Dual-Channel DDR3: Who Makes The Best 4GB Kit Under $150?

[foscooter]

GR8 article, now how about those of us who have triple-channel DDR3?

 

[duk3]

Great article!
I always enjoy the comparisons.

 

[kikireeki]

I was expecting a real-life test, not just synthetic benchmarks.

 

[porksmuggler]

"Buyers one year ago could expect to pay twice as much to get a 50% higher data rate. Today, the price difference has now fallen to around 50%."

Prices are still up significantly since last fall. Purchased plenty of DDR31600 CAS7 for less than $90 in fall '09. All of the models I purchased in the fall are well over $100 now.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]kikireeki[/nom]I was expecting a real-life test, not just synthetic benchmarks.[/citation]There are no real life applications that limit themselves to improved DRAM performance when the CPU is also overclocked. You would only see the results of CPU overclocking. To make it fair, I'd have to adjust the CPU so it wasn't overclocked by dropping its multiplier, then you'd cry about the performance going down as memory speed went up.

The problem is that we don't have a dual-channel CPU that supports memory multipliers with results higher than DDR3-1600 at stock CPU reference (base) clock.

 

[porksmuggler]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it cathartic to cry about the performance going down as memory prices went up. Oh wait, you said memory speed

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]porksmuggler[/nom]I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it cathartic to cry about the performance going down as memory prices went up. Oh wait, you said memory speed[/citation]OK, I didn't want to address those price concerns, but here goes: Late spring of last year there was a memory glut, as I recall, that drove down prices "artificially low" through last fall. By artificially, I mean the point where manufacturers are losing money on everything they sell. That never lasts long.

Anyway, the article referred to a year ago and if you go to www.archive.org you can find a site with prices from BEFORE that temporary fall. DDR3-1333 prices looked a lot like they do now, but DDR3-2000 was priced around $200 and higher. So, DDR3-2000 buyers save money while mainstream buyers don't. Good time to look at DDR3-2000.

As for DDR2, it's irrelevant.

 

[idisarmu]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Tom's recently reviewed 2x4GB kits, look in the memory articles for more information.Tom's Hardware reports actual findings. [/citation]

I read that article. It was a good read and quite interesting, though I already knew what I wanted to buy so it didn't really help me much. I'm glad you guys wrote it though.

However, I still believe that the only people who should get 4gb 2x2 kits are people who absolutely cannot afford a 2x4gb kit. But as I like to say, buy cheap- buy twice. You'd better make sure you do it right the first time or suffer the consequences.

 

[porksmuggler]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Late spring of last year there was a memory glut, as I recall, that drove down prices "artificially low" through last fall.[/citation]

can't argue the memory glut part, DDR2 was going for $50 for 4GB throughout that period, but just as OEM adoption of DDR3 kicked in last fall, the manufacturers concertedly cut back production. DDR3 was priced low due to lack of wide scale adoption and competition w/ DDR2 production runout. once they had the market where they wanted it, they scaled back and priced up. I mean, they would never price fix, never.

 

[aace]

It would be very helpful to see the performance benefits of using the the best memory modules in overclocked systems (eg. i3 530 / i5 750 / i7 860) versus using the best value memory, so we could compare the benefits of spending the extra dough on memory versus another component.

 

[dennisburke]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Corsair and OCZ have the advertising money yet never responded to the invitation. Kind of makes you wonder what's going on at Corsair and OCZ.

Mushkin didn't send anything either.[/citation]


OK, fair enough, for products to be reviewed by Tom's they need to be donated. In that case the title of this article should read_ 'Dual-Channel DDR3: Some 4GB Kits Under $150 Reviewed'.

 

[Guest]

Ah, the whines about rising RAM costs. It brought back not so sweet memories of my first PC, and trying to boost its 640KB to a full meg. Cost (for the boost): $1,100. Needless to say, the RAM went unboosted.

 

[Henry Chinaski]

Good for Gskill. They are doing a great job.Anyway I would have liked to see a Corsair Dual Channel pack...

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]dennisburke[/nom]OK, fair enough, for products to be reviewed by Tom's they need to be donated. In that case the title of this article should read_ 'Dual-Channel DDR3: Some 4GB Kits Under $150 Reviewed'.[/citation]If they thought they were going to win, they probably would have sent something. Tom's Hardware has reviewed at least a couple dozen kits each from Corsair, Mushkin and OCZ. Perhaps the competitive parts from these manufacturers were over the $150 mark? That would be their concern.

 

[Curious142]

Too bad these other companies weren't included. Maybe they don't have appropriate products in the appropriate price range. Maybe next time.

 

[tokenz]

Didnt Samsung just pay like 170million for price fixing. Looks like someone needs to launch another probe.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]tokenz[/nom]Didnt Samsung just pay like 170million for price fixing. Looks like someone needs to launch another probe.[/citation]
Go ahead, I'm all ears! Wait, if I'm reading about it, maybe I'm all eyes? OK, I give up...if you find anything let us know.

 

[sonofliberty08]

anyone here had kingmax ram ?

 

[porksmuggler]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Go ahead, I'm all ears! Wait, if I'm reading about it, maybe I'm all eyes? OK, I give up...if you find anything let us know.[/citation]

They are still dealing with the last time they were "caught"

http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2005/212002.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/technology/23chip.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/European-Union-Price-Fixing-DRAM,10462.html

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]sonofliberty08[/nom]anyone here had kingmax ram ?[/citation]
Yes, they were one of the first company to put BGA RAM on modules, I think it was PC-166 (for PC-133 overclockers).

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Hmmm, a few months back I bought this:
G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBECO

from NewEgg, currently it's at the same price, with free shipping ($119.) I presume G. Skill thought the memory they sent would be a better match for this article? Overclocking these don't appear to be too bad (Most reviews say they overclock pretty good.)

Is it possible to put together another of these, but use the memory already on-hand from previous reviews, along side what the companies send in specifically for such articles, or is this too much work? (Of course the downside might be it may encourage companies to no longer submit any, except for individual reviews.)

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]shrapnel_indie[/nom]Hmmm, a few months back I bought this:G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBECOfrom NewEgg, currently it's at the same price, with free shipping ($119.) I presume G. Skill thought the memory they sent would be a better match for this article? Overclocking these don't appear to be too bad (Most reviews say they overclock pretty good.)Is it possible to put together another of these, but use the memory already on-hand from previous reviews, along side what the companies send in specifically for such articles, or is this too much work? (Of course the downside might be it may encourage companies to no longer submit any, except for individual reviews.)[/citation]Old RAM doesn't always respresent new RAM of the same model number, because quality changes at the production level result products that are supposed to be identical, but aren't.

 

[Ubrales]

Good informative article!

 

[techheadtrevor]

It seems that the timings didn't matter AT ALL so why would you ever pay more for it?