Seeing as this is the first 4 GB memory kit that we have reviewed here at OCIA.net, we don't have any other 4 GB kits to compare this one against. Instead, I will be testing this memory against itself; by that, I mean, 2 GB vs. 4 GB. One of the main selling points of the 64 bit OS' is the ability to effectively run 4 GB + of system memory. My goal here today is to see if there is any real tangible benefit of using 4 GB of RAM versus the 2 GB that most enthusiasts run in the Windows Vista environment.

I will be conducting tests using my dedicated test system which consists of the following hardware.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.5 GHz
Zalman CNPS9500 CPU Heatsink
EVGA 680i SLI Motherboard
Two 8800 GTX cards in SLI configuration
74 GB Western Digital Raptor 10k RPM HDD
Lite-On Optical Drive
Mountain Mods Duality Case
Ultra Products X3 1kw PSU
Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit



I didn't run into any issues during installation and the system booted right up into Windows without issue.





Windows Vista has a new feature called Windows Experience Index which is designed to "benchmark" your system and give it a score based on a scale with a max value of 6. As new components are released, Microsoft will update the Experience Index with higher values to accommodate for more powerful hardware. As you can see, the memory subsystem turned in a score of 5.9 out of 6. Running the Experience Index with only 2 GB of memory resulted in the same score.

I will be testing this memory at 2 GB and 4 GB configurations using a mixture of synthetic and real-world gaming benchmarks. For synthetic benchmarks, I will be using SiSoft Sandra XII Lite (Win64 x64) - Memory Bandwidth and Latency - and Super Pi 4M calculations. For gaming, I will be using Colin McRae's DiRT and Far Cry v1.4, both in conjunction with FRAPS. I will also be taking a look at how 4 GB of memory affects performance in Jasc's Paint Shop Pro.

Continue ahead as we take a look at the results...