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Memory? Why?
Aaah memory. It has been some time since we last had a memory review, and for good reason. Memory got pretty boring. Ten years ago this was not the case. DDR was just fresh on the scene and we were starting to see memory speeds and bandwidths get to a place where it would have a significant effect on performance. Latencies were of utmost importance, and the fastest 2.2.2.6 DIMMs running at DDR 400 speeds were often quite expensive. Then things sort of mellowed out. DDR-2 did not exactly bring faster performance over DDR initially, and it was not until DDR-2 800 and 1066 speeds that we actually saw a significant boost over previous gen DDR 1. DDR-3 brought even more yawns. With the jump to integrated memory controllers from both AMD and Intel, DDR-3 speeds were nearly meaningless.
The primary reason for this rather vanilla time in the memory market was that of individual bandwidth needs for CPU cores. Most research into this issue points to an individual CPU core needing only 3 to 4 GB/sec of bandwidth to support its data needs. AMD and Intel have gone to great lengths to increase the efficiency of not only their memory controllers and prefetchers, but also the internal caches so fewer main memory accesses are needed. So essentially a quad core processor would really only need upwards of 12 to 13 GB/sec of bandwidth in real world scenarios. DDR-3 1333 memory modules in a dual channel configuration would be able to support that kind of bandwidth quite easily. So what exactly was the point of having faster memory? Also, CPUs using DDR-3 memory are not as sensitive to latencies as we have seen in previous generations of parts.
The Basics
Introduction
If you have been visiting PC Perspective at all over the last week there is no doubt you have seen a lot of discussion about the currently running Battlefield 3 beta. We posted an article looking at performance of several different GPUs in the game and then followed it up with a look at older cards like the GeForce 9800 GT. We did a live stream of some PC Perspective staff playing BF3 with readers and fans, showed off and tested the locked Caspian Border map and even looked at multi-GPU scaling performance. It was a lot of testing and a lot of time, but now that we have completed it, we are ready to summarize our findings in a piece that many have been clamoring for - a Battlefield 3 system build guide.
The purpose of this article is simple: gather our many hours or testing and research and present the results in a way that simply says "here is the hardware we recommend." It is a the exact same philosophy that makes our PC Perspective Hardware Leaderboard so successful as it gives the reader all the information they need, all in one place.
Continue reading our guide for building a system for Battlefield 3!!
Shifting focus
Yesterday OCZ Technology announced that it was going to exit the memory market as of February 2011, the very same memory market that helped make it the well-known company it is today. After hearing the news we were both saddened and curious: why did they make this decision, what happens to all of those current OCZ memory users and where are they going from here?
Tour Overview
Before Gigabyte’s Open Overclocking Championship 2009 North America Regional Final this weekend, Kingston invited several members of the media to tour their global headquarters and manufacturing facility located in Fountain Valley, Calif. Check out our quick overview of Kington's main production facility for their newest DDR3 memory modules.
One, singular sensation...
Corsair has always been one of our favorite brands of memory as they have consistently catered to our enthusiast desires with newer, faster options. This time Corsair is offering up a reasonably-priced 4GB kit of DDR3 memory that still runs at 1600 MHz or beyond. Come see if DDR3 has FINALLY overtaken DDR2 for our recommendations.
Introduction to Domination
Corsair shows us another DDR3 Dominator installment: this time using Intel Extreme Memory Profiles to overclock to 1800 MHz on a CAS 7 latency. Sure DDR3 is still expensive, but now it's also fast and easy to overclock!
Corsair CM3X1024-1800C7D
Corsair and Super Talent sent along some of their top speed DDR3 memory for us to play around with and we came away more than slightly impressed about the future of DDR3 memory for the enthusiast!
Flex XLC Module Technology
OCZ has a very impressive memory option on the test bed today that offers both a great passive cooling option as well as liquid cooling for enthusiasts that really want to push their memory overclocking.
The New Dominator Module
Corsair's Dominator memory modules look like nothing else you have seen on system memory before with a unique cooling device and fantastic overclocking results to go along with it.
Introduction and Specifications
We review the latest Corsair XMS2 8500 dual-channel memory kit. Unlike other reviews you may have read, we overclock using three different motherboards to give you a better idea of how it will perform.
Introduction & Specs
We take a look at two DDR2 offerings from Corsair. The overclocking results are surprising which bodes well for Corsair's current DDR2 line-up.
The Modules
Corsair is set to release a new memory technology with the ability to monitor and display temperature, voltage and frequency in a cool new package.
Memory Basics
A detailed look at how memory functions and you can find the best memory for your particular configuration.
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