Crucial is a name most often associated with high quality memory. Pity that they are so conservative, releasing memory only when a standard has been established, because Crucial memory would be much more popular if they released more highly rated sticks, following the lead of Corsair et all. With no official standard set for speeds greater than PC3200 operation, this Crucial memory comes rated for PC2700 with the Crucial trademark conservative timings.
Module Size: 256MB
Package: 184-pin DIMM
Feature: DDR PC2700
Configuration: 32Meg x 64
DIMM Type: Unbuffered
Error Checking: Non-parity
Speed: 6ns
Voltage: 2.5V
SDRAM Timings: CL=2.5
There is nothing really special about this memory stick. It comes with standard six nanosecond chips, rated for basic PC2700 operation, sporting an arrangement of 32M x 64 chips. Since this is a double sided stick make sure your motherboard has a sufficient amount of free banks (a double sided stick uses two banks).
Overclocking Crucial memory will void your warrantee, just be aware of that now. I was quite surprised how well the memory scaled, especially for one that only guaranteed PC2700 operation with such conservative timings. With the fastest timings (2/2/2/5), it was able to reach 179 MHz. With slightly reduced timings (2.5/2/2/6), the memory yielded an extra performance boost, reaching 190 MHz. With further reduced timings (2.5/2/2/7), 204 MHz was possible. The maximum overclock (2.5/3/3/7) was at healthy 219 MHz, albeit with 2.7V.
Intel Pentium 4 2.26GHz
Albatron PX845PE Pro II
Crucial 256MB DDR333
Leadtek WinFast A250 Ti4400
SoundBlaster Audigy
Western Digital 800JB
Pioneer 16x Slot DVDROM
Turbolink 420W Power Supply
Since both you can I have seen millions of these reviews already, I’ll spare you the millions of benchmarks and just include a few. Doing memory tests are especially hard on a Pentium 4 platform because there is no way to keep the processor speed level. Any increase in memory speed means an increase in processor speed.
Looking at the results, they are right where they are supposed to be. The score increases ramp up nice from the now outdated DDR266 speed to an overclocked speed of DDR438. Remember, each stick of memory is different: your mileage will vary. Your memory might overclock better or much worse. Luck plays an extremely large role.
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