Chicago (IL) - 675, 750, 800 MHz. Announcements of new performance memory modules hit our mailbox at least in pairs. In the most recent wave of releases, Kingston and Corsair both claim to offer the world's fastest DDR2 memory.

Corsair was first to announce its "world's fastest memory" early today. According to manufacturer the XMS2 5400UL is optimized for Nvidia's nForce 4 Intel chipset and delivers on the LGA 775 significantly more overclocking ability than previous solution. Corsair guarantees a clock speed of 675 MHz, but said that the memories have headroom for about 20 to 30 percent more speed, allowing enthusiasts to lift the devices beyond 1 GHz.

Corsair spokeswoman Vivian Lien said the claim "world's fastest" would have to be seen in conjunction with the latency performance of the XMS2 modules. Settings of the devices are 3-2-2-8-1T, with the 1T being the first time to be offered, according to Corsair. The modules are available in 512 MByte and 1 GByte configurations and will be priced from about $155.

Later today, the "world's fastest" claim was used by Kingston for HyperX PC2-6000 memory modules. The memory modules operate at 1.9 volts and are clocked at 750 MHz by default. Kingston said it overclocked the memories up to 866 MHz. Latency timings of the DIMMs are 4-4-4-12-1. Pricings tarts at $112 for 256 MByte modules and $194 for 512 MByte.

Late Thursday, Corsair upped the competition with the XMS2 6400, the first volume DDR2 memory reaching 800 MHz. As the 5400UL, the 6400 targets Intel PCs equipped with the nForce 4 SLI chipset. Timing of the modules is 5-5-5-12.

Corsair maintained its position that the 675 MHz XMS2 5400UL currently is the fastest memory out there, due to its ability to be overclocked by up to 30 percent and latency performance. In contrast, the 800 MHz XMS2 6400 would be offered for "users who do not overclock" their systems, Lien said. The modules are available in 512 MByte and 1 GByte configurations and are priced from about $135.

At this time we are still waiting for OCZ to jump into the current world's fastest DDR2 memory competition. Yesterday, the company announced a 625 MHz DDR1 module for DFI's nForce 4 motherboard.

Related stories:
Nvidia unleashes nForce 4 SLI for Intel platform
OCZ launches PC-5000 memory series for DFI mobos

Source : Tom's Hardware US