Triple-Channel DDR3: 6GB Kit Roundup

[marraco]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Mushkin performed as it performed. It didn't beat Ballistix or HyperX because it wasn't as good. It cost almost 50% less than Ballistix however, so what more do you want? A slanted performance chart that favors Mushkin? Different test settings for Mushkin? Or perhaps the article should have left out Ballistix and HyperX 2000?[/citation]

Is a pain that I cannot edit what I wrote, because in the hurry, I made many mistakes. I crossed the links of the absolute and the relative charts, and posted older images. The nearest point to the Patriot Viper should be painted in red. Is the OCZ point.

On the Mushkin, I wrote that because the specs (DDR3-1333) at 9-10-10 published here makes really a surprise that the Mushkin outperforms anything except the overpriced Crucial (and Kingston). It need revision (I have hope than the numbers are right).

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]marraco[/nom]On the Mushkin, I wrote that because the specs (DDR3-1333) at 9-10-10 published here makes really a surprise that the Mushkin outperforms anything except the overpriced Crucial (and Kingston). It need revision (I have hope than the numbers are right).[/citation]

The Mushkin is rated at DDR3-1600 CAS 7-8-7-20. They simply didn't provide the XMP values some competitors used. XMP is an automatic overclocking method, and the Mushkin must be overclocked manually to reach it ratings. All of the modules EXCEPT for Aeneon were rated at an overclocked setting, and Aeneon was among the least capable of exceeding its ratings.

 

[WINTERLORD]

great article. i love the fact that they showed spd timming at common lvl's. not sure if it matters much but i run my g-skill easily at 1340 with cas latency of 6-6-6-20 with only 1.54volts memtest stable. could prolly use less volts but hav'nt tried. wondering? but i think i know the answer the last number in the spd timings it wont make much a difference in speed to run 6-6-6-11 vs 6-6-6-20 ?? for thew sake of using really low volts i don't think it's worth 1.66volts vs 1.54 just to change the last number to 11.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]WinterLord[/nom]great article. i love the fact that they showed spd timming at common lvl's. not sure if it matters much but i run my g-skill easily at 1340 with cas latency of 6-6-6-20 with only 1.54volts memtest stable. could prolly use less volts but hav'nt tried. wondering? but i think i know the answer the last number in the spd timings it wont make much a difference in speed to run 6-6-6-11 vs 6-6-6-20 ?? for thew sake of using really low volts i don't think it's worth 1.66volts vs 1.54 just to change the last number to 11.[/citation]

If your G.Skill modules are 1GB x3 instead of 2GB x3, you probably have loads more room to play. 1GB modules overclock easier than 2GB modules, which is one of the biggest reasons for doing this 3x 2GB article.

 

[Guest]

At least an XY chart !
I don't understand why this is always missing in the reviews:
This type of graph gives 3 information in one graph:
-the performance of each element
-the price of each element
-the performance/price ratio of each element...

So PLEASE Tom's guys: do that XY (X=price Y=performance) when possible.
Note that this also applies to other information like X=performance Y=temperature or noise

 

[Guest]

I forgot that it gives other information:
-the best performers at a given price or the minimum price you have to pay for a given performance
-the elements that are at the border of the graph are the only interesting elements: the others are more expensive or have less performance than those.

 

[Guest]

another comment:
the position of each element should not be seen as exact. We should only consider each element as a little area around that point.
Why ?
-because the performance may change from a sample to another. the manufacturer only guaranties what is in the SPD. Everything over should be considered only as a bonus.
-because the price can change: can you find that part in your local store or do you have to order it online (with shipping/handling fees) ? Is the reported price exact: for example the mushkin are reported at $220 but it's $254 on their web site... the G.skill (a bit less performance for $230) may not be that uninteresting after all.

 

[marraco]

[citation][nom]liolenenirifazera[/nom]another comment:the position of each element should not be seen as exact. We should only consider each element as a little area around that point.Why ?-because the performance may change from a sample to another. the manufacturer only guaranties what is in the SPD. Everything over should be considered only as a bonus.-because the price can change: can you find that part in your local store or do you have to order it online (with shipping/handling fees) ? Is the reported price exact: for example the mushkin are reported at $220 but it's $254 on their web site... the G.skill (a bit less performance for $230) may not be that uninteresting after all.[/citation]
Right. well pointed.
And real world application can change the results. For example, most games will take little benefit from 10% faster RAM.
Also, prices can change each day.

 

[Guest]

Which one is better?
12 GB DDR3-1600 or 6 GB DDR3-1866 Corsair in terms of performance.

 

[tmc]

Wow, triple channel ddr-3... fancy.. makes my pc3200 memory look rather meek.. doesn't it?

As long as you don't pull the same kind of seasonal nonsense the gasoline companies do with pricing.. ram companies can expect recovering growth in volume. They may also want to consider upping capacities again... 2gb modules should give way to 4gb modules at the 2gb prices by the end of the year.

That said, hopefully Vista will begin to find it's stability footing when running more the 4-6gb of memory.. 8gb should be the standard by the end of the year. 4gb x 2.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]tmc[/nom]Wow, triple channel ddr-3... fancy.. makes my pc3200 memory look rather meek.. doesn't it?As long as you don't pull the same kind of seasonal nonsense the gasoline companies do with pricing.. ram companies can expect recovering growth in volume. They may also want to consider upping capacities again... 2gb modules should give way to 4gb modules at the 2gb prices by the end of the year.That said, hopefully Vista will begin to find it's stability footing when running more the 4-6gb of memory.. 8gb should be the standard by the end of the year. 4gb x 2.[/citation]

My research showed the following capacity limits for standard module organization:
DDR, 1GB Max
DD2, 4GB Max
DDR3, 16GB Max

Of course there are tricks to make DDR modules larger by essentially making two modules in one, but that would only be usefull for server RAM. At the other end, it's unlikely that eight-gigabit DDR3 chips will make their way into desktop modules for 16GB 16-chip DIMMs.

I expect that by the time DDR3 is a "dead end" product we might see 8GB modules. It's unfortunate that it's taking so long for 4GB DDR3 modules to make the market.

 

[davidgbailey]

I can pick up a 3GB set of the Kingston right now at Newegg for 169.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104082

I can't find the 6GB set anywhere. Not even at Kingston. And newegg has been out.

http://www.kingston.com/hyperx/T1/default.asp

Would anyone know why?

 

[evilways1]

Not available yet...a date I found on Kingston's store site was 3/8

 

[Crashman]

http://www.google.com/products?rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBF&q=KHX16000D3ULT1K3/6GX&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=KFmnScyND8jdnQeWurTjDw&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

Several sellers claim stock, and I picked some up a month ago. It goes in and out of stock frequently.

 

[Guest]

I noticed that the Intel Core i7 product specification says that the Type/Speed of the memory controller is 800/1066. If so, how does using faster memory help?

Thanks.

Bill

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]Bill P[/nom]I noticed that the Intel Core i7 product specification says that the Type/Speed of the memory controller is 800/1066. If so, how does using faster memory help?Thanks.Bill[/citation]

More memory bandwidth. Intel unlocked the memory multipliers after releasing the specs, and bandwidth goes from around 20GB/s to around 30GB/s when you increase speed from DDR3-1066 to DDR3-1866.

The change does increase performance of several programs, but usually not by much. The more bandwidth-dependant a program is, the more help it gets from the added speed.

 

[Crashman]

According to the web, the UL parts are CAS 8 while the others are CAS 9.