Aeneon AXH860UD20 XMP DDR3

As a professional product analyst, there aren't too many people on this planet who test hardware to the limits that I do on a daily basis. While it would be foolish of me to expect people to accept everything I say without question, it would be foolish of people to discount my level of experience earned from constant exposure to the technology. With some hope, I expect that readers will appreciate the level of skill used to shape and fashion my professional opinion, and use it to guide them in making decisions on their purchase. This was a primary purpose for writing the article DDR3 RAM: System Memory Technology Explained.

Of the many experiences I endure on a day to day basis, the most recent has involved testing two new bleeding-edge motherboards (X48 and NF790i chipsets) with high-speed DDR3 system memory. For the past several years Windows XP has been my Operating System of choice; and over time I have been able to trim down the system services and operate with a mere 16 processes running in the background. However, we are seeing the end of an exciting era, and the beginning of a much less enthusiastic one. Enter Windows Vista.

Not long ago, Microsoft released its first service package for Windows Vista. Like most people, Benchmark Reviews believes that Microsoft has made a tradition out of releasing software before it's mature; and like most people, we wait for that first service pack to release before we give it a try. So when Vista SP1 was made available, we jumped at the opportunity to begin publishing test results with the new Operating System. My first experiences however, were not so positive.

To begin this (rant), I should confide that Windows Vista is not a new product to me, and that I have not been pleased with the Operating System since I first laid hands to it back in beta testing. Nevertheless, times are changing and Windows Vista is here to stay. So with a degree of optimism, I used two brand new Raptor hard drives to load Windows Vista Home Ulitimate SP1 and Windows XP Pro SP3. Both of these Operating Systems shared the exact same processor, motherboard, memory, and video card; thus they were identical in hardware configuration and separated by only the Operating System software.

Testing with Windows XP Pro SP3 was no different than it has been over the past few years, and my system operates with incredible snap. The performance and test results were exactly the same as I had seen over all of my past tests. Good enough, I though, and so I proceeded to begin testing on Windows Vista. This is where the story really begins, and why this introduction has so much to do with a 4GB system memory kit.

While XP is confined to DirectX 9, Windows Vista offers the "improved" DirectX 10 graphical application interface; so I didn't expect for a moment that the graphical benchmarks would be at all comparable. But what about general user experience, such as installing a program or running a video game? Well, this is where my eager experience turns to total disappointment with Microsoft. Without going into the details of why Windows Vista should have never been made into a 32-bit Operating System, I can safely say that Microsoft has given the hardware industry good reason to feed its pig of an Operating System nothing but the finest high-performance hardware.

The very first thing I noticed during testing was the incredibly sluggish performance compared to Windows XP. Windows Vista caches startup programs so boot times are decent, and it indexes every single file (if you let it) for faster searches, but if you want a genuinely fast Operating System, you had better be prepared to change your idea of what "sufficient hardware" is. Programs and games alike suffered from poor performance, and at the end my testing I was very much convinced that the 2 GB of system memory used in Windows XP was simply not enough to enjoy (or cope with) Windows Vista. It was time to step it up, and the first thing that needed to be done was to upgrade the RAM. Installing 4 GB worth of Aeneon AXH860UD20-16H DDR3-1600 XMP RAM worked like magic, and would end yet another great era: the usefulness of 2 GB RAM kits in a modern Operating System. Benchmark Reviews continues our DDR3 Review Series, and today we focus on the system builder and enthusiast users who will most benefit from the additional system memory capacity.

About the company: Aeneon

Aeneon memory products are offered by Qimonda (www.qimonda.com), one of the world's leading memory companies for the retail and channel markets. Renowned for excellence in product quality, high performance and early availability, Aeneon products are based on leading-edge German technology and reliability. The broad portfolio of Aeneon memory products includes DRAM modules for notebooks, PCs and servers, as well as Flash-based products such as USB sticks, SD cards and microSD cards.

Aeneon products are 100 % tested and certified to meet the latest industry standards. Working closely with top motherboard manufacturers, Aeneon offers high-quality DRAM modules that work excellently with major desktop PC and notebook systems, as well as servers.

Aeneon is Qimonda's channel and retail brand committed to maximizing customer satisfaction by working with an international network of distributors, resellers, e-retailers and system integrators to meet worldwide demand. Our goal is to build a world-class brand with a clear and focused quality product portfolio that adapts to your needs, served through our dedicated partners. For more information, please visit the Qimonda Aeneon web site.

Previous Page - Next Page >>