Several tech forums are buzzing about Samsung's lastest "Green" 30 nm DDR3, that sips the voltage, and sits on a tiny low-profile PCB. We snagged a pair to see what all the fuss is about, and boy, were we surprised!
G.Skill sent us their Ripjaws Z F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH kit, now that Intel's latest platform has been launched, and new memory kits are needed, due to the new quad-channel configuration that the Intel X79 Express platforms offers. We put the 16 GB G.Skill 2133 MHz kit through the paces, and push it to the max.
The Crucial Ballistix Finned memory does not only look cool, but they also pack an on-board sensor so that you can actually make sure they stay cool during use and extreme overclocking. We take the 1866 MHz kit for a spin to check if it manages to make an impression or barely ding our armor.
The G.Skill Ripjaws come in various flavors and capacities, but focus more on the mainstream overclocker. With many different versions and color variants of the kit out there, one could wonder if G.Skill is not simply trying to create models to cover every memory chip they get their hands on. But, we take a look at the 1600 MHz kit and are surprised to find headroom, lots and lots of headroom.
Corsair has introduced their new line of memory called Vengeance. Available in high capacity kits up to 16 GB we got a hold of the triple-channel one with 4x 3 GB modules. That said we push the trio to the max and see if it comes back with a vengeance or fizzles into thin air quietly.
The G.Skill 8 GB 2000 MHz kit manages to offer high capacity, nicely packaged within tall and solid heatspreaders. The active cooling bracket lights up blue and we push the memory & test bench to the limit to see what this kit is capable of.
Mach Xtreme is a new player, but their complete line-up of memory, SSDs and their USB 3.0 flash drive made some real waves. We are taking a look at the Armor 1600 MHz CL8 dual channel kit, which comes equipped with Xigmatek heat spreaders. Will its shell withstand our barrage of benchmarks or are we able to chip its armor?
The Xtreem Dark series of modules are aimed at the enthusiast and casual overclocker. With compact black heat spreaders and maximum specs of 1600 MHz, they should be an attractive choice for most i3 or i5 users out there. We slap the Xtreem Dark into our testing rig and turn up the heat to see what kind of power hides below the dark hard shell of these modules.
G.Skill is offering a full range of P55 compatible memory kits, with the ECO being one of them. As the name implies, the memory aims to deliver the most performance while only requiring a mere 1.35V to run at 1600 MHz CL7-8-7.
The 633x Compact Flash from A-DATA is their fastest CF offering available today. With advertised read and write speeds of above 90 MB/s it should be an interesting performer. We take a close look and push it to the real world limits - for your reading pleasure.
The Xtreem Series from Team Group marks the company's high-end line-up of memory for the newest plattforms available. We rip apart, bench and push the memory to the limit, to see how it ticks below the surface of the thick, high quality heatspreaders.
Elixir is known for their standard JEDEC modules, usually found in budget and mid-range systems. Their 1600 MHz tri-channel kit tries to give you that same value with a hint of overclockability thrown in the mix, for those who want that magical 1600 MHz speed, while spending as little as possible.
OCZ expands the Reaper series with the HPC tri-channel kit. This one runs at 1866 MHz and offers CL8 right out of the box. The heatspreader design with heatpipe cooling looks menacing, but will it manage to keep cool under pressure when we push the memory to the limit and reap some praise?
The Trident Series from G.Skill is a very affordable kit, but manages up to 2000 MHz right out of the box. The kit also has very nice high quality heatspreaders. We push the kit to 1.65 V and way beyond that to see check for additional OC potential or if it manages to impress us with a great price / performance ratio.
The Redline Tri-Channel Kit from Mushkin manages 1600 MHz at CL6-7-6-18 right out of the box, making it one of the fastest kits at this speed on the market. We push the kit way past the red line for you in this review, reaching well over 2000 MHz with more relaxed timings.
G.Skill offers a full range of tri-channel memory kits at speeds of up to 2000 MHz. We are taking a look at their red kit rated at 1600 MHz and CL9. Even though this memory is on the lower end of the line-up, it manages to surprise with good overclockablity and the possibility of tighter timings.
The Ascent series from Mushkin represents their high-end line-up with thick eVCI heatspreaders, very tight timings and fast speeds. On top of that, the memory scales extremely well with voltage and has plenty of potential for overclockers
The Corsair Dominator Series of 4 GB kits does not only manage to deliver a great overclock but also offers exceptional performance at lower speed settings, making this a kit for almost every scenario. Its attractive price of $125 is a very affordable way to get into the 4 GB club while still being able to run serious overclocks.
A-DATA's 4 GB Vitesta Extreme Edition DDR2 memory kit offers great performance at a low price of only $75. The memory can even run CL3 at the specified 800 MHz, with a small voltage increase and scales up to DDR2-1066 at CL5.
OCZ's PC2-9200 Flex II modules can be used with both air and watercooling. They are designed for 1150 MHz DDR2 at CL 5 with 2.1V. In our testing we could easily push the modules above DDR2-1200 without an extra voltage increase.
Lexar is joining the frey of high-performance UDMA Compact Flash cards with their Professional 300x series of cards. We get to take a look at their 8 GB version with a big, pleasant suprise during benching.
PQI's newest class 6 SDHC card is aimed at those looking for a cheap and fast storage card. Being a competitively priced class 6 card it is definitely worth considering if you are looking to upgrade your camera or other write intensive devices' memory.
The new "Turbo" Compact Flash card from A-DATA raises the bar from 266x to 350x performance. It also adds Ultra DMA capability and uses SLC flash memory to attain insane speeds never seen before. If you are looking to build a solid-state HDD using CF Technology then this is one of the cards you should definitely consider.
Mushkin has also jumped the 4 GB DDR2 memory bandwagon and is offering these kits at tighter than usual latencies. This kit runs at 4-4-4-12 at 2.0 - 2.1V.
Lexar's new entry level 8 GB SDHC card is quite unique. It is both reasonably priced and offers really good performance for a "Class 2" card. Actually the card surpasses the Class 2 requirements in our testing. At around $50 quite a nice achievement.
