Cell Shock, Corsair, and Kingston Introduce Ultra Speed DDR3
by Wesley Fink on October 11, 2007 10:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Memory
The Contenders
In addition to the Super Talent and OCZ offerings, three new high-profile DDR3-1800 kits have been introduced in the last few weeks. Cell Shock is a new name from Germany, and they have quickly become the new darling of the extreme enthusiast. Corsair is very well known as an enthusiast memory manufacturer and introduced their DDR3-1800 shortly after we reviewed the OCZ memory. Kingston is the world's largest memory manufacturer and has just introduced their DDR3-1800 (and DDR3-1625) memory kits.
Cell Shock
Cell Shock will likely be a new name for most of our readers. The company is a new division of MSC Vertriebs GmbH in Germany. MSC has around 1000 employees and several production facilities in Germany, Scotland, and Malta. It was established by the current managing director in 1982 and grew from a very small company to an international player in the distribution of semiconductors and the manufacture of electronic applications. Today MSC mainly serves industrial clients in Europe. The customer base includes partners in medical, IT, energy, automotive, and other sectors. MSC Vertriebs GmbH is privately held by the owner who is acting as managing director.
MSC was already a partner with major manufacturers of semiconductors like Samsung, Micron, Infineon, etc., which made the move to the retail memory market a natural extension of the MSC product line. Due to the expertise MSC had gained in developing and producing memory modules for the industrial market, the company decided to establish the Cell Shock brand. The new brand is targeted at the enthusiast market. More information on Cell Shock can be found at the Cell Shock website.
Cell Shock's packaging for the DDR3-1800 DIMM kit mirrors the black and silver theme of the DIMMs. There is very little info on the glossy black folding carton, but the info that is there is in six languages. The international flavor of this German memory is immediately apparent.
The DIMMs themselves are shrouded in heavy black and silver heatsinks that appear to be cast aluminum. The memory is attractive, with raised logos, and the heatsinks are also very heavy as heatsinks go. Cell Shock rates the memory at DDR3-1800 at 1.7V to 1.9V. They do not specify maximum voltage, but other Micron Z9-based memory has topped out at 2.1V to 2.2V with supplemental air cooling.
The only configuration for DDR3-1800 is a 2GB (2x1GB) kit. Cell Shock also markets Micron memory chips in a DDR3-1600 2GB kit rated at 7-6-6-18 timings. Cell Shock provides a 5-year warranty on the DDR3-1800 memory, and they tell us it is not a Lifetime Warranty only because legal counsel advises a Lifetime Warranty is not possible in the EU.
Corsair
Corsair hardly requires an introduction, as it is probably the most recognized brand of enthusiast memory in the world. Corsair has been an innovator in the enthusiast memory market for many years. Corsair often partners with motherboard manufacturers, Intel, and AMD in the launches of new chipsets and boards. As a result every major reviewer is very familiar with Corsair products.
The Corsair DDR3-1800 comes in the familiar folding clamshell package. The DIMMs are typical of the Corsair DHX Dominator series. DHX, or dual-path cooling, is a proprietary Corsair feature to improve cooling. It is described in detail in an earlier review of Corsair Dominator memory if you want to know more about it. Basically the two sets of fins cool both the PCB and the memory chips separately to theoretically improve cooling.
Corsair also provided a Dominator memory cooler with the pair of DIMMs. This effective memory topper helps keep you memory cool and it is available separately for those who want to add it to their system. It works well with any DDR3/DDR2/DDR memory. We use the Dominator fan or the CoolIT RAM Fan in all our memory tests.
The Dominator DDR3-1800 is offered in a 2GB kit or in the same 2GB configuration designed to support the Intel Extreme Memory Profiles (XMP).
Kingston
Kingston is the world's largest memory manufacturer. As a result you will find Kingston's products available at almost every computer retailer. Headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston has grown from its beginnings with a single product in 1987 to $3.4 Billion in sales last year and a catalog of over 2000 memory products. Kingston is by far the world's largest independent memory manufacturer, and it is more than three times larger than the closest competitor.
Everyone knows Kingston makes computer memory, but not everyone knows that Kingston is also a manufacturer of memory for the computer enthusiast. In the high-end memory market Kingston seems to always provide competitive products in their HyperX line, and they are large enough to often be first to market with new memory technology. The recent introduction of the PC3-14400 (DDR3-1800) is just another example of Kingston's aggressive move into the high-end memory space.
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Kingston continues to use rather conservative packaging for their memory. Competitors have moved to flashier presentations of their product, but the Kingston packaging is the same whether the product is value RAM or high-end HyperX.
Fortunately Kingston has been paying much more attention recently to the appearance of the DIMM itself. While the DDR3-1800 still sports the characteristic sky blue color that says HyperX, this is certainly the flashiest HyperX DIMM we've ever seen. The mirror trim, sky blue, and heavy cast heatsink are truly unique and certainly stand out. We like the new HyperX appearance; it almost says something exciting is going on here, and in this case it is.
Kingston also announced their KHX13000D3LL (DDR3-1625 CAS7) at the same time. We also took a look the low-latency 7-7-7 kit in our testing, but we did not report results separately. The reason for this:
In every test result the Kingston DDR3-1800 and DDR3-1625 performed exactly the same! They achieved the same overclock and timings/voltage in every test performed. Therefore you can consider all test results to apply equally to KHX14400D3K2/2G and KHX13000D3LLK2/2G. The two memories have an MSRP of around $450 for the 2GB kit. They are also priced within $3 to $5 of each other so you can select either Kingston memory based on best price.
It should be pointed out that Kingston, like other enthusiast memory makers, promises you the performance will be at least as good as rated. It may be much better, and usually is in the Micron Z9-based memory tested here, but higher performance is not guaranteed. The rated "guaranteed" speed may be an important factor to you. The Kingston DDR3-1800 is rated at DDR3-1800 at 8-8-8-24 at 1.9V, and the DDR3-1625LL is rated at DDR3-1625 at 7-7-7-20 at 1.9V.
In addition to the Super Talent and OCZ offerings, three new high-profile DDR3-1800 kits have been introduced in the last few weeks. Cell Shock is a new name from Germany, and they have quickly become the new darling of the extreme enthusiast. Corsair is very well known as an enthusiast memory manufacturer and introduced their DDR3-1800 shortly after we reviewed the OCZ memory. Kingston is the world's largest memory manufacturer and has just introduced their DDR3-1800 (and DDR3-1625) memory kits.
Cell Shock
Cell Shock will likely be a new name for most of our readers. The company is a new division of MSC Vertriebs GmbH in Germany. MSC has around 1000 employees and several production facilities in Germany, Scotland, and Malta. It was established by the current managing director in 1982 and grew from a very small company to an international player in the distribution of semiconductors and the manufacture of electronic applications. Today MSC mainly serves industrial clients in Europe. The customer base includes partners in medical, IT, energy, automotive, and other sectors. MSC Vertriebs GmbH is privately held by the owner who is acting as managing director.
MSC was already a partner with major manufacturers of semiconductors like Samsung, Micron, Infineon, etc., which made the move to the retail memory market a natural extension of the MSC product line. Due to the expertise MSC had gained in developing and producing memory modules for the industrial market, the company decided to establish the Cell Shock brand. The new brand is targeted at the enthusiast market. More information on Cell Shock can be found at the Cell Shock website.
Cell Shock's packaging for the DDR3-1800 DIMM kit mirrors the black and silver theme of the DIMMs. There is very little info on the glossy black folding carton, but the info that is there is in six languages. The international flavor of this German memory is immediately apparent.
The DIMMs themselves are shrouded in heavy black and silver heatsinks that appear to be cast aluminum. The memory is attractive, with raised logos, and the heatsinks are also very heavy as heatsinks go. Cell Shock rates the memory at DDR3-1800 at 1.7V to 1.9V. They do not specify maximum voltage, but other Micron Z9-based memory has topped out at 2.1V to 2.2V with supplemental air cooling.
| Cell Shock DDR3-1800 (PC3-14400) Memory Specifications |
|
| Configuration | 2 GB Kit (2x1GB) |
| Rated Timings | 8-7-6-21 at DDR3-1800 |
| Rated Voltage | 1.7-1.9V (Standard 1.5V) |
| Module Info | Micron chips, unbuffered, non-ECC |
| Warranty | 5 Years |
The only configuration for DDR3-1800 is a 2GB (2x1GB) kit. Cell Shock also markets Micron memory chips in a DDR3-1600 2GB kit rated at 7-6-6-18 timings. Cell Shock provides a 5-year warranty on the DDR3-1800 memory, and they tell us it is not a Lifetime Warranty only because legal counsel advises a Lifetime Warranty is not possible in the EU.
Corsair
Corsair hardly requires an introduction, as it is probably the most recognized brand of enthusiast memory in the world. Corsair has been an innovator in the enthusiast memory market for many years. Corsair often partners with motherboard manufacturers, Intel, and AMD in the launches of new chipsets and boards. As a result every major reviewer is very familiar with Corsair products.
The Corsair DDR3-1800 comes in the familiar folding clamshell package. The DIMMs are typical of the Corsair DHX Dominator series. DHX, or dual-path cooling, is a proprietary Corsair feature to improve cooling. It is described in detail in an earlier review of Corsair Dominator memory if you want to know more about it. Basically the two sets of fins cool both the PCB and the memory chips separately to theoretically improve cooling.
Corsair also provided a Dominator memory cooler with the pair of DIMMs. This effective memory topper helps keep you memory cool and it is available separately for those who want to add it to their system. It works well with any DDR3/DDR2/DDR memory. We use the Dominator fan or the CoolIT RAM Fan in all our memory tests.
| Corsair DDR3-1800 (TWIN3X2048-1800C7DF G) Memory Specifications |
|
| Configuration | 2 GB Kit (2x1GB) |
| Rated Timings | 7-7-7-20 at DDR3-1800 |
| Rated Voltage | 2.0V (Standard 1.5V) |
| Module Info | Micron chips, Unbuffered, non-ECC |
| Warranty | Lifetime |
The Dominator DDR3-1800 is offered in a 2GB kit or in the same 2GB configuration designed to support the Intel Extreme Memory Profiles (XMP).
Kingston
Kingston is the world's largest memory manufacturer. As a result you will find Kingston's products available at almost every computer retailer. Headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston has grown from its beginnings with a single product in 1987 to $3.4 Billion in sales last year and a catalog of over 2000 memory products. Kingston is by far the world's largest independent memory manufacturer, and it is more than three times larger than the closest competitor.
Everyone knows Kingston makes computer memory, but not everyone knows that Kingston is also a manufacturer of memory for the computer enthusiast. In the high-end memory market Kingston seems to always provide competitive products in their HyperX line, and they are large enough to often be first to market with new memory technology. The recent introduction of the PC3-14400 (DDR3-1800) is just another example of Kingston's aggressive move into the high-end memory space.
Kingston continues to use rather conservative packaging for their memory. Competitors have moved to flashier presentations of their product, but the Kingston packaging is the same whether the product is value RAM or high-end HyperX.
Fortunately Kingston has been paying much more attention recently to the appearance of the DIMM itself. While the DDR3-1800 still sports the characteristic sky blue color that says HyperX, this is certainly the flashiest HyperX DIMM we've ever seen. The mirror trim, sky blue, and heavy cast heatsink are truly unique and certainly stand out. We like the new HyperX appearance; it almost says something exciting is going on here, and in this case it is.
| Kingston KHX14400D3K2/2G (DDR3-1800 CAS 8) Memory Specifications |
|
| Configuration | 2 GB Kit (2x1GB) |
| Rated Timings | 8-8-8-24 at DDR3-1800 |
| Rated Voltage | 1.9V (Standard 1.5V) |
| Module Info | Micron chips, Unbuffered, non-ECC |
| Warranty | Lifetime |
Kingston also announced their KHX13000D3LL (DDR3-1625 CAS7) at the same time. We also took a look the low-latency 7-7-7 kit in our testing, but we did not report results separately. The reason for this:
In every test result the Kingston DDR3-1800 and DDR3-1625 performed exactly the same! They achieved the same overclock and timings/voltage in every test performed. Therefore you can consider all test results to apply equally to KHX14400D3K2/2G and KHX13000D3LLK2/2G. The two memories have an MSRP of around $450 for the 2GB kit. They are also priced within $3 to $5 of each other so you can select either Kingston memory based on best price.
It should be pointed out that Kingston, like other enthusiast memory makers, promises you the performance will be at least as good as rated. It may be much better, and usually is in the Micron Z9-based memory tested here, but higher performance is not guaranteed. The rated "guaranteed" speed may be an important factor to you. The Kingston DDR3-1800 is rated at DDR3-1800 at 8-8-8-24 at 1.9V, and the DDR3-1625LL is rated at DDR3-1625 at 7-7-7-20 at 1.9V.
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Wesley Fink - Friday, October 12, 2007 - link
At the top of the pricing info is the name of the item being priced. In this case the engine is likely picking up Compact Flash prices at camera companies in the same memory size. The larger concern is that the pricing engine does not recognize Cell Shock right now in the pointer. Work is being done to expand the database.The Price Engine often does not pick up new items just introduced, but it is dynamic. If you look back in a few weeks the pricing info will be revised even though the pointer is the same and it will likely find the original described product.
yyrkoon - Friday, October 12, 2007 - link
And what prices are youtalking about exactly ? That is definately not DDR3 memory pricing . . .