4GB Gets Cheap: 9 Dual-Channel Kits Compared

Features
By Thomas Soderstrom
published

Kingston, Mushkin, And Patriot

Kingston KHX8500AD2K2/4G

Kingston is the second company to provide factory overclocked RAM for this budget memory comparison, but unlike low-cost competitors, Kingston doesn’t offer this feature as an added value at a basic price. Instead, its KHX8500AD2K2/4 G dual-channel memory kit comes at a full PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066) price.

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Buyers expect to take a slight hit in the wallet for parts that have a “guaranteed stable” overclock speed, but what they might not expect is that these performance modules are also rated at rather slow 7-7-7-20 timings. Even the SPD values are rather meek, at 6-6-6-18 latencies for DDR2-800 speed.

Kingston does not provide EPP extensions, so all owners must configure every performance setting manually in order to achieve the rated performance of its KHX8500AD2K2/4 G module set. On the other hand, Kingston does offer a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser of its DRAM products.

Mushkin EM2-6400 996557

Mushkin’s 996557 PC2-6400 dual-channel kit comes dressed up as performance parts, with heat spreaders that provide a little extra surface area at the top. The added cooling capability might come in handy during our overclock tests, but ordinary CAS 5 latency ratings otherwise put these in the standard-performance category.

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SPD timings of 5-5-5-18 at DDR2-800 speed mean that users need not enter BIOS to configure Mushkin 996557 parts, as even the rated voltage is bone-stock 1.80 volts. This could give the 996557 kit a slight advantage over similarly-rated Corsair components, since the competitor requires a slight voltage increase to assure stability.

With no “factory overclock” rating, Mushkin didn’t have to bother with EPP extensions. All motherboards recognize standard SPD values.

Mushkin provides a lifetime warranty for the original purchaser of its DRAM products.

Patriot PVS24G6400LLK

Patriot Viper Series DDR2, 4 GB, PC2-6400, Low Latency, dual-channel Kit uses tall finned sinks to provide extra cooling and stability under demanding operating conditions. Low Latency refers to the memory’s CAS 4 rated timings.

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Patriot guarantees operation at DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) speed and 4-4-4-12 latencies, but requires 2.10 V to assure stability at these settings. Users with EPP-capable motherboards can take the shortcut of choosing Profile 1 to adjust everything in one step.

All Patriot DRAM products carry a lifetime limited warranty.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
54 Comments Comment from the forums
  • randomizer
    Good to see G.Skill finally decided to send some samples.
    Reply
  • JonnyDough
    You can increase how much ram is used for prefetch in XP as well, so that hardly says that Vista is faster than XP once you use more RAM. I for one have skipped the Vista era and am happily awaiting Windows 7. I guess I prefer to keep my $100 in my wallet for awhile instead of giving it to M$ investors.
    Reply
  • V3NOM
    i rofl'd that my cheap Team Elite owned all of them except the ballistix...
    Reply
  • JonnyDough
    Stop using rebates as qualifiers. I was taught in consumer math that if you purchase something with the cost of a rebate figured in, you had better be prepared to pay full price. I think a lot of us here IGNORE rebate pricing, and won't even support it by buying rebated items. Rebates are CRAP, no consumer likes them. They aren't a "discount" they are a marketing ploy to rip people off.
    Reply
  • raider37
    I'm pretty darn happy with my 4GB of XMS2 DDR2-800 RAM from Corsair, all my components are overclocked and work extremely well, plus here in Pakistan only 2 memory companies are widely available (Kingston and corsair) and we all know kingston is overpriced and their modules do not perform as well as Corsairs.
    Reply
  • johnbilicki
    As a regular I feel insulted that my fellow readers and I are expected to except an introduction suggesting that we are mindless consumers no different than the people who trampled and killed a worker at Walmart this past Friday.

    My dual core socket 939 with 2GB of RAM running XP Pro might not get as much FPS as my friend running a quad with 4GB and Vista but my system runs smooth on almost all the same games without dealing with all the constant freezing, errors, glitches, and horrendous boot times plus I don't have to run a page file. A real enthusiast would turn in their grave if they saw qttask in the task manager. Real pride is knowing your rig's software too and mindlessly burning money instead doing a few simple Google queries is what an amateur would do.

    I expect better than this. It does really matter.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    johnbilickiAs a regular I feel insulted that my fellow readers and I are expected to except an introduction suggesting that we are mindless consumers no different than the people who trampled and killed a worker at Walmart this past Friday.
    That sounds like the voice of experience...you were at that Wal Mart? Because it appears that everyone else automatically knew that the introduction was meant to cover the widest range of potential buyers, and not each one of them specifically. Yet you mindlessly trampled into that rant?
    Reply
  • johnbilicki
    CrashmanThat sounds like the voice of experience...you were at that Wal Mart? Because it appears that everyone else automatically knew that the introduction was meant to cover the widest range of potential buyers, and not each one of them specifically. Yet you mindlessly trampled into that rant?
    The introduction slaps everyone in the face by suggesting money is the only solution. Even less experienced people know how to do a Google query.

    "The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven't got it." - George Bernard Shaw
    Reply
  • Crashman
    johnbilickiThe introduction slaps everyone in the face by suggesting money is the only solution. Even less experienced people know how to do a Google query."The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who haven't got it." - George Bernard Shaw
    It suggests that very little money can be a very easy solution to multiple performance issues.

    And you're using a quote to emphasise your cynicism concerning my observation? Thanks!
    Reply
  • johnbilicki
    CrashmanIt suggests that very little money can be a very easy solution to multiple performance issues.And you're using a quote to emphasise your cynicism concerning my observation? Thanks!
    ...and entirely avoids the point of optimizing a system's software just as you have! It's an informal fallacy to suggest you have made some unique observation as I have when all you have done is avoid my point in the simple interest to convince people to spend money instead of simply preventing junk from being loaded in to their existing memory.
    Reply