Mushkin XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2 – Xtreme Performance Memory
by Steve Carmel & Wesley Fink on March 28, 2006 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Final Words
Mushkin has done an excellent job with the Elpida DDR2 chips that are available today. The XP2 (Extreme Performance) DDR2 PC2-5300 2 GB dual channel kit is competitive with the best Micron chips that we have tested from the past. It is true that the Mushkin Elpida is still not quite as fast as the older Micron DDR2 memory at lower DDR2 speeds, but the difference is very small. However, at higher DDR2 speeds, the Mushkin XP2-5300 actually performs a bit better than the legendary Micron DDR2 chips.
Significantly, you can still readily buy Mushkin DDR2 memory, but the memory based on the older Micron chips is no longer to be found, or is an End-Of-Life (EOL) product for current memory manufacturers. Normally, we would not include EOL memory in benchmark comparisons, but since the Micron fat-body D is still the memory to beat in the DDR2 arena, we included all 3 variants of DIMMs based on Micron fat-body D chips.
The combination of the Elpida chips with the custom Brain Power PCB, along with the new and improved heat spreader, has put Mushkin in the thick of the performance chase in DDR2 memory. The timings on the Elpida EDE5108AGSE chips are nearly as tight as the legendary Micron D9 Fat Body chips, as long as you feed the Elpida chips a bit more voltage. The normal DDR2 specification is 1.8V, but the best performance can be had with the Mushkin Elpida modules using 2.1V to 2.5V memory voltage.
What separates the Mushkin XP2 PC2-5300 DDR memory from a lot of others at this point in time is how these modules thrive on voltage. This memory offers flexibility, whether used for video rendering, gaming or overclocking. Mushkin warrants this product to run at a voltage range from 2.1 to 2.3 volts, although Elpida's own specifications indicate this is a 1.8 volt part.
In our testing, we noticed that the sweet spot for the voltage at higher clocks was right at 2.3 volts, and we tested in a wide range from 1.8 volts to 2.5 volts. Mushkin's recommended voltage range from 2.1 to 2.3 volts is appropriate. Gaming and 3D benchmarking provided no issues at all with the Mushkin XP2 DDR2 PC2-5300 dual channel kit. While testing at 340 x 13, at 3-3-3-10 memory timings, we were able to reach the following 3DMark scores with our standard test bed with an nVidia 7800GTX video card:
3DMark06 - 5123
3DMark05 - 8949
3DMark03 - 19496
3DMark01 - 32305
For gamers who seek fast timings and high bandwdith at stock memory ratios, the Mushkin XP2-5300 is a very good choice. The same can be said for overclockers looking for the highest DDR2 clock speeds that they can find. There are a few memories that can go higher in speed than Mushkin DDR2, but there are very few current DDR2 modules that can do 3-3-3 timings to DDR2-700 and above, or DDR2 memories that can handle higher voltage as well as this Mushkin. For now, the Mushkin XP2-5300 is a good choice among DDR2 1GB modules in 2GB kits.
Looking ahead, we are starting to see some new DDR2 announcements for DDR2 - 1000 and DDR2-1100 memory speeds. We will soon be testing these very latest DDR2 kits, and it will be interesting to see how this excellent Mushkin memory holds up in comparison to these latest kits using the new Micron chips.
Mushkin has done an excellent job with the Elpida DDR2 chips that are available today. The XP2 (Extreme Performance) DDR2 PC2-5300 2 GB dual channel kit is competitive with the best Micron chips that we have tested from the past. It is true that the Mushkin Elpida is still not quite as fast as the older Micron DDR2 memory at lower DDR2 speeds, but the difference is very small. However, at higher DDR2 speeds, the Mushkin XP2-5300 actually performs a bit better than the legendary Micron DDR2 chips.
Significantly, you can still readily buy Mushkin DDR2 memory, but the memory based on the older Micron chips is no longer to be found, or is an End-Of-Life (EOL) product for current memory manufacturers. Normally, we would not include EOL memory in benchmark comparisons, but since the Micron fat-body D is still the memory to beat in the DDR2 arena, we included all 3 variants of DIMMs based on Micron fat-body D chips.
The combination of the Elpida chips with the custom Brain Power PCB, along with the new and improved heat spreader, has put Mushkin in the thick of the performance chase in DDR2 memory. The timings on the Elpida EDE5108AGSE chips are nearly as tight as the legendary Micron D9 Fat Body chips, as long as you feed the Elpida chips a bit more voltage. The normal DDR2 specification is 1.8V, but the best performance can be had with the Mushkin Elpida modules using 2.1V to 2.5V memory voltage.
What separates the Mushkin XP2 PC2-5300 DDR memory from a lot of others at this point in time is how these modules thrive on voltage. This memory offers flexibility, whether used for video rendering, gaming or overclocking. Mushkin warrants this product to run at a voltage range from 2.1 to 2.3 volts, although Elpida's own specifications indicate this is a 1.8 volt part.
In our testing, we noticed that the sweet spot for the voltage at higher clocks was right at 2.3 volts, and we tested in a wide range from 1.8 volts to 2.5 volts. Mushkin's recommended voltage range from 2.1 to 2.3 volts is appropriate. Gaming and 3D benchmarking provided no issues at all with the Mushkin XP2 DDR2 PC2-5300 dual channel kit. While testing at 340 x 13, at 3-3-3-10 memory timings, we were able to reach the following 3DMark scores with our standard test bed with an nVidia 7800GTX video card:
3DMark06 - 5123
3DMark05 - 8949
3DMark03 - 19496
3DMark01 - 32305
For gamers who seek fast timings and high bandwdith at stock memory ratios, the Mushkin XP2-5300 is a very good choice. The same can be said for overclockers looking for the highest DDR2 clock speeds that they can find. There are a few memories that can go higher in speed than Mushkin DDR2, but there are very few current DDR2 modules that can do 3-3-3 timings to DDR2-700 and above, or DDR2 memories that can handle higher voltage as well as this Mushkin. For now, the Mushkin XP2-5300 is a good choice among DDR2 1GB modules in 2GB kits.
Looking ahead, we are starting to see some new DDR2 announcements for DDR2 - 1000 and DDR2-1100 memory speeds. We will soon be testing these very latest DDR2 kits, and it will be interesting to see how this excellent Mushkin memory holds up in comparison to these latest kits using the new Micron chips.
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rallyhard - Friday, June 23, 2006 - link
NOTE:Under "Anandtech Deals" at the top of each page of the review, there is a link called " Mushkin 2 x 1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 RAM". This link will take you to Mushkin part #991382 memory, which that page will tell you has 4-4-4 timings. Newegg will tell you this RAM has 5-5-5 timings. In any case, the RAM this link refers to is not the same stuff that they reviewed. The reviewed RAM is 3-3-3 timings, which I'm assuming must be Mushkin part #991512.
artifex - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
Wow, last time I had a warranty return at Mushkin, I just emailed them their serials and they shipped me replacements overnight with my credit card as collateral for the return. Of course, I bought from their website, not from a retail store... but there was no talk of packaging. What packaging? :)Has Mushkin changed owners?
bldckstark - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
On page 7 you show the Mushkin memory at the top of the graph with 65.1 and all other memories have lower times. To be consistent with all of your other graphs the rankings are apparently reversed since the super pi results are "lower is better", and the Mushkin should have finished last, not first and be on the bottom of the graph, not the top. Unless I forgot to take my medicine today, again, and I am reading the article upside down, again.Nice article. I'll keep waiting for the latencies to come down so that we might see some life out of AM2 against Conroe.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
The Super Pi chart is now in Ascending order as it should be. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.Pirks - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
I recall buying some Mushkin stuff a long time ago. A HUGE price AFAIR and then one DDR stick died and they replaced it no questions asked. But now, after checking out their prices and seeing noname 2 GB DDR sticks for $200 CAN TOTAL (!) in my local store... well, guess which way I went. Now 2GB with the same price as Mushkin's EXTRADUPERFAST 512MB is soo sweet, no swap in XP and stuff... not saying Mushkin is bad, it's just so nice to spend $$$ on the AMOUNT of memory, not the speed. Sometime I'll get 4GB of noname sticks and make myself a hefty RAM disk and outrun those Raptor boasting kids, hehe :))artifex - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
Pirks, spend a little more for name brand, even if not high-performance. That $20 or so you save up front isn't going to look so good if you ever have a memory glitch that causes you to lose data.I buy Mushkin, but only for machines that I'm going to be building at the margins of their rated specs, intend to overclock, etc. I feel like Mushkin sticks might be just a little more solid for that.
I don't overclock all my stuff, though, and for just regular performance that is solid, like in my Mac Mini, I use Crucial. I wouldn't go with a no-name. And I never, ever, would buy loose sticks from a place like Fry's. :)
Pirks - Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - link
That's because you don't know what www.memtest.org is :P
Inkjammer - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
I've not seen enough of a performance boost from the "elite" memory to justify the price. Now, I say this, and I have 2GB of Kingston HyperX memory in my system. I swapped it out for 2GB of regular Kingston Value RAM and the performance difference was minor at best. If I weren't running a benchmark on it via SANDRA I'd never have even noticed.It seems to be geared to overclockers primarily, or people who just wanna pimp their rig. I think you could take the extra $200 for 2GB and invest in a beefier CPU or graphics card and really, REALLY see a performance difference.
WxChaser - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
Mushkin was the first memory company to produce enthusiast memory using the Elpida chips, allowing them to overclock very well at tight timings for DDR2. These modules will provide excellent performance for Intel DDR2 motherboards, and migrate quite well to the AMD socket AM2 when those platforms are released later this year.Please note that Mushkin has revamped their main web presence recently, and markets to 3 main target groups now. These are enhanced performance, high performance, and extreme performance. The XP2 PC2-5300 modules we tested were the extreme performance category - in other words aimed at the overclocking and gaming niche markets primarily.
Inkjammer - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
I'd still love to see a comparison on RAM between standard and enthusiast and stock speeds. I know that the built in spreaders are fantastic for heat dissapation, but how much added performance is gained for the extra money?Granted, I have enthusiast RAM, so... don't think of me as a hypocrit, but I still ponder just how much better this RAM is if you're not overclocking to the MAX.