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Let’s summarize what we’ve seen. While DDR2 memory kits based on 1 GB DIMMs exceeded the 600 MHz line (DDR2-1200) many months ago, 2 GB modules are still on their way there. Consequently, all of the products in this roundup are based on selected memory chips and increased voltage levels, so they can reach speeds beyond DDR2-1066. Crucial, Geil, Kingston and Mushkin stick to this limit, which is also referred to as PC2-8500 (8.5 GB/s per 32-bit module at an effective 1066 MHz speed), while Corsair, OCZ and Walton Chaintech specify PC2-9136, PC2-9200 and PC2-9600 speeds (equal to DDR2-1142, DDR2-1150 and DDR2-1200 respectively). The product from Walton Chaintech really has issues, as it did not reach the specified speed. Corsair and OCZ both have solid enthusiast products.
None of the products have overclocking margins that could reach even a mere 7%. Customers will have to run their enthusiast memory at increased voltages, which we found caused the total power consumption level of our P45-based Core 2 Duo E8500 system to increase by up to 6.3%, depending on the memory product, and using Crucial’s 1.8 V JEDEC-compliant memory as a basis—without giving you any performance advantage at all.
The Crucial memory also isn’t our product of choice though, as its $200+ price tag is way too much for a standard memory product, even though Crucial certainly is known as diligent when it comes to compatibility. The two premium enthusiast brands once again provide superb hardware; OCZ even did so with a dual-path liquid cooling design for its Flex II XLC DIMMs, but you have to be aware that both come at a price premium to match. Depending on where you look, you’ll have to fork out $200 or more.
That leaves Walton Chaintech, which disqualified itself by not reaching what the specifications promise, Kingston and Mushkin. And it’s these last two brands that went through our testing without reaching remarkable records, but also without failing on us in any category. Power consumption and operating voltage were in line with our expectations, especially for Mushkin. Overclocking margins were small, but we guess almost everyone agrees when we say that there is not much more you can do today, and that the difference is small. Finally, their price tags of $150 turn these two products into the most attractive memory kits for upgraders or anyone else who is about to assemble a reasonable desktop PC with 4 GB of main memory.
The Recommended Buy award goes to the Kingston HyperX KHX8500D2K2/4G and Mushkin’s Ascent XP2-8500.
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Hmm, then this is a really good deal then:
kingston hyperx for $75 with shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820104060
But even then, prices in the article seem rather high don't they? Just wait for a rebate on the RAM and get it then, hell OCZ has had a new rebate continually for the last 3 months.
I don't know about this...
What with Nehalem, the X58 and DDR3, upgrading DDR2 seems like a cheap and temporary thrill.
What about this memory kit; I have it and love it...
http://www.patriotmem.com/products [...] 576&type=1
Runs rock stable on my 780G based board and this kit can be had for as little as $90. Was there some reason this memory was not included in the tests?
I use the Kingston mem on 1.066MHz with 4-4-4-12 timings on 2.2V and it is running stable for eight months now. Deffo a go.
SenseR.
lol I love how DDR2-667 performs within .2% of DDR3-1066
For me, DDR2-800 seems like a decent way to go. It can be found online for $60 for a 2x2GB set. I'm just rolling with a basic set of 2x2GB DDR2-800 XMS2 from Corsair. It runs fairly fast and cool; haven't tried overclocking them yet, though.
They are all overclocked 800mhz ics amnyway so it doesn't matter. You can but pc6400 modules that do 1066 - 1200 with ease these days. Tom should have picked specific ram ic's like micron d9's , promos, and a few other good ones and compared the overclocking that way.
Good Day
Wow that could have actually been a useful article if only you had done the test on an AMD system as well...
Wow that could have actually been a useful article if only you had done the test on an AMD system as well...
I was thinking the exact same thing. I think it's pretty well known, at least here, that you see little difference between DDR frequencies when they're above the Bus speed (for those processors still using the north bridge as a memory controller).
I would really like to see comparisons between DDR2 memory with a Phenom. I was looking for this the other day and turned up with little direct comparisons of DDR2-800 vs 1066. It'd be a really good article to read, and one that I think Tom's should jump on. It'd also give people a chance to see what an IMC can do and maybe help some people out when they're picking out DDR3 for their Core i7's.
I think writers @ Toms has to learn what Overclocking percentage means...
100% overclock is running it twice as fast as spec.
so running at 106% overclock is more then twice as fast?
I think their concept of overclocking percentages is mixed up.
bleh, these are the best high clock ddr2s on the market. guess they don't qualify since they are 1100mhz lolz.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231194
Hmm, then this is a really good deal then:kingston hyperx for $75 with shippinghttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820104060But even then, prices in the article seem rather high don't they? Just wait for a rebate on the RAM and get it then, hell OCZ has had a new rebate continually for the last 3 months.
That isn't the same Kingston ram featured in this article. The timing for that RAM is 7-7-7-20, although it is very affordable. I'm thinking of picking up a set of it myself.
According to OCZ's own website:
Important Note: Due to the width of the heatsink, Flex II memory kits cannot be installed on motherboards that require the modules to be inserted in sockets side by side. A maximum of one Flex II dual channel kit will fit on any motherboard with dual sockets.
I guess it's a good thing this review was done on an Asus board with staggered memory channels (A->B->A->B). If your motherboard groups your memory channels (like my old Gigabyte and Asus boards, i.e. A->A->B->B) then these modules will be worthless as they will be running in single-channel (cause you couldn't put two modules on the same memory channel). I think this fact alone means they are worthless as performance memory. You'd get better performance out of 667-dual channel if you have a mother board with grouped memory channels.
there's nothing interesting with memory technologies since before DDR2 came out. now, the FSB and RAMs had catch up with the CPU not like before.
but there's an interesting comment i've read above. Why not test a quad core with a heavily threaded application, i'm sure there will be big differences in memory/ram speeds.
ddr2-800 is as fast as it gets with sane fsb400. overclocking higher than fsb 400, ddr2-800 is only usefull untill ddr2-1066, fsb 533.
And like said before, most ddr2-800 kits go to 1066 with relative ease.
EVERYTHING above fsb 533/ ddr1066 is useless. Face it, acknowledge it, learn it.
Daredevils that push their system to 600+fsb do so for a very short of time just to prove that they can. Not many of those and usefulness of these test is debatable.
Where the heck is G.Skill... Would beat all of these in clean..
Heppy customer of G.Skill for several years..
Ummm... Am I the only one that knows about PAE???
Besides the fact that you didn't do all your homework the article was very well written and informative. Thanks
~Cheers
P.S. Next article idea... PAE and how it home users can benefit from it. BTW i do not recommend PAE if you use non-standard devices as it can have issues with drivers.
What is PAE? I dont know about it. Please share
What is PAE? I dont know about it. Please share
PAE stands for Physical Address Extension or something like that
so... its useless. ok
I really cant think of a single reason one shouldn't use win xp x64 instead of win xp 32bit- save for 16bit app support (think old dos games, that can be run on dosbox anyway..)
so... its useless. ok
No for some programs it is probably really cool