Seven 8 GB DDR3 Memory Kits For Your AMD A75 Motherboard

PNY XLR8 DDR3-1600 CAS 9

PNY’s attempt at performance-oriented value focuses primarily on price, as its CAS 9 DDR3-1600 kit is the least-expensive of the products in today's round-up.

Buyers get a pair of basic DDR3-1600 modules with similarly basic black heat spreaders. These should still significantly outpace DDR3-1333 in our performance tests however, and we will of course attempt to overclock for even greater performance gains.

Our motherboard defaults all memory to DDR3-1066, and PNY’s memory in particular to CAS 8 timings. A look at the SPD values explains why: they jump directly from DDR3-888 CAS 6 to DDR3-1184 CAS 8, skipping past any CAS 7 settings that might have been appropriate for DDR3-1066 at default voltage.

CPU-Z couldn’t read PNY’s complete set of XMP values, and the company only lists these modules as CAS 9. We had to install them into an Intel motherboard to determine the complete 9-9-9-24 primary timing set, but returned them to our AMD platform for testing.

PNY provides a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser of its DRAM products.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
  • hmp_goose
    Where's the CAS7 DDR3-1333? Many of us are still trying to pin down how important timing are in the scheme of things …
    Reply
  • _Pez_
    Cool Review !! I liked it ! this review enforced my decision to choose Adata Ram-.
    Reply
  • whysobluepandabear
    hmp_gooseWhere's the CAS7 DDR3-1333? Many of us are still trying to pin down how important timing are in the scheme of things …
    They're not.


    You're better off buying value RAM with decent timings and throwing that extra $$$ into a GPU. I promise your FPS will improve more that way.



    Reply
  • Crashman
    9519239 said:
    Where's the CAS7 DDR3-1333? Many of us are still trying to pin down how important timing are in the scheme of things …
    CAS 7? Most of the modules were tested at DDR3-1333 CAS 6.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/llano-apu-memory-performance,3017-10.html

    Please read the article, thanks!
    Reply
  • Rizlla
    I have been looking at those Corsair kits for an upgrade and it's good to know they are approved.
    Reply
  • beenthere
    As has been known for quite some time, there is virtually no performance gain on DDR3 RAM with lower CAS because DDR3 has plenty of bandwidth and frequency. The higher the frequency the lower the cycle time in real time, thus CAS 7 vs. CAS 9 is totally insignificant in system performance.
    Reply
  • ojas
    Is it a valid conclusion that, if the 8GB kits are good, then the corresponding 4GB and 2GB kits would be good to? Or will pricing make a difference there?
    Reply
  • ChromeTusk
    9519243 said:
    I have been looking at those Corsair kits for an upgrade and it's good to know they are approved.
    Wish I found that Corsair CAS8 kit, but I did find the CAS9 version for $50, no rebate or shipping.
    Reply
  • nforce4max
    I bought the cheaper version G.SKill kit for $59 oh well :s can't wait for prices to drop again for a little splurge ;)
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Nice review guys!

    I got the HyperX modules the A8 and the Vengeance are on my main rig. Now, I'm still intrigued about unganged when using a 4 module MoBo. I got the A8 with 4 modules in unganged at 1600 CL9 and it runs pretty well, but i wonder how that compares to this 2 modules MoBo.

    Cheers!
    Reply