Testing

     The test system consists of an ABIT KX7-333R motherboard with an unlocked AMD Athlon XP 2200+. The heatsink of choice will be the Dr. Thermal Extreme from CrazyPC. Other basic hardware includes a GeForce3, twin 30gig Maxtor hard drives running in RAID, and a SoundBlaster Audigy.

     We had planned on using the MSI KT4 Ultra in this review as well, however after we began testing this board we found that the board would not run at a bus speed over 188MHz with any memory or CPU. Knowing this, we abandoned all test results with the KT4 Ultra and will stick with the ABIT KX7-333R only.

     One thing I would like to mention is that the ABIT KX7-333R does not correctly support bus speeds over 166MHz. This means the motherboard can not calculate the bus speed correctly for the other hardware in the computer such as the video card and hard drives. Once we pass the 166MHz mark, we will be overclocking the other hardware as well, not just the CPU and memory.

     Memory timings is a big issue. Many times when people overclock to 166MHz and beyond, they have to lower the memory timings and CAS Latency. With the Corsair XMS, we did not have to lower the timings at all. In fact, we set every memory setting in the bios to maximum performance. MOST OF THE MEMORY WE HAVE TESTED HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO DO THIS AT 166MHz FSB. SOME MEMORY MODULES CAN NOT EVEN DO THIS AT 133MHz FSB. Knowing this, I don't expect the challenger, a stick of 512mb Xtreme DDR400, to even come close to the Corsair XMS. I guess we shall see!

     WARNING: Overclocking at high bus speeds can be extremely hazardous to your computer hardware. Do not attempt the following unless you are willing to accept responsibility for your own actions.

166MHz FSB

     Because AMD has now reached the 166MHz FSB mark with their Athlon XP processors, we will not show any benchmarks at 133MHz bus. Besides, most motherboards now allow the user to clock the memory separately from the CPU. This allows the user to run the memory at 166MHz bus (333MHz DDR) even though the CPU is only running at 133MHz bus.

     Okay, let's get started. First up will be results at 166MHz bus with the CPU running at approximately 1.8GHz. The first test will be with a stick of 512mb Xtreme DDR400.

512mb Xtreme DDR400
166MHz FSB / 333MHz DDR
Maximum DDR Performance Settings

<< FAIL >>

     That was quick... With the memory set at max performance, the Xtreme DDR400 memory fell flat on it's face. The machine would boot, but once the Windows XP desktop flashed, the system would blue screen and reboot. Keep in mind that this is memory that is "pretested" to do 400MHz DDR, but only at default memory settings. As for Corsair, they boast that their XMS memory can handle these extreme memory settings just fine all the way up to 434MHz DDR. Fact or fiction? Let's find out...

512mb Corsair XMS3500
166MHz FSB / 333MHz DDR
Maximum DDR Performance Settings

     Before I even installed the stick of Corsair, I never imagined that it could handle these ultra high memory settings... But when I hit the power button and it booted right into windows, I was totally amazed! To ensure that the system was 100% stable, I threw every thing I had at it. SiSoft Burn-In, RC5, Adobe Photoshop, Unreal Tournament 2003, Mad Onion...the list goes on. No matter what I did, the system remained 100% stable. Incredible...