Memory modules are quite often complicated, like the memory slots and integrated circuits they are placed into. Incontestably, most people underestimate the memory field and  boil it down to simple tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS timings, and plain speed and capability in terms of capacity. Kingston Technology introduces the HyperX memory DIMM’s, a series of modules that benefit from not only timings and capacity, but also lower power consumption and efficient heat regulation due to an aluminum spreader. While PC’s are making a steady advance to the DDR3 specification, Kingston Technology is directly giving consumers a reason to switch as soon as possible to enjoy terrific speeds with the Kingston HyperX DDR3-1866 6 GB Triple-Channel Kit, and moreover quality that is worth the full price.

First out of the packaging, the Kingston HyperX kit and every memory module shines of blue power. These are inevitably the new contenders to a fight of performance versus price versus power consumption. With tall blue fins, and the new aluminum heat spreaders, the design is undeniably attractive. Adding T1 heatspreaders undeniably has a difference in terms of power and thermal dissipation. Exactly what is thermal dissipation? To us, it is the amount of performance increased per drop in Celsius per degree. For the HyperX itself, we used a hermetic vacuum thermometer to monitor the actual temperature intake from the memory modules. In reality, the Kingston HyperX DDR3-1866 6 GB Triple-Channel Kit actually increases performance by several degrees compared to standard DDR3 modules we have rated at 10 degrees Celsius. This increased efficiency also led to a greater memory bandwidth (MB/s) on average than some other typical memory modules at lower rated speeds, according to SiSoft Sandra benchmark tool we used.

When it comes to memory, stability and overclocking is a must for most. Overclocking is always achieved by using a different crystal of higher frequency on a memory oscillator. When the sinusoidal wave form changes to a square form at a faster rate, there is a higher speed per voltage. Changing voltages up beyond 1.6V makes the memory stable, but around 1.90, the memory starts to flail a bit when it came to stability. Regardless, it must be considered that near 1866 MHz DDR3, that near 2.0 V the stability is quite great. Folding@Home, Rosetta@Home, and World Community Grid all passed the mark for this memory core after interval testing. With this in mind, the Kingston HyperX DDR3-1866 6 GB Triple-Channel Kit timings worked incredibly well from 9-9-9-27, down to 7-7-7-28 while keeping the speed the same. Memory latency also remains at a short nanosecond count from Sandra test. When it came to synthetics and real testing, the Kingston HyperX DDR3-1866 6 GB Triple-Channel Kit takes the prize for efficiency and performance.

Kingston HyperX DDR3-1866 6 GB Triple-Channel Kit has reliability, greater performance per degree Celsius dropped, quality in the T1 heatspreaders, and moreover a vast positive energy when it comes to a tested and rated speed close to 1866 MHz meanwhile keeping memory stability and overclocking at complete performance. The HyperX technology has certainly left us impressed, and PC Enthusiasts will be extremely comfortable in their purchase decision with the Kingston HyperX Triple-Channel Kit. For consumers that are wary to upgrade due to the costs of a newer motherboard for the modules, put aside your fears because the Kingston Technology’s HyperX DDR3-1866 6 GB Triple-Channel Kit is giving everyone no reason to worry and more of a reason to upgrade as fast as this memory processes address integers from the CPU front-side bus.

Crucial is known for their line of Ballistix enthusiast memory in which hard work is put for lower latencies, maximum performance, and great reliability. The Crucial 4GB DDR3 PC3-8500 (CT2KIT25672BA1067) is not an exception. This kit, even without the signature of golden shaded aluminum heat spreaders, performs equally admirably, and should be in the direct eye fire of hardware, performance, and gaming enthusiasts alike.

Corsair, along with Micron, is one other manufacturer in the US who actually produces their own PCB, memory chips, and assembles the two into a module. Corsair is known for producing high quality modules that are stable, and backed by a limited lifetime warranty.

Today we take look at Corsair’s latest DDR2 brand model of XMS2: the XM2 DHX 4GB 2 X2 GB DDR2 modules. The only question that we now have is: are these modules worth the bang for every buck?

1. Each module set is tested together at 800MHz
2. Tested and packaged together
3. Packaged together immediately following system test
4. Tested at JEDEC standard latency settings
5. (5-5-5-18) at 1.8V
6. SPD programmed at:
7. JEDEC standard 5-5-5-18 values at 800MHz
8. 4096 Megabytes of DDR2 memory
9. Two matched CM2X2048-6400C5DHX modules
10. Designed for 64-bit operating systems
11. DHX technology for “maximum cooling”
12. 100% tested at 800MHz in high performance
13. DDR2 motherboards
14. Lifetime warranty

The various medley of enthusiast performance memory comes with packages of 2GB or 4GB PC2 6400 kits with varying timings. For the consumer looking at all of their options, the XMS2 series offers a wide variety of RAM situated to any type of PC.

Both RAM modules come finely packaged in a plastic seal container in order of top to top. The design is meant to be more for technical benefits rather than for a fashion façade, but most people will definitely notice both the finely crafted structure and sleek finish.

The optimized “Airflow” design is created through extruded Aluminum Convective Heat Sinks. Each module is surrounded by a total of four heat sinks to take advantage of the airflow from CPU and case fans.

In addition to the optimized Airflow design, Corsair has been searching for years to the answer to provide relief to those who can’t afford to constantly upgrade their RAM and are searching for long time reliability. The answer? DHX. Dual-Path Heat Xchange (DHX) is Corsair’s new method of heat transfer, which it claims enhances performance of memory and reliability. From XM2 DHX and onward, such a heat efficiency transfer setup will be standard for Corsair’s future performance-memory modules. The new technology is claimed to offer dual action dissipation through conduction and convection. Thereby, offering performance, stability, and reliability to push a PC into its limits.

Our hardware was shnazzy. An Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model.

RAM

I 2x 2048 MB DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18)
Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX
GPU: 3 x EVGA 8800GTX SLI (650Mhz)

HDD: 2 x 500GB Seagate

Software

DirectX Version: 10.0

OS Windows Vista x64, RC1 Refresh

For our terrific benchmarks, we chose the EVGA 780i A1 775 motherboard due to its touted overclocking capabilities. Pushing these memory sticks from 1.80V to 2.4V we had no problems at the stock MHz FSB setting. Using the BIOS we set the RAM to 2.4 V and tightening timings of the DIMM’s to CL4-4-4-12 and set the FSB speed to 500Mhz with a 9x multiplier, after which the system starts up and has no stability issues with the setup.

Crysis

Version: 1.1

Advanced: Very High (All)

AA: 4x

AF: Off

Video

DivX 6.25 Version: 6.25 (4 Logical CPUs)
Certification Profile: High Definition Profile
Multipass, 3000 kbit/s
Encoding mode: Insane Quality

Version: 1.2.0 SMP Beta
Encoding type: Twopass – Single pass
Profile @ Level: DXN HT PAL
Target size (kbytes): 570000

We can see that the enthusiast and generic DDR2-800 modules have identical results and that the overclocked and much higher frequency DDR2-800 has only a marginal effect on Crysis performance. Why? It’s simple: most games, especially a game like Crysis, depends more on a fast graphics resolution and processor than on highest performing memory.

Base Tests

Sisoft Sandra XIII SP2

Generic DDR2 Integer Mb/s and Floating Point MB/s: 8319, 8142

DDR2 XMS2 Stock timings: 11982, 11967

Tighter timings: 11984, 11965

The performance gains of high end enthusiast memory can be seen in application performance such as video encoding, which rely heavily on the memory. In these results we can see that the tighter timings of the Corsair DDR2-800 module results in a 4.2% performance gain and the tighter timings and higher voltage of the Corsair DDR2-800 module gives it and a 4.46% gain over the generic DDR2-800 module.

Corsair released a series product that makes a difference in the huge difference in the enthusiast market space. If you have a powerful platform such as the test one, the XMS2 module will carry you on its wings to the world of unbelievable system performance. Even though memory performance doesn’t ideally create the largest factor in performance boost, it’s impressive to say that the XMS2 DHX product definitely marks its place in the performance suite. As long as you have a reasonable amount of XMS2 memory (ideally 2 GB), and even Auto timings—you will not be sorry.

Intel, along with Kingston and Asus held a webcast  to better explain a new concept called XMP, which simply stands for Extreme Memory Profiles.  The technology is designed to give the new and amateur overclocker the confidence that is needed to properly overclock his computer with compatible hardware that will guarantee a certain level of overclocking with DDR3 modules that are XMP compatible.  It also allows the enthusiast the opportunity to fine tune things even more and set their DDR3 modules to automatically start up a system in an overclocked state using one of two profiles that are available in the SPD of the modules.

Each DIMM manufacturer will be responsible to self-certify its parts with motherboard manufacturers and will be responsible to provide the results to Intel, who will then post an XMP compatibility chart on its website, so that the end user can have confidence that the parts that he is choosing will be a perfect fit, and give him the best chance at a maximum overclock of his system.  Intel says that it will periodically perform audits on the parts to make sure that quality and compatibility are maintained.

With the announcement of this technology, Kingston and ASUS both revealed parts that either are or soon will be XMP certified.

Conclusion:

XMP basically does three things:

1. It ensures compatibility between DDR3 modules and the motherboards they will be working in.
2. It allows the novice or new overclocker to have some security in their new venture into overclocking by providing a certain level of guaranteed success.
3. It allows the enthusiast to be able to set their DDR3 modules to a confirmed setting that the can easily and quickly switch to for maximum performance at any given time.

XMP stands to be a great help in the area of stability in overclocking DDR3 modules, and could open the door to other exciting things as it becomes mainstream on today’s motherboards.  For now, there are no plans to implement this on DDR2 modules, so if you will want to take advantage of XMP, you will have to invest in a pricey new system!

It is been two months since Crucial launched their first Crucial Ballistix DDR3 memory modules and while they were months behind other DDR3 manufacturers their 1600MHz kit has been a success. Since Micron and Crucial are one and the same it shouldn’t be a surprise that Crucial memory kits are able to perform above average. The kit is part of the Ballistix line, which is a higher performance series that is specifically built for enthusiasts who want to push the performance envelope of their system.

The new Ballistix DDR3 modules sport a new look thanks to the redesigned heat spreader with a clip-less design, giving the modules a cleaner look. The new Ballistix heat spreader design also features a Micron company logo on the heat spreader, which means that the modules use Micron memory IC’s. Crucial also uses black Printed Circuit Boards (PCB’s) on their Ballistix series, which give the modules a a tougher look over traditional green PCB’s. When it comes to warranties, Crucial warrants the original end customer of its products that their memory kits are free from defects in material and workmanship affecting form, fit, and functions for life. So, all Ballistix modules carry a lifetime warranty.

Tests

Benchmarking Overview & Conclusion

Sandra XII showed higher memory bandwidth in the OCZ kit, but the 276MB/Sec difference is only a 3.4% performance improvement. Again, the relaxed CL8 memory timings on the Ballistix kit are causing the differences.

When it comes to picking DDR3 memory kits companies are selling kits at a variety of frequencies, which can be a bit overwhelming for those that are new to DDR3 and the chipsets that use it. Right now there are six speed grades that DDR3 memory is available in: 1066MHz, 1333MHz, 1375MHz, 1600MHz, 1800MHz and 1866MHz. Which is the right kit to invest in? Keep in mind that the Intel only officially supports 1333MHz on the Intel P35 and X38 Express chipsets. When it comes to density all Intel P35 Express chipsets support up to 8 GB of memory addressability, so density is certainly not a limitation these days when it comes to selecting a kit. So, why buy a 1600MHz memory kit when the chipsets are only rated to run at 1333MHz? Because Crucial does it right.

Kingston Technology just recently increased the capacity of its DataTraveler Mini Fun and DataTraveler Mini – Migo Edition USB flash drives. Previously, these flash drives were only available in 1GB and 2GB, the drives will now come in capacities up to 4GB. This little device now also features Sudoku as well as the previously included Atlantis from Big Fish Games. The drives measure 38mm x 19mm x 8mm and support USB 2.0 interface.

• Convenient: mini-size for easy portability
• Simple: plug and play into a USB port
• Functional: comes preloaded with Sudoku and Atlantis
• Capacities1: 1GB, 2GB, 4GB
• Dimensions: 1.5? x 0.75? x 0.31? (38mm x 19mm x 8mm)
• Operating temperature: 32° F to 140° F (0° C to 60° C)
• Compliant: designed to Hi-Speed USB 2.0 specifications
• Operating Systems: Windows Vista, Win 2000, Win XP, Mac OS 10.x and above, Linux Kernel 2.4 and above
• Bundled games support Windows Vista, XP, 2000 and DirectX 8.0
• Guaranteed: five-year warranty

Package It!

The Kingston Mini Fun comes packed, in a plastic enclose. The body of the drive is almost as small as the USB plug. The size is great for anyone who loves smaller and smaller objects. The drive measures 1.5″ x 0.75″ x 0.31″ (38mm x 19mm x 8mm) is th exact size.

When most consumers look into getting a thumb drive they look at the price compared to how much stuff they can cram on it. Kingston has offered up a line of mini drives in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB ranging from an MSRP of $15 for the 1GB (yellow) drive, to an MSRP of $61 for the 4GB (red) drive. The Kingston DataTraveler Mini Fun series of Flash drives cost a little more than standard ‘plain’ Flash drives, but the Mini Fun is small and fun.