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

Corsair and Kingston

Corsair TWIN3X2048-1800C7DFIN G

The TWIN3X2048-1800C7DFIN G is a 2048MByte kit of DDR3 SDRAM DIMMs based on Corsairs ultra performance DOMINATOR family of memory which includes Intels Extreme Memory Profiles (XMP). XMP is a JEDEC based performance specification for DDR3 memory SPD optimizations developed by Intel and its performance memory module partners. This enables a robust, profile-based, high performance DDR3 over-clocking solution for Intel platforms targeted for enthusiasts, gamers and overclockers who want to extract maximum performance from their platforms. Built using Corsairs Dual-path Heat Xchange (DHX) technology and coupled with a Corsair Airflow Fan, this was the only memory kit of the bunch that comes with a cooling fan and while the Corsair kit costs the most, it also includes the AirFlow. Purchased alone, the Corsair AirFlow is nearly $30 after shipping.

As the label above shows, the Corsair 1800C7DIN kit has been verified to operate at 1800MHz at latencies of 7-7-7-20 at 2.0V VDIMM. The labeling that Corsair uses is bar none the best in the memory industry as they have all the information on the label that you need. All of the other companies in this review fail to put full timings and voltages on both the product and the retail box, so this is something to point out for future improvement. Super Talent doesn’t even list what voltage their kit runs at, so Corsair gets a thumbs up in the label department.

Corsair states their TWIN3X2048-1800C7DFIN G memory kit comes with the SPD programmed for XMP 7-7-7-20 values at 1800MHz and JEDEC standard 9-9-9-24 values at 1333MHz. CPU-Z showed that at 1333MHz the SPD was set for 9-10-10-25 at 1333MHz, which was different from what they claimed. The XMP values were spot-on though.

Kingston KHX14400D3K2/2G

Kingston’s KHX14400D3K2/2G is a kit of two 128M x 64-bit 1GB (1024MB) DDR3-1800 CL8 SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) memory modules, based on eight 128M x 8-bit DDR3 FBGA components per module. Kingston recently updated the look of their heat spreader and this kit looks sharp. It was hard to take pictures of though as our lights and flash didn’t want to play nice with it.

Each module pair has been tested to run at DDR3-1800MHz at a latency timing of 8-8-8 at 1.9V. The SPDs are programmed to JEDEC standard latency DDR3-1066Mhz timing of 7-7-7 at 1.5V.

CPU-Z showed that at 1066MHz the SPD was set for7-7-7-20 at 1333MHz, which is exactly what Kingston claims. The Kingston kit does not offer XMP memory profiles, so the SPD Extension is left blank. In order to use this kit at it’s rated speeds, it will have to be manually set in the BIOS. This means the timings will need to be set to 8-8-8-24, the memory voltage increased to 1.9V, the front side bus (FSB) of the processor overclocked to 450MHz and the correct memory divider used to reach 1800MHz.