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The test setup

ASUS P2B-F (Rev. 1.10), Intel Pentium II 333, Matrox G100, WDC 6.4G HDD, 52x generic CDROM. Winstone Benchmarks in this environment are not really too informative, so we are restricting ourselves to simple statements about stability.

The test modules

Corsair / Micron 7.5 ns (tCK) DIMMs

The PCB is designed by Corsair and equipped with Micron memory chips that are specified as 7.5 ns tCK and 5.4 ns tAC

Micron 5.4 ns (tAC)memory chip

According to the specifications, these DIMMs are manufactured to run at 133 MHz at RAS to CAS delay = 3 cycles, CAS = 3 cycles and autorefresh = 3 cycles. Keep in mind though that these 3:3:3 values are established to meet operating situations under the worst possible conditions, that is 72 centigrades. Needless to say that the DIMMs had no problems under normal conditions.

In order to speed up tAC, a frequently used trick is to increase the input / output voltage from 3.3V to 3.7 V. This manipulation results in a steeper slope for the rising and falling edges of the memory cycle. In real life, since the memory cells are basically capacitors, ramping up the voltage results in a faster reaching of the output threshold and therefore is able to shorten the time until output begins. Using this very trick, it was no problem to run the Corsair /Micron DIMMs at much more aggressive timing settings, that is 2:2:2 at 133 MHz. However, this was only achievable under relatively cool conditions, i.e. ca 15 centigrades room temperature in an open case. Under these conditions we were also able to push the DIMMs up to 140 MHz at 3:3:3 settings, albeit with some degradation in stability.

There is no question that the Corsair Micron DIMMs are no match for the Enhanced Memory Systems HSDRAM, however, they are an excellent product that delivers great performance even within the "hostile" PC 100 environment

In addition to the DIMM tested, Corsair Micron Modules are available also in greater density that is in the form of Dual PCB modules or stacked TSOP modules of up to 1 GB (don’t try those at home )

Dual PCB design in which two DIMMs are soldered together on one output PCB, reminiscent of the first 16 cylinder Bugatti engines

Stacked TSOP design piggy backing two memory chips on top of each other

Mhhh, the Bugatti engines were famous for overheating.... Special thanks to Richard Hashim as well as to Michael Sporer for their input and suggestions.

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