Corsair 6 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

With the introduction of the Intel i7 Nehalemfamily of processors and the various X58 based motherboards that support it, its time to bid a fond farewell to both dual channel memory in general and DDR2 in specific. The entire i7 processor line and their X58 counterparts only support DDR3 and now triple channel is the name of the game. To make things even more interesting Intel has thrown a new internally integrated memory controller into the mix that finally brings the performance of DDR3 to a level we have been expecting to experience since it was first introduced. So are we talking some new and esoteric DDR3 version necessary to integrate with all of this new technology? Not at all, in essence it's the same DDR3 that's currently on the market with a modified SPD to lower the VDIMM requirement to 1.65 Volts which brings it more in line with both the Intel specification and the original JEDEC standard. The only other substantial difference is the DDR3 designed for the i7 based systems is sold in kits of three instead of two to facilitate the triple channel requirement.

We plan to speak much more in detail later in the review concerning the internal integrated memory controller that Intel has introduced with their Nehalembased i7 family of processors. For now suffice it to say that many consumer enthusiasts feel that this controller is several years late in its inception and follows a trend set by their competitor AMD several years ago. Whatever the rationale was for Intel's delay in this component's introduction there's no doubt that we are finally seeing memory bandwidth figures that make DDR3 much more appealing to those consumers that utilize applications that perform best with high memory throughput.

Today, we at Benchmark Reviews will be presenting our findings for the Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D memory kit which is a 6144 MB kit of 1600 MHz DDR3 SDRAM DIMMs based upon Corsair's high performance Dominator family of memory. This kit has been verified to operate at 1600MHz at latencies of 8-8-8-24 at 1.65V VDIMM. These statistics put the TR3X6G1600C8D in the mid-range of DDR3 performance statistically, but as we're all aware a number of memory modules on the market can solidly produce much higher performance figures than their ratings might allude. We plan to use a variety of tests both at stock and overclocked performance speeds to give our readers a solid overview of just what this kit has to offer.

Before moving on to the meat of our review we would be totally remiss if we didn't mention the current economy and the effect it has had on the pricing of many of the high-performance products we review. In most cases we have seen prices fall dramatically. In the case of the Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D 6 GB, triple channel DDR3 memory kit the price has plummeted to much less than half of what a similar kit would have cost just a few months previous to this. Granted times are tough but we are seeing the best bang for the buck that we have expereinced in many years with most computer components. If you are considereing a new system or perhaps an upgrade of your current system now is most certainly a good time to make the move.

About the company: Corsair

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