Web server

Strange, but true: our web-server tests practically don't respond to faster memory. One of logical explanations is as follows: the amount of data they use does not exceed CPU cache size.

Data compression

It's an expected result - we know that 7-Zip and WinRAR prefer fast memory. The layout of forces is also not surprising: the larger the dictionary, the higher gains. Ultimate ZIP seems to use a very small dictionary, smaller than the cache.

Encoding

We've noticed the following regularity here: fast video codecs (DivX, x264) are the most sensitive to memory performance. And audio codecs just ignore changes in the memory clock rate.

Games

Here is the first success: we've finally seen a really significant performance gain! Alas, it happens only in two games out of seven: Unreal Tournament 3 and World in Conflict.

Non-professional photo processing

Absolute indifference and uncommon unanimity.

Conclusions

In fact, there is no need to write a lengthy conclusion. The bottom line is crystal clear. Here is a summary:

• The biggest performance gain in groups of tests: games, archivers (6%).
• The biggest performance gain in applications: Unreal Tournament 3 (22%), World in Conflict (10%), 7-Zip (10%).
• Average performance gain - 3%.

There is even no need to comment on the last fact. I remind you that memory frequencies differed twofold. Twofold difference on one hand, and 3% performance gain on the other hand - do you need any comments?

The only comment (to be more exact, a reminder of obvious things) is not to forget about the dual-channel memory controller in Phenom. That is, in the best case scenario we can configure DDR2-533 memory to provide the bandwidth of single-channel DDR2-1066 memory. It seems that such memory bandwidth is quite sufficient for Phenom at this core clock rate.

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