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X58 Triple Channel DDR3 Memory Roundup! 8 Mid-range Kits Tested

Memory by thorgal @ 2009-04-09

In the ever raging sales battle among memory manufacturers, the Core i7 launch must have been the wind that shook the barley. While everyone was convinced i7 would be the real start of DDR3 technology, it also was a ´back to the drawing board´ call for most, having to come up with lower voltage memory parts - with decent performance - in a hurry. Four months into the launch now, we present you with a roundup of 8 mid-range kits from 8 different manufacturers. Begun, the new battle has.

Test results at 200 Bclk

Testing at 200bclk

Our second benchmark suite was run at a base clock of 200, and a memory divider of 2:10 resulting in about 1600Mhz memory speed, the exact speed that these memory kits are rated for. We used the best possible timings at a command rate of 1T, and this is the list for the different modules :

OCZ Platinum : 7-7-7-21-1T
Mushkin Radioactive : 7-8-7-20-1T
Corsair Dominator : 8-8-8-24-1T
Geil Value : 8-8-7-24-1T
G.Skill : 8-8-7-24-1T
Qimonda-Aeneon : 9-9-9-27-1T
Patriot Viper : 8-8-8-24-1T
Crucial Ballistix : 7-8-7-24-1T

Test results - bandwidth and latency

Let's start off with Sisoftware's Sandra again :

Madshrimps (c)

The logic of the timings is for a great deal respected, except again when it comes down to the Crucial kit, which finishes last in the Sandra test, and would finish higher in the Everest test. The dominator kit is also faster than its timings would let you believe.

Next up is the Latency result, for which we use Everest once more:

Madshrimps (c)

OCZ wins this one hands down. As said, Everest makes no difference between 3Gb or 6Gb kits : Crucial is in the top 3.

More 200bclk results on the next page >

Comment from Kougar @ 2009/04/10

Quote:

I decided not to include the results in this review yet, as there wasn't actually anything wrong with the kits at their rated speeds. Both did the rated speeds and timings without any issues, they just didn't overclock to any satisfying level.

This has been observed with Corsair Dominator kits in other reviews. Link

I was just about to buy a kit of OCZ Platinum, nice to see the overclocking results here, thank you. Should probably mention the 6GB OCZ Platinum 1600MHz kit is available for $80 shipped AMIR, cheapest 1600MHz kit of all those tested.

Comment from blind_ripper @ 2009/04/10

80$

, thats cheap!

btw u got a pic mixed up @ page 8 from the OCZ's, cas 7 has the cas8 pic

.
althoughe very nice work thorgal

Comment from thorgal @ 2009/04/10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kougar

Yes, I read the xbit article, they come to about the same conclusion indeed.

The Patriots can also be had for $79,99 now at Newegg, could be the OCZ's are equally cheap somewhere (they're $89,99 at Newegg).

Comment from leeghoofd @ 2009/04/10

Great work Ram "Torsten" Guy

Comment from Kougar @ 2009/04/10

Yes, but the Patriots are CAS 9. OCZ Platinum is CAS 7 (better than anything Corsair offers too).

Didn't hear it from me: Newegg Promo code EMCLRLV42 for $10 off OCZ3P1600LV6GK ($80). Even less if buying NIB on ebay.

Comment from Jaco @ 2009/04/11

good article / review .

Still reading ... lots of numbers

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