Corsair's XMS2 Dominator: The World's Fastest DDR2?

Dominator Types

The corsair DHX Dominator series comes in two flavors : The first is the top-of-the-line PC2-8888 C4 (1111 MHz DDR clock speed) model. The second is a lower-cost alternative, rated PC2-8500 C5 (1066 MHz DDR), which is for those who want the added benefits of DHX, but do not need the additional speed option of the PC2-8888 C4.

Corsair DHX XMS2 Dominator PC2-8888 C4

We got our hands on a set of PC2-8888 C4 modules and decided to put Corsair’s claims to the test. Our modules came with the Dominator Airflow fan, which the company says guarantees seamless operation above 2.5 V. At this point, it’s important to note that the default voltage for DDR2 memory is 1.8 V, while high-performance products go up to 2.3 V. The cooler is built from steel sheets and has three 40 mm (1.57") fans that blow directly onto the fins. Although they are not loud, this clearly is not a product for people who want low-noise machines. The airflow unit is attached to the DIMM-locks and its cable is adequately long.

Test Setup

For our benchmarks, we chose the Asus Crosshair motherboard due to its very good overclocking capabilities. The modules are specified to run with 2.5 V, and we had no problem achieving the promised 1111 MHz DDR2 speed mark. However, for a better comparison, we operated the Dominator memory at 1,123 MHz, which can be reached by overclocking a DDR2-800 setup. Using the Extreme Tweaker in the BIOS we set the RAM to 2.4 V and the front side bus to a 281 MHz base speed, after which we started the system and had no stability issues with the setup. We even increased the memory frequency to 1,200 MHz at 2.5 V with CL4-4-4-12 timing without any stability issues or errors from prime.

Benchmark And Settings

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