iXBT Labs - How CPU Features Affect CPU Performance, Part 7

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3D games

	DDR3-800	DDR3-1066		DDR3-1333		DDR3-1600
STALKER: Clear Sky ↑	59	60	2%	61	2%	61	0%
Devil May Cry 4 ↑	193	194	0%	196	1%	196	0%
Far Cry 2 ↑	57	60	5%	64	7%	67	5%
Grand Theft Auto 4 ↑	65	66	2%	66	0%	66	0%
Lost Planet ↑	42	43	2%	43	0%	43	0%
Unreal Tournament 3 ↑	158	160	1%	163	2%	166	2%
Crysis: Warhead ↑	53	54	2%	56	4%	56	0%
World in Conflict ↑	50	51	2%	54	6%	55	2%
Group Score ↑	114	116	2%	119	3%	120	1%

	DDR3-1333 3-ch. 6GB	DDR3-1333 2-ch. 4GB		DDR3-1333 2-ch. 6GB
STALKER: Clear Sky ↑	61	59	-3%	59	-3%
Devil May Cry 4 ↑	196	193	-2%	195	-1%
Far Cry 2 ↑	64	62	-3%	62	-3%
Grand Theft Auto 4 ↑	66	65	-2%	65	-2%
Lost Planet ↑	43	43	0%	43	0%
Unreal Tournament 3 ↑	163	159	-2%	157	-4%
Crysis: Warhead ↑	56	54	-4%	53	-5%
World in Conflict ↑	54	52	-4%	53	-2%
Group Score ↑	119	116	-3%	116	-3%

In the previous article games were among the tests which justified using faster memory. Alas, this is not the case with Core i7. But we shouldn't be sorry about that, should we?

Conclusions

	DDR3-800	DDR3-1066		DDR3-1333		DDR3-1600
3D visualization	135	141	4%	144	2%	149	3%
3D rendering	171	173	1%	177	2%	181	2%
Scientific computations	135	138	2%	141	2%	144	2%
Bitmap processing	149	151	1%	153	1%	154	1%
Data compression	128	136	6%	145	7%	153	6%
Compiling	175	179	2%	189	6%	193	2%
Audio encoding	190	190	0%	190	0%	190	0%
Video encoding	151	156	3%	160	3%	163	2%
Java	156	160	3%	166	4%	170	2%
3D games	114	116	2%	119	3%	120	1%

	DDR3-1333 3-ch. 6GB	DDR3-1333 2-ch. 4GB		DDR3-1333 2-ch. 6GB
3D visualization	144	125	-13%	126	-13%
3D rendering	177	176	-1%	175	-1%
Scientific computations	141	128	-9%	130	-8%
Bitmap processing	153	131	-14%	140	-8%
Data compression	145	122	-16%	130	-10%
Compiling	189	172	-9%	173	-8%
Audio encoding	190	190	0%	187	-2%
Video encoding	160	155	-3%	154	-4%
Java	166	162	-2%	158	-5%
3D games	119	116	-3%	116	-3%

In general, the Core i7-based machine turned out to be even less sensitive to RAM than that based on Phenom II X4. The average performance drop caused by the transition from DDR2-800 to DDR2-400 was 11% on the AMD platform. Today, Intel's platform demonstrated the even lesser sensitivity of only 8%.

The performance difference between the dual and triple-channel modes is far greater. Sometimes, enabling the 3rd channel can boost performance by another 10%, though such cases are rare. On average, the worst you can expect from using Core i7 in the dual-channel mode is a 6% performance drop.

That being said, the topic of memory's effect on the performance of modern x86-64 machines may be closed for 2 or 3 years minimum. At least for processors without integrated graphics cores.

Memory modules for our testbeds provided by Corsair Memory.

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