Product: XMS2 Twin2X1024-8500 1GB Dual Channel Memory Kit
Author: Sean Kalinich
Category: Enthusiast/Overclocker
Reviewed on: 23 April 2006
Product cost: $229.99
Manufacturer: Corsair
Spelling and Grammatical editor:
Paul Mercer
| Introduction: You know sometimes it seems that memory speeds change faster than CPU and GPU speeds. It was not enough to have DDR400, we had to have DDR600, same thing with DDR2; DDR2 667 was not fast enough so we had DDR2 800, that at least matched the FSB on most Intel CPUs. But not being satisfied with that, we were hit with a round of DDR2 900, then DDR2 1000. Now the guys from Corsair have blessed us with DDR2 1066, the fastest (clock speed wise) DDR2 available today. We have a dual channel, 1 gigabyte kit of this straining against its packaging waiting to be tested. Let?s cut open the packaging and see how fast it flies. |
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{mospagebreak title=Packaging} Packaging: 3.6 out of 5
In the event of poor performance smash case with hammer?
I am not sure if there is an unwritten law that says that if you make high-performance and highly overclockable RAM you must package it in flimsy plastic that is able to slice your fingers if miss-handled.Corsair is known for high-performance RAM, Corsair is known for being highly overclockable, Corsair is known for having packaging that, once torn open, you could shave with. The plastic clam shell packaging on the XMS2 is not impressive. The simple insert has the name of the product and the kit size printed on the front and on the back you can find a small sampling of awards that have been heaped on Corsairs name as well as a few review quotes and techsupport information. One new item is that the insert opens up, on the inside are instructions for installing your RAM complete with color pictures. The packaging, it can be argued, is this way to reduce the overall cost to you, the consumer, I personally think that RAM of this quality and speed deserves a better box. That, however, is a very trivial item in the greater scheme of things.
{mospagebreak title=Design and Features}
Design and Features: 4.5 Score out of 5
He designed it mainly to annoy his wife?
With a jet-black aluminum heat spreader and a purple label the Twin2X1024-8500 pair is quite eye catching. The heat spreader is attached to the RAM using either thermal tape or another form of thermal adhesive as I was unable to remove them. Corsair designed the Twin2X1024-8500 to run at the same speed as the Pentium4s with the 1066MHz FSB. This is to help compensate for the inherent latency of the memory controller residing in the northbridge and not in the CPU. One of the problems with most Intel performance is memory speed. In an AMD setup the memory runs at the same speed as the CPU FSB (or HT) this improves memory and CPU performance considerably. With an Intel System all data has to go though the northbridge to get from the memory to the CPU and back. This is already a handicap, added to this is the fact that until recently most DDR2 RAM did not run as fast as the CPU FSB, so you are already at a disadvantage. Most DDR2 speeds have not surpassed the 1000MHz range and while this is good for those running the 800MHz FSB CPUs, what happens when you have a CPU with an FSB of 1066? You are stuck either overclocking your RAM to meet that speed, granted not a large OC, or you simply run at a slower speed and loose a small amount of your performance. Corsair has changed all of that with the release of the Twin2X1024-8500, you can run your memory at the same speed as your 1066 CPU and see the full performance possible from these parts.
Features:
Two matched 512MB 240-pin DDR2 DIMMs
SPD Programmed to DDR2-800 at 5-5-5-15-2T
2.2vDimm
64mx8 DDR2 SDRAMs
Aluminum Heatspreader
Latencies:
CL 5
RAS Precharge 5
RAS to CAS Delay 5
RAS Active to Precharge 15
Command Rate 2T
Lifetime Warranty
{mospagebreak title=Performance}
Performance: 4.7 out of 5
Test systems:
Intel Extreme Edition 840
Asus P5WD2-E Premium Mainboard
Corsair Twin2X1024-8500 1GB (2x512MB)
ATi X1800XT
Microsoft Office 2003
FRAPS
SpeedFan
Diskeeper 10.0 Professional Premier (trial ware)
Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0
CyberLink Power DVD
One issue I ran into with my test setup was the inability to run the Corsair RAM at 1066 without overclocking the CPU.
I had considered bumping the CPU speed up to 266MHz; this would have given me an effective FSB of 1067. Unfortunately, this would also lead to an unfair comparison, as I was unable to drop the multiplier on my Extreme Edition 840 CPU below 14 and maintain the 3.2 GHz clock for both sets of RAM.
One foot note, I was able to run this memory at the rated speed ot 1066MHz by over clocking the XE840 CPU to a 266MHz FSB. It ran at this speed without issue.
For easier labeling I list both types of RAM tested as DDR2-800.
Sisoft Sandra:
Running both memory kits at the same speed and the lowest possible timings we see the Corsair pulling ahead in the Sandra Numbers
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Kingston DDR2-800 |
Corsair DDR2-800 |
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Windows XP Pro |
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Windows XP x64 |
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Again the Corsair PC2-8500 has better bandwidth in our RightMark testing.
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Kingston DDR2-800 |
Corsair DDR2-800 |
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Windows XP Pro |
Windows XP x64 |
Windows XP Pro |
Windows XP x64 |
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Memory Bandwidth |
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Memory Walk |
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CheckSum |
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Stream |
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Search String |
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Windows XP Pro |
Windows XP x64 |
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Kingston DDR2-800 |
33:29 |
33:36 |
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Corsair DDR2-800 |
39:16 |
33:17 |
Time in Minutes and Seconds
Although the gain here is small it is still noticeable and a 16 second improvement in the SuperPi 32M calculation is nothing to thumb your nose at.
Price/Warranty Score 4.8 out of 5
Price:
Warranty:
{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Pros:
Fast
Low Latencies possible
SPD set to DDR2-800
Cons:
Packaging could be better
Scores:
Packaging: 3.6 out of 5
Design and Features: 4.5 out of 5
Performance: 4.8 out of 5
Price/Warranty: 4.7 out of 5
Final Score: 17.6 out of 20
For performance and value the Corsair Twin2X1024-8500 Kit earns our Best on the Planet award:
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Acknowledgments:
Discuss this evaluation here