Topower Black-X 4GB 1600MHz DDR3 Review

👤by David Mitchelson Comments 📅08-06-12
Test System & Overclocking

Test system

CPU Intel Core i5 3570K (Ivy Bridge)
Motherboard MSI Z77A-GD65
Graphics MSI R7970 Black Edition
Memory Topower Black-X 1600MHz 9-9-9-28 (1.65v)
HDD Kingston HyperX 240GB (SATA 3)
PSU OCZ 750W Fatal1ty
CPU Cooler Alpenfohn K2
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit



Overclocking

To establish an overclock the voltage was increase slightly to allow flexibility. Working backwards I began at 2133MHz and loosened the timings completely. Sadly I wasn’t even able to boot.

The next step was to drop the frequency whilst keeping the timings slack – 2000MHz was also a no go – the system POSTED but froze on entry into Windows.

Finally, at 1866MHz the Black-X kit booted into Windows. CL11 was easily possible so I tweaked the CAS timings to CL9 to see if the stock settings would be possible with an increase in the frequency. Though the system did boot, instability was an issue so in similar fashion I set the timings to CL10 and though the stability test completed without errors during benchmarks the system would freeze so I had to bring the timings back to CL11.

It’s worthwhile mentioning that this kit at stock frequency was able to have its timings dropped lower to CL8. So whether you want low latency or more bandwidth – the choice is there.



So with the best overclock, modification now found – we will benchmark this kit with both stock and overclocked settings to demonstrate the performance results

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