PNY Adds 2133MHz and 1866MHz XLR8 Memory
PNY is expanding its XLR8-branded memory series with 2133 MHz and 1866 MHz versions that are sold as 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) and 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) kits.

The 2133 MHz memory comes with red aluminum heat spreaders and 9-12-11-27 timings, while the 1866 MHz version gets black heat spreaders and 9-12-9-27 timings. Both types include PNY's lifetime warranty.
Prices begin at $60 for the 8 GB 1866 MHz kit as well as $90 for the 8 GB 2133 MHz kit and top out at $125 for the 16 GB 1866 MHz and $180 for the 2133 MHz variant. PNY is also offering a lower end 1600 MHz version, which is offered for $90 MSRP for a 16 GB kit.
"Operating speeds of 1600MHz and greater have become the sought after memory for gamer consumers and we're broadening our range of high-performance XLR8 memory to hit gamers at every level," said Nicholas Mauro, senior marketing manager, PC components for PNY. "The 16GB DDR3 2133MHz kit is now the highest capacity and fastest memory in our line-up, offering the extreme performance that the games of today demand. In addition, all of our new memory kits are great compliments to PNY's line of XLR8 Gaming graphics cards."
I also had PNY on my blacklist after seeing the firsthand experience of two of their GPUs' fans dying within months in a friend's computer, and then refusing replacement or refund because the GPUs were no longer in stock.
It would be so nice if Tomshardware reviewed companies' technical/customer support.
Would be the best article Toms ever wrote. I support this 10,000%.
But given that they have put lifetime warranties on these memory kits, it seems they seems that they have improved their quality (or are at least trying to) leaps and bounds since I last bought from them back in 2003.
I also had PNY on my blacklist after seeing the firsthand experience of two of their GPUs' fans dying within months in a friend's computer, and then refusing replacement or refund because the GPUs were no longer in stock.
It would be so nice if Tomshardware reviewed companies' technical/customer support.
Would be the best article Toms ever wrote. I support this 10,000%.
Matched sets are guaranteed to work together and as such are more expensive than two unmatched sets
What? Any two set are guaranteed to work together as long as they run on the same frequency. You don't even need to buy from the same vendor.
Civilization 5 is heavily dependent on RAM bandwidth. Going from 1333 Mhz to 1866 Mhz with the same timing could potentially boost FPS by 20%, with no other hardware modification.
With the crappy timings on this RAM I doubt it would increase as much as you think. I've seen to many reviews prove that RAM timing is more important than speed. Often good timed RAM will out perform 1 or even 2 speed tiers of poorly timed RAM above it.
Unless you're using Llano, in which case speed seems to make more difference than timing, at least from 1333MHz to 1600MHz.
As RAM speed seemingly makes less of a difference for Core processors (with the possible exception of using the HD2000/3000, assuming you would want to), timings would certainly make more sense here.
I'd rather run gskill/mushkin 1.5v 10-11-10 memory