Kingston & OCZ DDR3 Memory Kit Reviews

• APH Networks: OCZ Special Ops PC3-10666 2x2GB:
  
  

  "he OCZ Special Ops PC3-10666 2x2GB RAM is a value gaming part, and aren't necessarily designed for overclocking or cutting edge performance. Here's the thing though, is that, with the OCZ SOE RAM, just because it has a "value" term associated with it, does not mean it sucks. It comes in the same OCZ packaging with every other OCZ memory product, backed by OCZ's excellent warranty and hassle-free service (Being the time I've went 'undercover' to see how it goes -- twice with different identities and addresses -- all went well), and cool looks with the Urban Camo Motif XTC heatspreader. Performance-wise, it did not overclock much to even consider it so, but it's never meant to be. Users will still be pleasantly surprised that the latencies can be somewhat lowered -- at least mine runs perfectly at 8-8-8-20. In terms of benchmarking, all of the performance differences compared to its more expensive counterparts are all within the 10% range. I doubt that the difference will be noticed significant in real life usage. The real difference is what comes to your credit card bill at the end of the month. The OCZ Special Ops PC3-10666 2x2GB are priced very competitively in the DDR3 market at press time. If you're looking for a no-frills pair of DDR3 RAM at a great price with 4GB capacity, the OCZ Special Ops PC3-10666 2x2GB is a very decent choice. Plus, it looks cool in a windowed case!"

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Bigbruin: OCZ Technology SLI-Ready 2GB DDR3-2000 Memory Kit:
  
  

  "The OCZ Technology SLI-Ready 2GB DDR3-2000 dual channel memory kit is almost ahead of its time. The eVGA 790i motherboard does support SLI-Ready memory up to 2000MHz, but it did have some trouble staying stable at that speed. Testing really didn't show much advantage over a ‘slower’ kit, and if you can run with tighter timings at lower speeds you may be better off.
  
  This was my first SLI-Ready memory kit, and also my first time using EPP. I have to admit it is nice to set it to “auto” and let it manage all memory specific settings on its own. I did want to see if I could push the kit past the rated 2000MHz, but I had enough trouble getting it 100% stable at 2000MHz. Even a little over 2000MHz would almost guarantee Windows would not load. After many hours of trying to get the kit stable with the stock speed and timings I just could not get the system 100% game stable. Instead of tinkering even more than I did, I decided to lower the memory speed to 1600MHz and run with tighter timings (8-8-8-23 and 1T)."

  
  Click here to read the full review.
  
  
  
• Virtual-Hideout: Kingston 2GB HyperX PC3-16000 DDR3 Memory Kit:
  
  

  "Even though the memory didn't quite overclock as expected, there are a couple perspectives to consider. First, your CPU has to be able to overclock beyond 1600 MHz Front Side Bus which gets pretty tough on Core 2 Quads. Second, your motherboard has to support those extreme Front Side Bus frequencies as well as 2000 MHz frequency memory. It's a little challenging finding the right CPU and motherboard combo. The nice thing about the HyperX memory is that it's built with some great quality ICs which can be under clocked to lower frequencies and much lower timings. So, if you don't have the system to support its maximum frequencies at the moment, you can still find plenty of screaming bandwidth."

  
  Click here to read the full review.