All previous memory reviews have focused on the Intel platform but today we have a kit designed specifically for the AMD platform. In order for us to gage how well the Black Edition kit performs, I will be comparing it at stock speeds against Mushkin EM3-10666 (9-9-9-24) 1333MHz DDR3 and then overclocking it as far as it will allow me. CPU clock speed will be kept at the default of 2.8GHz so that all other parameters are taken out of the equation and the overclock can run freely without anything affecting it.

Test System

CPU AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz
Motherboard ASUS M4A89TD PRO (890FX)
Graphics MSI 8800GTX 798MB
Memory Mushkin EM3-10666 and OCZ Black Edition PC3-12800
HDD Samsung Spinpoint 500GB SATA-II
PSU Enermax Revolution85+
Case NZXT Tempest Evo



Overclocking

Since our kit incorporates the notorious XTC heatspreaders its worth our while discovering how far we can push the Black Edition memory by way of overclocking. To do this, I entered the BIOS and used the Ai Tweaker on the M4A89TD PRO. It's quite simple, I kept the clock speed of the AMD 1055T at stock (2.8GHz) and only altered the DRAM frequency to increase the speed of the memory. DRAM Timings did need to be tweaked but voltages remained at 1.65v.

I was able to increase the frequencies on the Black Edition memory rather significantly. First off, I increased by 200MHz to 1800MHz nudging the timings up a little to help the overclock. The memory responded very well to this, and after the various bencharks that follow were performed I again increased the frequency to 2000MHz which is a very encouraging 400MHz over the stock frequency. Timings did have to be nudged up a little due to lockups and instability but resting at 9-9-9-28, the Black Edition again responded very well to the tweaking. I'm sure with extended time and altering voltages, timings and other parameters this memory can go even further. Here are the overclocks that were achieved. They will be featured in the following benchmarks in the preceding pages.