Testing & Results

Testing Methodology

I am interested in seeing just what the increased DRAM speed support on the A10-6800K can do. I have to admit upfront that DRAM scaling has always disappointed me in the past and I am not expecting miracles now. When I buy RAM, I usually go for the middle of the road and I buy whatever is on sale.

For testing the AX3U2400W4G11, I want to give the RAM kits the best opportunity to provide a performance boost, so I’ll be using the A10-6800K with its integrated GPU. I’ll also be using a couple of other dual-channel RAM kits to compare with the AX3U2400W4G11.

Test System

• Motherboard: ASUS F2A85-M Pro
• Processor: 4.1GHz A10-6800K
• Video: APU Graphics 8760D
• Disk Drive: Seagate Solid State Hybrid ST1000LM014 1TB
• PSU: Thermaltake Black Widow W0319RU 850W 80 PLUS Bronze
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional

Benchmarks Used

• FinalWire AIDA64 v3.00.2500 Memory Tests
• Passmark Performance Test 8
• Sisoft Sandra Lite 2013.05.19.44
• Handbrake 0.9.9
• Bioshock Infinite
• Tomb Raider

Results

AIDA64 Memory Test

Benchmark Reviews has used AIDA64 and its predecessor Lavalys Everest for years, mainly for its processor benchmarks and CPU stress-testing features. But it also includes a “Cache and Memory Benchmark” that performs read, write, and copy bandwidth tests on a system’s installed memory.

In the AIDA tests, the Kingston HyperX Beast Kit leads the pack in every category, but really shines in the copy and read tests.

Passmark Performance Test 8

Passmark Performance Test 8 is a comprehensive benchmarking suite that tests many areas of your PC, including RAM. Passmark offers a comprehensive online database to check your results against a lot of others.

Passmark tells the same story as AIDA, with the KHX21C11T3K2/16X leading the pack in both read and write speeds.

SiSoft Sandra Memory Test

SiSoft’s Sandra Lite is a free version of SiSoftware’s “Sandra” benchmarking utility. Its comprehensive memory benchmark tests report a number of items, but we’re interested memory throughput tests. Unlike some other benchmarks that merely perform straight sequential reads and writes, Sandra reads and writes different areas of memory, using integer as well as floating point data, all in SMP mode.

In the Sandra tests, the 16GB kits perform right along the lines with their respective speeds.

Handbrake 0.9.9

HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder program designed to convert MPEG video (including DVD-Video) into an MPEG-4 video file in MPEG-4 Part 14 (.mp4) or Matroska (.mkv) containers. The program is used to convert DVDs into other forms so they can be viewed on portable media devices and with most media players. While Handbrake was originally developed for BeOS, it is now available for Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

Handbrake is a readily available program that easily handles and utilizes multiple CPU cores and threads. This makes it an ideal program for us to use to test CPU performance. The amount of time it takes for Handbrake to convert a media file scales very nicely based on the clock speed and available cores of the CPU. For this test, I used a 4.34GB video file in MPEG format to be converted to MP4 format using the “iPhone & iPod Touch” presets. I recorded the total time in (min:sec) that it took to transcode the video file.

The KHX21C11T3K2/16X kit pulls ahead here as well.

Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite, by Irrational Games, was one of the most highly anticipated games of its time. According the vast majority of reviews on the game, it didn’t disappoint. Having played it, I can tell you that the story line grabs you and doesn’t let go. The moral and ethical quandries and twisting plot will keep you in front of your screen for hours on end. The graphics are nothing to shake a stick at either. That being said, Bioshock Infinite was built on the aging (although still widely used) Unreal Engine 3. That same engine has been in use since DX9 and was designed to take full advantage of shader hardware. In Bioshock Infinite, of course, the engine uses DX11 features to make the graphics that much more realistic.The Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB 2133MHz kit pulls ahead in the Bioshock tests. In terms of real performance, we are looking at only about a 10% increase in frames per second.

Tomb Raider

The KHX21C11T3K2/16X wins in the Tomb Raider benchmark as well, and this time it’s to the tune of over 20%. That’s a little better, although the increase in RAM speed is 50%.