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So
far so good for the GeIL. We're seeing very solid
performance in demanding platforms at a relatively
keen price. What about we do a little pushing to see
if there's much room for overclocking?
Of
course, as with any product we get sent, there's a
small risk that we've been sent hand-picked components
that aren't representative of what you may be buying
on the street. In GeIL's favour, I checked the box
and it was sealed at both ends with a plastic sticker
type seal, and just to settle my paranoia I even checked
it was only a single sticker and not that a fresh
one had been placed over a broken one. It's not conclusive
but it all looked above board.
I
have no reason to doubt GeIL, it's just something
I'd sooner check out, particularly when it's a company
we've not dealt with before.
Test
System:
AbitAI7
865PE
Intel P4 2.4C CPU
Corsair TWINXXMS3200 - CMX2563200LLPT x2 and
GeIL
Value Dual Channel PC3200
Connect3D 9700 Pro graphics
Western Digital WD800BB HDD
I set
the voltages at my usual 2.8V ceiling and started
increasing by 5MHz increments on our trusty 2.4C/AI7
system. At 230MHz I was assuming we'd already done
pretty well and would be at or close to the limit.
I
also thought that at 235MHz, then again at 240MHz,
and 245, and 250, and 255, and 260! Yup, at 260MHz
I could boot into and use Windows with no problems
at all. Unfortunately anything more stressful such
as 3DMark was pretty unstable and I had to throttle
back to 255MHz in order to get everything running
perfectly.
Just
a reminder, that's a 55MHz overclock on a dual channel
memory system using value series memory!
Because
I had no idea where the limit was I ran a few benchmarks
at each setting and thought it might be interesting
to look at how the memory performance scaled at these
different speeds:
Sandra
Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks:::...
PCMark04:::...
I'll
let FutureMark explain:
PCMark™04
is the latest version of the popular PCMark series.
PCMark04 is an application-based benchmark and a premium
tool for measuring overall PC performance. It uses
portions of real applications instead of including
very large applications or using specifically created
code. This allows PCMark04 to be a smaller installation
as well as to report very accurate results. As far
as possible, PCMark04 uses public domain applications
whose source code can be freely examined by any user.
To
give an idea of the potential benefits I ran at the
stock 200MHz and at the maximum stable setting of
255MHz.
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PCMark04
@ 200MHz
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PCMark04
@ 255MHz
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3DMark
2001SE:::...
I
opted for 3DMark 2001 simply because it's more indicative
of overall system performance than its newer "03"
brother. Don't pay too much attention to the scores
as it was only run on a Radeon 9700Pro, more than
adequate for this type of performance comparison.
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3DMark
2001SE @ 200MHz
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3DMark
2001SE @ 255MHz
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Still,
2292 extra points for free isn't a bad deal!
Conclusion
The
3DVelocity 'Dual Conclusions Concept' Explained: After
discussing this concept with users as well as companies
and vendors we work with, 3DVelocity have decided
that where necessary we shall aim to introduce our
'Dual Conclusions Concept' to sum up our thoughts
and impressions on the hardware we review. As the
needs of the more experienced users and enthusiasts
have increased, it has become more difficult to factor
in all the aspects that such a user would find important,
while also being fair to products that may lack these
high end "bonus" capabilities but which
still represent a very good buy for the more traditional
and more prevalent mainstream user. The two catergories
we've used are:
The
Mainstream User ~ The mainstream user is likely
to put price, stock performance, value for money,
reliability and/or warranty terms ahead of the need
for hardware that operates beyond its design specifications.
The mainstream user may be a PC novice or may be an
experienced user, however their needs are clearly
very different to those of the enthusiast, in that
they want to buy products that operate efficiently
and reliably within their advertised parameters.
The
Enthusiast ~ The enthusiast cares about all
the things that the mainstream user cares about but
is more likely to accept a weakness in one or more
of these things in exchange for some measure of performance
or functionality beyond its design brief. For example,
a high priced motherboard may be tolerated in exchange
for unusually high levels of overclocking ability
or alternatively an unusually large heat sink with
a very poor fixing mechanism may be considered acceptable
if it offers significantly superior cooling in return.
The
Mainstream User ~
You
may be wondering why I've given a lower performance
score in this category than I have in the enthusiast
category, and the answer is simple. Run at its stock
200MHz and the CAS latency of 2.5 becomes a factor.
There's no denying the fact that at these speeds,
CAS 2 memory modules perform somewhat better,
though like so many things it's far more obvious from
a benchmark than it would ever be in real-world use.
GeIL's
value series memory looks good and performs extremely
well even in the most demanding dual channel situations.
The
Enthusiast ~
This
card has a lot of power in it, and so the enthusiast
would be more than happy with it, though it would
present a challenge to get any mind blowing scores
in 3DMark and the like. But that is what being an
enthusiast is all about! It’s not top of the range
and so does lack a certain punch, but as said, it
would present a challenge and it the right hands,
is more than powerful enough!
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