared so I can refine my choices to go with a nice FX-55 :)
Ty!
mkruer - Wednesday, September 22, 2004 - link
I want to know if its better to get one gig of "cheep" 2.5,3,3,7 DDR400 (2x512) ram vs a smaller (2x256) of high prefromance DDR533 with ram.