DDR2 Memory

What a difference a couple of years make when it comes to memory pricing. After the launch of the Core 2 processor family and AMD switching to the DDR2 AM2 based platform around the same time, we had DDR2 pricing soaring to new highs with prices of 1GB and 2GB kits increasing up to 100% during the summer/fall of 2006. Fast forward to today and we read headlines that things have gotten so bad in the DRAM market that the Taiwanese government is considering bailing out at least two of the DRAM manufacturers. We can see why now.

At the enthusiast level, 2GB of DDR2-1200 was selling in the $500~$700 range in late 2006 and those same kits can now be had for $83 and as low as $53 with a rebate. Even basic DDR2-533 2GB kits that we recommended in our winter 2006 buying guide once sold for $190 and now go for $15 or less. This price is not even enough to cover marketing and logistical costs to bring the memory to market in the US or Europe, much less provide a profit margin for the DRAM manufacturer or module supplier.

Will we see a similar pricing phenomenon once the transition from DDR2 to DDR3 begins in full earnest… but when will that be, later next year? We seriously doubt it, but one never knows in this industry. For the time being, DDR2 is still king when it comes to market penetration and as such, most systems will still require it in the foreseeable future. That means it is a good time for users to upgrade older systems or to purchase copious amounts of DDR2 memory for new system builds.

We recommend 4GB as a minimum at this time, even for 32-bit Vista, due to the small cost differential involved between the 4GB and 2GB kits. Regardless of what Bill Gates says, you really can never have enough memory. We also suggest sticking with DDR2-800 or higher memory speeds depending on the system being built or application usage. 2GB DDR2 kits (1GB is still used also) are still the choice for most benchmarking activities on DDR2 platforms and for those users we suggest kits with Micron D9 modules. The particular type of D9 is dependent upon an AMI or Award BIOS design plus the motherboard supplier.

We purchased all of our memory from the usual suspects like Newegg, NCIX, TigerDirect, Frys, or directly from the supplier in some cases to ensure our retail experience matched that of review samples provided by the suppliers. Fortunately for the suppliers so far, we have had almost identical results between the kits.

That said, the DRAM market is very volatile and suppliers have a bad habit of switching ICs in the middle of a production run. Sometimes this is good, but most of the time it is not in our experiences. Some of the module suppliers like Corsair will clearly identify the part number revision level on the module and they list the IC information on their website. We applaud this type of customer service. Others do nothing and that irritates us. Hopefully, regardless of price advantages, the memory suppliers will ensure continuity in the ICs utilized for each particular part number they advertise and at least follow Corsair's example.

Let's take a look at our selections for this holiday season and see if Santa thinks these suppliers are being naughty or nice.

2GB DDR2-800 Budget Kits

For those on a really tight budget, not wanting to go through the rebate process on the inexpensive 4GB kits, and/or running Windows XP or Linux, 2GB can suffice with most applications around today. For these users, we recommend the following kits (but we still prefer 4GB).

A-DATA Vitesta 2GB DDR2-800 Kit - We have never had a compatibility problem with this kit in a variety of budget motherboards and that is impressive to us. It features 5-5-5-18 timings at a JEDEC approved 1.8V, a nifty heatspreader, and a limited lifetime warranty for a price of around $27. It does not overclock well though, with our retail samples topping out around DDR2-900 at 2.0V with 5-5-5-18 timings. In this price range and target market that really does not matter that much to us.

Mushkin 2GB DDR2-800 Kit (996527) - Another great budget choice is this 5-5-5-12 1.8V kit from Mushkin that we have used in several of our lab machines. The heatspreader features Mushkin's trademark design and true to their name, this kit offers some overclocking headroom on a budget price. A small bump in voltage to 1.9V got us to 4-5-4-12 timings at DDR2-800 and up to DDR2-900 at 5-5-5-15 timings. We took one more bump in voltage up to 2.0V to reach 4-5-4-15 timings at DDR2-900 and then hit DDR2-960 with 5-5-5-18 timings. The kit goes for around $30 and current rebates bring it down to $23 with a limited lifetime warranty and very good customer service.

Kingston 2GB DDR2-800 Kit (KVR800D2N5K2/2G) - Our final suggestion in the budget 2GB series comes from Kingston. This ValueRAM kit offers 5-5-5-18 timings at 1.8V and we hit DDR2-900 at 5-5-5-15 with 2.0V. Kingston offers a limited lifetime warranty, extensive support, and excellent customer service for a very respectable $25 street price.

4GB DDR2-800

As stated earlier, we really believe users should not purchase less than 4GB today, and if you run a 64-bit operating system we think 8GB is fast becoming the sweet spot now for those who game and do heavy video/audio work. In regards to performance, we think a CAS 4 DDR2-800 kit will suffice for most users and the majority of these kits will still offer decent overclocking headroom compared to the CAS5 modules. However, except for benchmarking, the true performance difference between CAS4 and CAS5 modules at DDR2-800 is minimal with performance not varying by more than 1%~3% in most applications.

Mushkin 4GB DDR2-800 Kit (996587) - This kit is rated at 5-4-4-12 on 1.8V although most motherboards will detect and set timings to 5-5-5-15. We were surprised with the overclocking capabilities of this kit with a final speed rating at 1066 with 5-5-5-18 timings on 2.05V. We easily hit DDR2-900 with 5-4-4-15 timings on 1.90V. The kit lists for $49 but a current rebate special brings the price down to $30 and into our budget category. We tested Mushkin's rebate process on an earlier purchase and received our check in 33 days, so we trust them enough to recommend this product in the budget section based on the rebate process.

G.Skill 4GB DDR2-800 Kit (F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ) - One of our favorite "budget" 4GB kit comes from G.Skill and features 5-5-5-15 timings at 1.8V. Featuring a $40 street price, this kit is compatible with every motherboard we have thrown at it in the labs. While not a kit designed for overclocking, we were able to get an absolutely stable 4-5-4-15 timings at DDR2-800 with 2.0V and a final clock speed of DDR2-960 at 5-5-5-15 on 1.95V.

Kingston 4GB DDR2-800 Kit (KVR800D2N5K2/4G) - Another entry for Kingston in the budget area is a 4GB kit featuring 5-6-6-18 timings at 1.8V, although we had no issues running 5-5-5-15 at 1.8V. A slight bump in voltage resulted in a final DDR2-920 speed at 5-5-5-18 at 1.95V. This kit goes for a street price around $37.

There are several other good alternatives in this category if you like a specific vendor. In fact, one of the better rebate specials comes from Corsair on their TWIN2X4096-6400C5 G kit that lists for $55 and is available now for $25. This kit features 5-5-5-18 timings at 1.9V, though our boards ran these timings at 1.8V just fine. OCZ and Patriot are both offering high quality 4GB kits for under $20 with a rebate that require around 1.90V to run at the rated speeds; otherwise we had to set 5-4-4-12 timings on 1.8V.

4GB DDR2-800 Midrange Kits

Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR2-800 Kit (BL2KIT25664AA80A) - We have no idea what to think about our results with this particular kit. We only ordered 4GB but have another 4GB coming shortly from Newegg to verify our results. Rated at 4-4-4-12 on 2.0V at DDR2-800, our kit had no problems running these timings at 1.80V. We started increasing our speeds and eventually landed a DDR2-1066 setting with 5-5-5-15 timings at 1.95V. Our sweet spot at DDR2-900 resulted in 4-4-4-12 timings at 1.9V. We decided to push our voltages to 2.1V and ended up at DDR2-1100 with 5-6-5-18 timings. So, yeah, our tongues dropped out of our mouth for a few seconds but stayed there after this next setting. We decided to do a warranty busting 2.2V and watched our kit settle in at DDR2-1200 at 6-6-5-18 timings. Not bad for a $58 kit that also features a $20 rebate this month.

G.Skill PI 4G DDR2-800 Kit (F26400CL4D4GBPIB) - We are starting to sound like a broken record here by having G.Skill in each of our categories so far, but they do offer compelling price to performance ratios on their products with an added bonus of good customer service and top notch warranties. We had planned to originally recommend the Silver PI series, but just picked up the new Black series a few weeks ago and have been impressed with it. Rated at 4-4-4-12 timings on 1.8V at DDR2-800, this kit features not only excellent timings but a price now at $50. The memory will POST at 5-5-5-15 timings in most boards but spending 30 seconds in the BIOS will get you the rated timings. We ended up with a final speed setting at DDR2-1020 with 5-5-4-15 timings on 2.05V. The sweet spot with our board/CPU combination was at DDR2-900 on 1.95V with 4-4-4-15 timings.

Patriot Viper 4GB DDR2-800 Kit (PVS24G6400LLKN) - I might be biased as I run these kits in my personal system but for good reason. This kit is rated at 4-4-4-12 timings on 2.1V at DDR2-800. We have not had any problems running any of our retail kits at 4-4-4-12 on 1.8V. Like the Crucial kit, we hit DDR2-1066 on 1.95V but with 5-5-5-10 timings. Our DDR2-900 test resulted in 4-4-4-8 timings at 1.95V. We eventually hit DDR2-1100 with 6-6-5-15 timings on 2.1V and that was about as far as we could go. The kits are offered at $58 with a $25 rebate this month.

Before the recent release of the products listed above, our best performing midrange kit was the OCZ Reaper HPC. Rated at 4-4-4-15 with 2.1V at DDR2-800 this kit is still a very good performer but requires 1.9V to hit the 4-4-4-15 timings at 800. We could keep these timings to DDR2-900 but required 2.05V to do so. Our final speed was DDR2-1066 at 5-5-5-15 timings at 2.15V. This kit sells for around $62 and has a $30 rebate this month. OCZ changes ICs on a periodic basis so current kits might be competitive with the newer kits from Crucial, G.Skill, and Patriot now.

4GB DDR2-1066 or higher

For the more adventurous overclockers we suggest the DDR2-1066 or higher memory kits, especially those with the latest E8400 and up processors that typically can reach FSB speeds in excess of 550. While beneficial for benchmarking, real world applications will not benefit that much, at least in a way that is actually recognizable to the user. Except for one kit, our recommendations all required more than 1.95V to hit DDR2-1066. We have also noticed differences between kits with the various module suppliers in this grouping. The ICs are binned for the most part and some kits just do better than others even though they are based on the same memory manufacturer.

Patriot Viper 4GB DDR2-1066 Kit (PVS24G8500ELKN) - Another big green set of memory from Patriot with this one rated at 1066 with 5-5-5-15 timings on 2.1V. We hit these timings on 1.90V and eventually reached DDR2-1160 at 5-5-5-18 on 2.15V. The kit costs around $66 with a $30 rebate this month.

OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB DDR2-1066 Kit - This kit is rated at 5-5-5-18 timings on 2.1V at DDR2-1066. We needed 1.95V to hit those ratings. Our kit eventually topped out at DDR2-1140 on 2.15V with 5-5-5-18 timings. The current kit goes for $71 and has a $30 rebate this month.

Corsair Dominator 4GB DDR2-1066 Kit (Twin2x4096-8500C5D) - Corsair has always been known for excellent compatibility in a wide range of motherboards and this kit does not disappoint. Rated at 5-5-5-15 timings on 2.1V at DDR2-1066, we found we could reach these settings at 1.95V. Like the OCZ kit, we eventually hit a wall around DDR2-1140 on 2.15V with 5-5-5-15 timings. This kit retails for $80 and has a $40 rebate available this month.

G.Skill PI 4GB DDR2-1100 Kit (F2-8800CL5D-4GBPI) - The most expensive kit in our DDR2 guide and probably one of the most impressive. It is kind of strange to talk about a $95 DDR2-1100 4GB kit as being expensive, but it is in the current market. This kit is rated at 5-5-5-15 timings at DDR2-1100 on 1.9V. We reached those settings as advertised with 1.85V but were also able to do 5-5-5-15 at DDR2-1066 on 1.8V, far better than our 1066 kits. We eventually hit DDR2-1200 at 5-6-5-18 on 2.1V, while our DDR2-1140 setting needed just 1.95V at 5-5-5-15.

We just received the Mushkin Enhanced DDR2-1066 (996599) kit and it looks very promising at this time with 1066 speeds needing 1.9V for 5-5-5-18 timings. We will provide updates in our upcoming roundup.

DDR3 Memory

Decent performing DDR3 memory hit the market about 18 months ago with the introduction of the P35 chipset and has more or less languished since then. A variety of reasons caused this, ranging from high costs to lackadaisical chipset support until the release of the Intel X48 and NVIDIA 790i earlier this year. The memory manufacturers were able to drive speeds up quickly and prices started to drop finally about six months ago. However, except for benchmarking reasons, there really was not a compelling reason for a user to choose DDR3 over DDR2 on the desktop.

We finally have a compelling reason to start using DDR3, actually a couple of reasons. First, the introduction of Intel's Core i7 and X58 force users to switch over to DDR3, and secondly, we are finally starting to see second and third generation DDR3 products featuring higher clock speeds, capacities, and tighter timings all running on significantly lower voltages. Also, the prices are starting to drop quickly at the lower end of the market. They are still not competitive with DDR2 on a per-gigabyte cost basis (what could be?), but are reasonable now for those users switching over to DDR3.

We recommend sticking with a tri-channel kit on the X58 platform and in this case a 6GB kit is our minimum base for most users. At this time, if you are benchmarking, a high speed DDR3-2000 3GB kit is the best choice although we have already seen a new DDR3-2000 6GB kit from Corsair with rated timings at 7-8-7-20 2N. We expect other manufacturers to follow suit shortly. However, a good CAS7 DDR3-1333 kit will provide most enthusiasts with the right balance of performance on this platform without breaking the bank. These kits will normally run 6-6-6-18 timings at 1333 with a little extra voltage and have enough headroom to reach DDR3-1500 with decent timings.

To be honest, the DDR3-1066 CAS7 kits are fine for 85% of the users and most will run 6-5-5-15 timings with a slight increase in VDIMM, providing excellent performance for the money. If you want to overclock the i920/i940 processors past the 3.8~4GHz range then we suggest a DDR3-1600 kit to ensure enough headroom on the memory side without going crazy on voltages.

While a CAS8 DDR3-1600 6GB kit will provide better benchmark results and a little more overclocking headroom up to the DDR3-1800 range, we think the current CAS9 kits are just fine. Most of these kits will run CAS8 at DDR3-1600 with a safe increase in VDIMM and hit DDR3-1720 at CAS10 if required, although tighter timings at slightly lower memory speeds provide better application performance.

Of course the big pink elephant in the center of the room that most people will not discuss is if more than 1.65V of VDIMM will actually burn up your new i7 processor. Intel thinks it could be a problem over the long term life of the CPU and warned everyone about it. We are still working on a specific article that will address why Intel thinks this and what our opinion is on the subject. As of this moment, after a few thousand hours of testing, we have not had a problem with VDIMM in the 1.75V~1.80V range with the VTT and VCore set properly. I personally have been running a system 24/7 with memory set at 1.9V under full load with revised VTT settings we will be recommending without a problem so far. We plan on providing updates throughout the coming year to see what occurs with this particular experiment.

Let's take a first look at our recommendations for tri-channel kits. This market is very fluid at the moment with new kits (4GB modules for 24GB testing are coming) arriving almost daily so we will have another update in January.

DDR3-1066 Tri-Channel Kits

Kingston 3GB DDR3-1066 Kit (KVR1066D3N7K3/3G) - This $99 kit offers timings of 7-7-7-20 with 1.5V at DDR3-1066. We hit DDR3-1333 at 9-8-8-20 timings on 1.6V or 6-6-5-15 at 1066 on the same voltage. If you are on a budget after spending $600 for an i920 and X58 board, this kit will get you by for the time being plus you have Kingston's excellent customer service and support backing it.

Crucial 6GB DDR3-1066 Kit (CT3KIT25664BA1067) - Priced at $155, this 1066 kit provides 7-7-7-24 timings at 1.5V. We eventually hit DDR3-1333 at 9-9-8-24 timings with 1.6V or a slightly better performing 6-6-5-18 setup at 1.6V at 1066.

DDR3-1333 Tri-Channel Kits

G.Skill 6GB DDR3-1333 Kit (F3-10666CL7T-6GBPK) - This category was going to be a hotly contested group with excellent entries from Corsair, OCZ, Super Talent, and Patriot. However, after a recent price drop, our number one selection is now from G.Skill. This $180 kit is only $15 more than their CAS9 entry and is priced about $25~$40 under the other CAS7 kits. Running at rated timings of 7-7-7-18 required 1.55V for 24/7 stability compared to 1.5V on the Corsair and OCZ kits, but a slight change in timings to 7-8-7-18 got us down to 1.5V with an unperceivable difference in performance. We hit a final speed of DDR3-1520 with 9-9-9-24 2T timings at 1.65V. Our best timings at 1333 were 6-6-5-18 1Tat 1.6V.

Another kit that caught our eye was the Super Talent 6GB DDR3-1333 CAS8 1.5V kit at a wallet friendly (in this grouping) $165. We hit a final speed of DDR3-1520 at 10-9-8-20 timings at 1.65V. We just received a CAS6 kit from Mushkin that is geared to the enthusiast along with a revised kit from Corsair. We highly value customer support and hassle free warranties when buying memory and will generally pay an extra amount for that peace of mind. We think the tradeoff between the G.Skill pricing and performance compared to the customer support staff provided by Corsair, OCZ, and others in this particular case outweigh the cost differential.

DDR3-1600 Tri-Channel Kits

Corsair Dominator 6GB DDR3-1600 Kit (TR3X6G1600C8D) - This is the memory we utilize for our X58 motherboard testing and it is well worth the $260 price. Featuring DDR3-1600 speeds with 8-8-8-24 1T timings at 1.65V, we are able to run this memory at the rated timings and speed at 1.56V on the majority of X58 motherboards. We had no problems with 7-8-7-20 1T timings at 1600 on 1.64V and eventually hit DDR3-1744 at 9-9-8-24 2T timings with 1.70V on the ASUS Rampage II Extreme board. Corsair provides some of the best customer support in the industry along with almost universal compatibility.

Mushkin XP3-12800 6GB DDR3-1600 Kit (998679) - A recent arrival in our labs is this 7-8-7-20 1T kit rated at DDR3-1600 on 1.65V for $261. We ended up running this kit at the rated timings and speed on 1.54V and could do 7-7-6-20 1T at 1600 on 1.64V on our ASUS Rampage Extreme II board. We eventually hit DDR3-1780 at 9-9-9-24 2T on 1.72V.

G.Skill 6GB DDR3-1600 Kit (F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ) - For those on a more modest budget and not wanting to squeeze out the last tenth of second in SuperPI, we think this 9-9-9-24 kit from G.Skill is an very good value at $199. We were able to run the rated speed and timings at 1.54V on all of our X58 boards and could do 8-8-8-24 1T at 1.65V. Our memory topped out at DDR3-1720 at 10-10-9-24 2T on 1.70V so overclocking headroom is minimal even with relaxed timings.

We still have DDR3-1600 6GB kits arriving in the labs. If you are a fan of mail in rebates then we highly recommend the OCZ Gold 6GB kit. It had nearly the same results as the Corsair kit at stock speeds but ran out of steam at DDR3-1720 with 10-9-9-20 timings at 1.72V. We have had excellent results in 12GB testing with the Patriot Viper PVT36G1600ELK kits. Performance is similar and at times better than the G.Skill CAS9 1600 kit but the pricing is slightly higher at $215 with the included rebate. Patriot also offers the PVT36G1600LLK kit that is priced similarly to the Corsair Dominator kit and offers almost identical performance.

We have not had enough test time with a couple of new DDR3-1866 kits that just arrived so we will have to discuss those in a future system guide. Also, for those that like to overclock and benchmark, we have had great success with the Kingston KHX16000D3K3/3GX kit in reaching speeds right above DDR3-2000 with CAS9 timings at 1.65V. Other high performance kits are arriving shortly, even 6GB kits rated at DDR3-2000, so the serious enthusiast will have numerous choices in early 2009.

That is it for today. We will be back in the near future with a couple of memory roundups and to answer that age old question of what suites your system best, 3GB, 4GB, 6GB, 8GB, or 12GB depending on the platform.