Although tighter memory timings and a 1T command rate can certainly improve the performance of the Athlon 64's memory subsystem, that improvement doesn't always translate to better application performance. In fact, with the exception of the Sphinx speech recognition engine, moving to tighter memory timings or a more aggressive command rate generally didn't improve performance by more than a few percentage points, if at all, in our tests. Lower latencies only improved WorldBench's overall score by a single point, and performance gains in games were generally limited to lower resolutions and detail levels.

For most users, the price premium associated with exotic 2-2-2-5 memory won't be worth the relatively modest performance gains that it offers. Low-latency memory does have an ace up its sleeve for overclockers, though. Most low-latency modules are capable of running at much higher clock speeds if you back off on their latencies a little. We've had our OCZ Platinum Rev 2 DIMMs, which are rated for 2-2-2-5 latencies at 400MHz, cranked all the way up to 560MHz with more relaxed 2.5-4-4-8 timings. Overclocking success is never guaranteed, of course, but low-latency memory modules tend to use higher quality chips that respond better to overclocking.