Comparing: DDR3 SODIMM 1066MHz [Disk] vs DDR4 SODIMM 3200MHz [Disk]

Specification Comparison Table

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Submission Comparison Table

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About Hardware DDR3 SODIMM 1066MHz [Disk]

DDR3 SODIMM 1066MHz is a third-generation memory module with a speed of 1066MHz that is commonly used in laptops and small devices. With the SODIMM form factor, these modules are often the standard choice for mobile computing systems, serving as the main memory for running operating systems, applications, and light to medium multitasking processes.

However, in this particular experiment, two 1066MHz DDR3 SODIMM modules from Micron and ADATA (2GB capacity each) were uniquely configured as a RAMDisk, a temporary storage space that uses RAM capacity to simulate a storage drive with much higher access speeds than SSDs or HDDs.

The 1066MHz DDR3 SODIMM-based RAMDisk test was conducted on an HP 1000 1b05au laptop device, powered by an AMD E1-1200 processor. The system is equipped with a 2x2GB DDR3 SODIMM 1600MHz RAM configuration, but due to processor architecture limitations, the memory only runs in single channel mode with an effective speed of 1066MHz. The operating system used is Windows 7, and to create and manage the RAMDisk, two popular applications, SoftPerfect RAMDisk and ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver, were used. The configured RAMDisk size was 2GB, utilizing some of the available RAM capacity.

Even though the device specifications are old and have limited memory bandwidth, the RAMDisk configured in this system was still able to show excellent performance in the read and write speed benchmarks. Based on tests using CrystalDiskMark, the read speed reached 746.24 MB/s, while the write speed touched 828.18 MB/s. In a follow-up test using ATTO Disk Benchmark with a 64MB block size, the read speed increased to 1020.00 MB/s, and the write speed reached 1080.00 MB/s. These results prove that even on older systems, RAMDisk configurations are still capable of delivering very high I/O performance, far surpassing conventional storage such as HDDs or even some SSDs.

Analysis

The results show that a 1066MHz DDR3-based RAMDisk is still capable of delivering data transfer speeds on par with entry-level NVMe SSDs, even outperforming many SATA SSDs and leaving conventional HDDs far behind. This makes RAMDisks an ideal solution for temporary use such as:

• Application caching,
• Temporary file storage,
• Fast computing with high I/O,
• Software or script testing without the risk of contaminating the main file system.

Although limited to a small capacity (2GB in this test), RAMDisk is still very useful for specific needs, especially for users with more than enough RAM or older devices that want to maximize their performance.

Test on:

Device: HP 1000 1b05au
Specs: 
CPU: AMD E1-1200
OS: Windows 7
RAM: 2x2GB Single Channel 2 DIMM 1066MHz (Does not support dual channel due to limitations of the CPU, currently running single channel mode and 1066MHz)

Wednesday, 26 December 2012 14:27:32 | Update: 1 month ago

About Hardware DDR4 SODIMM 3200MHz [Disk]

DDR4 SODIMM 3200MHz is a high-speed RAM module designed for use in modern laptops with a small form factor (SO-DIMM). With an effective frequency of up to 3200MHz, this module delivers higher bandwidth and better power efficiency compared to previous generations, such as DDR3. These DDR4 modules are perfect for heavy multitasking, large application processing, and light gaming on portable devices.

In this test, the 3200MHz DDR4 SODIMM module was configured as a RAMDisk, which is a super-fast storage system that utilizes part of the RAM capacity to serve as an ultra-high-speed virtual drive. Using a RAMDisk allows for much faster file access than an SSD, making it an ideal solution for data caching, temporary file processing or extreme I/O testing. Despite its temporary nature (data is lost when the computer is shut down or restarted), its performance advantage is felt in certain scenarios such as fast rendering, program compilation, or storage benchmarks.

The test was conducted on a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 14ITL6 laptop with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 12GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM in a dual channel configuration (8GB V-GeN + 4GB onboard Micron), and Windows 11 22H2 operating system. The 2GB RAMDisk was created using SoftPerfect RAMDisk and ImDisk Virtual Disk applications, two popular software for managing RAM-based virtual storage.

The benchmark results showed very impressive performance: CrystalDiskMark recorded read speeds of 7844.91 MB/s and write speeds of 12726.74 MB/s, while in ATTO Disk Benchmark (64MB block size), read speeds reached 5740.00 MB/s and write speeds of 6020.00 MB/s. These results prove that using RAMDisk with 3200MHz DDR4 is one of the most effective ways to deliver ultra-fast storage performance in laptop systems, exceeding the speed of even NVMe SSDs in certain scenarios. With ultra-low latency and high bandwidth, 3200MHz DDR4 SODIMM-based RAMDisks are an attractive solution for users who require extreme performance for specific tasks.

Device test (testbed):

Device: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 14ITL6
CPU: i5 1135G7
RAM: 12GB DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel (8+4)
OS: Windows 11 22H2

Friday, 06 August 2021 04:34:19 | Update: 1 month ago