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It is fair to say that just about anything goes, as we found timings and even frequency had little impact on performance, at least within reason. Naturally no one is going to use DDR3 memory clocked at 800MHz, and even 1066MHz memory is really out of the question as it's almost impossible to buy. The most common option is DDR3-1333, and as we found this appears to be the best all round option. Ideally DDR3-1333 memory with CAS6-7 timings would be best, but again we found that CAS8-9 timings made very little difference, so it is hardly worth spending extra money on the lower latency memory if it is fetching a price premium. In fact, surprisingly the Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB DDR3 memory that we used in this article can be had for just $70 US. Given that the Crucial Ballistix Tracer is designed to work with CAS6 timings at 1333MHz, makes it ideal AM3 memory for just about everyone. This memory can be safely overclocked well beyond its default operating specification, which also makes it suitable for overclockers. Something we did not cover in this article was the impact memory capacity has on performance, and this is an area that we have covered in the past. However given that no one in their right mind would upgrade to the AM3 platform with anything less than a pair of 2GB memory sticks, we did not see the need to test different capacities. Furthermore, while 8GB of memory may allow the user to do more at once, it will not influence performance in any way, unless as we said, you are doing some serious multi-tasking. Therefore we feel that for most users a 4GB memory kit is the sweet spot, and recommend that anyone building a new PC aim for at least this much memory. Based on our findings there is a $10 US price difference between DDR3-1333 memory supporting either CAS6 or CAS9 timings, with the latter being the slightly cheaper option. The OCZ Reaper HPC DDR3-1333 memory kit is another fine example, as it supports CAS6-6-6-20 timings while it costs just $70 US for the 4GB kit. Finally, those looking solely at gaming need not worry about timings or frequency, as neither really affected performance, and as we mentioned earlier, this is also the case with the new Intel Core i7 processors. Still, with low-latency DDR3-1333 memory being so affordable now, it really does not matter. Reviewed By Steven Walton |
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