New Memory Overclocking Record: 4.56 GHz

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Gigabyte's overclocking team has managed to attain a new memory overclocking record, bringing a set of DDR3 memory up to a frequency of a staggering 4.56 GHz.

This new record was set at the Kingston HyperX OC Takeover World Finals where the team used a Z97X-SOC FORCE LN2 motherboard. Humorously, but not without reason, the overclockers also used oscilloscopes to demonstrate the true frequency of the memory. Given that there are reports going around that it may be possible to post false frequencies to HWBOT, the team felt that this was the only way to truly demonstrate that they set a world record. Their efforts certainly deserve some admiration. (Don't mind the blue screen of death at the end of the video below.)

Of course, we can't help but question the practical uses of overclocks such as this, but it does tell you that these high-end overclocking motherboards and memory components are built to sustain impressive clocks. You do need liquid nitrogen for cooling to be able to achieve this. Beyond having a company sponsor all the required hardware, you'll also need a ton of patience and skill.

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Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • MANOFKRYPTONAK
    This has no real world application, it doesn't make me trust there product more at all. I really hate marketing ploys like this.
    Reply
  • Damon Palovaara
    This has no real world application, it doesn't make me trust there product more at all. I really hate marketing ploys like this.

    Overclocking is one of the motivational forces behind companies to make better products which will eventually work it's way down to the mainstream.
    Reply
  • tom10167
    I thought profits were.
    Reply
  • qlum
    And then DDR4 launches and a few years after that this may be your average ram frequency.
    Reply
  • MANOFKRYPTONAK
    13641335 said:
    This has no real world application, it doesn't make me trust there product more at all. I really hate marketing ploys like this.

    Overclocking is one of the motivational forces behind companies to make better products which will eventually work it's way down to the mainstream.

    Everyone on TH knows they just cherry pick the best parts and have professional over clockers with LN hit these marks. It is largely unattainable by the average consumer to achieve this. But what about people who really don't know much about components, they will just assume that GIGABYTE is the best.

    Its like a motorcycle I bought, the pictures for the ad had the rider doing wheelies. But in fine little print it said not to do this that it could damage your motor. It is IMHO misleading.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    13642030 said:
    And then DDR4 launches and a few years after that this may be your average ram frequency.

    DDR4 should go up to 4266 but it could also be like DDR3 which has surpassed its expected top end speed. Plus DDR4 will be hitting later this year with Haswell-E and probably Skylake at the latest for mainstream if not Broadwell so it is not too far off.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    13642775 said:
    DDR4 should go up to 4266 but it could also be like DDR3 which has surpassed its expected top end speed.
    The 4266MT/s high-end is an extrapolation from DDR3 managing to get somewhat decent yields at 2133 but the official spec does not go that high.

    All DRAM interface generations have seen one or two speed grades beyond the highest standard speed grade in enthusiast kits. DDR3 is a bit odd in that regard with 4-5 pseudo-standard grades beyond JEDEC spec. DDR4 might not repeat that.
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    A Memory overclock like that would help A10-7850K to get a lot more FPS.
    Reply
  • ykki
    But the memory controller of the 7850k also has to keep up
    Reply
  • Someone Somewhere
    Should really change the title to MT/s...


    And toss DDR3 in there; there's plenty of non-DDR3 that can go way above that. GDDR5 etc.
    Reply