AMD and Patriot claim that the AMD Performance Edition memory is fully compatible with Intel systems, so we decided to put their claims to the test, and opened another 8GB kit. It was also a good opportunity to try overclock the memory to see how far we could push it in a Quad Channel Configuration.
Test System:
CPU: Intel Core i7 3960X Extreme Edition.
Cooler: Antec H20 920.
Graphics: Nvidia GTX590.
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme.
Chassis: Lian Li PC-A77FR Aluminium Red Full Tower Case.
Power Supply: Enermax Platimax 1200W.
Boot Drive: Patriot WildFire 120GB.
Secondary Drive: 1TB Samsung.
We selected the 1866mhz profile and loosened the AMD Performance Edition memory timings until we achieved complete stability, verified over several hours of loop testing.
We did manage to tighten the DRAM RAS to CAS Delay to 9, but it would flag a minor error in our testing suite, every 5 minutes or so. Increasing voltage to 1.67 didn't help either, we had reached the limit.
System validation is available over here at 1866mhz in QUAD Channel.
So how did this impact performance?
42 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is an exceptional result. 2,400mhz rated memory scores around 50 GB/s in this test on this particular ultra high end system.
We also tested the memory with a variety of P67/Z68 motherboards and it booted fine with all of them.