Corsair, Kingston, OCZ, Super Talent DDR3 1800MHz Memory Kits

DDR3 1800MHz Memory Kit Round-Up

It is hard to believe that DDR3 has been on the market since May of 2007 though the transition over to DDR3 is happening at a snails pace. Much of the reasoning behind the slow transition is due to the price of DDR3 memory versus DDR2. You can easily get a 2GB kit of DDR2 800MHz with respectable CL4 timings for under $50 after a rebate. When it comes to DDR3 a 2GB kit will set you back anywhere from $199 for a 1333MHz kit to over $500 for an 1800MHz kit. Obviously, DDR3 memory is still for early adapters and enthusiasts, but prices are expected to drop significantly as the year goes on. Intel is getting ready to release more chipsets that support DDR3 memory with the Intel X48 Express chipset and NVIDIA is rumored to support DDR3 for the first time with their nForce 790i SLI chipsets. With both of these chipsets soon becoming the main component of their flagship performance platforms, it will lead to improved DDR3 memory sales. So, before those chipsets come out Legit Reviews gathered together four 1800MHz DDR3 memory kits from the leading memory companies here in North America. Corsair, Kingston, OCZ and Super Talent are familiar names here on Legit Reviews for good reason – they all make great enthusiast memory.

The four PC3-14400 memory kits on the chopping block today are the latest and greatest memory kits from each respective company. Let’s take a look at a table that quickly compares the modules to see what we are working with today. As you can tell from the picture above, from the outside they all look different, but what about under the heat spreaders.

Brand	Model Number	Frequency	Timings	Config	XMP Profiles	PCB	IC	Price
Corsair	TWIN3X2048-1800C7DFIN	1800MHZ	7-7-7-20	128Mx8	Yes	0.71	Micron D9	$553
Kingston	KHX14400D3K2/2G	1800MHZ	8-8-8-24	128Mx8	No	0.71	Micron D9	$419
OCZ	OCZ3P18002GK	1800MHZ	8-8-8-24	128Mx8	No	0.71	Micron D9	$548
Super Talent	W1800UX2GP	1800MHZ	7-7-7-21	128Mx8	Yes	0.71	Micron D9	$463

The first thing that our readers should notice is that Corsair, Kingston, OCZ and Super Talent are all using the same JEDEC designed PCB with revision number 0.71 and Micron D9 memory IC’s. All of the kits are also single-sided using just eight Micron D9’s per individual module. All of the kits feature heat spreaders with the exception of the Corsair DOMINATORS which is a true heat sink design that we have previously explained. Under the hood all the kits are basically identical, with the only difference being the SPD settings, heat spreaders and of course, the speed binning and IC selection. Only the Corsair and Super Talent kits feature XMP Memory Profiles, which is a nice touch for those that don’t like to mess with the BIOS on their own. Other than the XMP memory profiles the SPD settings and timings vary from 7-7-7 to 8-8-8 on the four kits, so it will be interesting to see how timings impact performance in the benchmark testing. Finally, when it comes to pricing the four kits range from $419 to $553, which is a $134 price difference. It will be interesting to see how the kits test out and if the price gap is justified. Before we do that, let’s take a quick look at each kit individually.