Targetting the gaming enthusiasts who cannot afford to shell out the big greens for top of the line stuff, but still want to run high end parts in their gaming system, this Corsair RAM provides balance between performance and cost.
Saying OCZ is not a great memory company would be saying overclocking is pointless and no fun. Are you nuts? I should just slap you in the head if you think that way and still call yourself a PC enthusiast.
Centon's recent releases have been going in the right direction. Although their 2GB kit did not overclock so well, it will come with a very affordable price tag.
It was not too long ago that OCZ released their Gold PC4000 2GB part for the overclocking enthusiasts. We were more than happy with the results as the UCCC based memory took us to 280MHz quite easily with low voltage.
We all know that the transition to 2GB imminent. It is just a matter of time when people decide to hop over the border. 2GB DDR kits are not hard to find. The hard part is finding a kit that allows good overclocking headroom.
Everyone knows that OCZ is known for making some of the fastest enthusiast memory around. Everyone should also know that they offer some of the best customer service and warranty plans.
Centon may be a new player in the enthusiast crowd, but they have been a leading OEM supplier for countless years. Our previous experience with the Centon Advanced line was very pleasing.
Crucial has always been a key player in the memory industry and has provided exceptional memory for both the niche overclocking crowd and the general mass user.
OCZ is one of the leaders when it comes to releasing high-end enthusiast memory. They participate in various hardware website forums and listen to what the enthusiasts want and what they need.
Who remembers when all we needed was 256MB of system memory to play our favorite games? I certainly do. In fact, I can remember when 256MB was more than what we needed.
DDR2's reputation has always been plagued by high latencies in exchange for high bandwidth. When DDR2 was first announced, the latencies were rated 4-4-4-12 at speeds of 266MHz. That is just terrible.
DRAM prices are going back up just a bit, but 1GB dual channel kits are still very affordable. If you are an enthusiast and do not have 1GB of system memory, shame on you.
What's the difference between the regular PC4800 memory and the new PC4800 Elite Edition? It all began when enthusiasts started to realize that OCZ had been using Samsung TCC5 IC's in place of Samsung TCCD IC's.
The pioneer to DDR2 was hard and continues to be hard. Perhaps the major reason behind that is because of the lacking performance on Intel's chipsets. DDR2 is far from lacking in performance.
Kingston's HyperX line has been fairly quiet in the past months. Personally, I find it quite strange how the memory giant can sleep so soundly when TCCD and DDR2 are reaching extraordinary speeds.
It's only recently that OCZ started to target their memory for different users. With the Platinum and Gold lines, the focus was on overclocking. The Platinum pushed for low latency, while the Gold aimed for high memory speeds.
I remember the first time I laid my eyes on PDP's Patriot line of memory. It was during one of my weekly trips to Fry's. The first thought that came to mind was "that's so ugly".
Gigaram has been around for almost a decade now, yet has little recognition among consumers. Those who do know Gigaram know them for their competitively priced memory.
In my eyes, GeIL has taken many steps to reposition themselves in the enthusiast market. Not many know this, but GeIL was the first to release two sticks of memory in a "Dual Channel Kit". At the time, their PC3200 boomed.
'OCZ' and 'overclocking' are synonymous terms in the overclocking community. Even non-overclocking hardware enthusiasts trust OCZ products because they are simply superb.
Mushkin's BH-5 memory is likely the most legendary set of memory modules in the history of overclocking. The modules were so popular that 1GB dual channel kits being sold for 400 dollars months after they were released.
PC5000 DDR memory? Who in the world has PC5000 DDR memory? OCZ does, and they are the first to release such a high end high performance memory for the power hungry enthusiasts.
While the latest and greatest from Corsair has been the Xpert DDR and high speed DDR2, a few enthusiasts have reported an interesting find with their regular DDR PC3200XL line of memory.
If you've never heard of Kingmax, you should be ashamed of yourself. Either you've just recently joined the overclocking scene, or you've been hiding in a cave.
Before I begin, I must be honest and say that I've never been a big fan of GeIL memory. I remember when GeIL first introduced their low latency PC3200 memory about 2 and a half years ago.
Is it just me, or is OCZ always releasing some crazy overclocking memory? I remember when they announced the Gold PC3200 VX and everyone went nuts trying to figure out what chips were used.
Over the past few months, there have been many new faces in the enthusiast memory crowd. It used to be just Corsair, Kingston, OCZ, GeIL, and Mushkin being the key players in the "overclocking" memory business.
For the past 9 months, Samsung TCCD chips were the craze. It's only recently that Winbond's new BH5 chips were being produced again. Now people are going crazy over the new BH5 chips.
I wouldn't be surprised if you've never heard of A-DATA. Many enthusiasts in the U.S. have no clue who they are. Most think that they're newcomers and hesitate to try their products.
Corsair's reputation grew rapidly when they started their XMS line of memory. At that time, the inclusion of memory heatspreaders was a great addition to not only looks, but as a sign of high performance memory.
Who was the first to make low latency memory? Corsair. Who was the first to use heatspreaders for memory? Corsair. Who was the first to have pretty LED's for memory? Corsair.
OCZ and InsaneTek are like two peas in a pod. They have always managed to send us their latest gear and we continue to be impressed with each new product.
Mushkin has been making RAM for a long time. Their fame comes from their BH-5 series memory. After Winbond discontinued BH-5, Mushkin faded into the background while other manufacturers scrambled to find a replacement.
Today we have OCZ's Enhanced Latency Platinum Revision 2 PC3200. OCZ's EL series focuses on low latencies at all of their rated speeds, making it an overclocker's dream.
While companies like Kingston, Corsair, and OCZ are enjoying marketing buzz, more discreet companies like Mushkin and GeIL have released memory revisions.
Ever since the announcement of Samsung TCCD memory die, every manufacturer has been jumping on board to get out their own version of low latency DDR memory. Corsair started it all and the rest of the players followed.
PQI or PMI? A few years ago, PMI entered the enthusiast memory market, providing all of the distinctive ingredients that constitute high performance memory: mirror-finished copper heatspreaders, good choice of memory chips, agg…
Mushkin is a small company that is capable of making a substantial impact in the industry. Even back in the days of SDRAM, Mushkin's PC133 memory with the black PCB was a highly recommended option for extreme overclocking.
Not many people are aware that Crucial Technology is a sub-division of Micron Technology. Micron is an extremely popular memory chip manufacturer, providing chips with excellent performance and stability.
When DDR2 was first announced, everyone was skeptical about its performance. It was capable of scaling to extremely high frequencies, but it also brought along high latencies that enthusiasts dread.
We have already reviewed memory modules from OCZ and Kingston, but today we have the privilege of reviewing modules from a company that single-handedly took the enthusiast memory market by storm.
As the demand for performance memory grows, manufacturers strive to design the best memory modules for consumers. One well known company is OCZ Technology.
We recently reviewed the Kingston HyperX PC4300 memory and were left a bit disappointed. The HyperX line is known to be one of the fastest and highly overclockable sticks of memory available.
Kingston Technology is a vastly renowned memory manufacturer. They've been a key player in the memory market for years and handle billions of dollars of sales a year.
We recently reviewed the OCZ PC4000 Gold memory, which was undoubtedly one of the best performing PC4000+ memory available. It overclocked extremely well and provided excellent performance.
OCZ has come a long way since they were first introduced. I remember the days when they focused on PC150 memory and the Geforce 3 Titan. Those were the good ole days.
