Corsair Dominator DDR2-1111: Dual-Path Cooling Pushes Performance
by Wesley Fink on January 1, 2007 5:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Final Words
As was mentioned in the recent review of OCZ Flex XLC, the best DDR2 memory in the market is able to run at DDR2-800 3-3-3 timings and DDR2-1066 at 4-4-3. Those performance levels still have not changed. However Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 has added a new benchmark for enthusiast memory of DDR2-1233 at 4-4-4-12 timings. It was exciting to be running DDR2-1067 at 4-4-3 timings and reaching DDR2-1100 at 4-4-4 was something once thought impossible for DDR2. Now with Dominator running DDR2-1233 at 4-4-4 timings memory performance has pushed the envelope even further.
Now that memory is unified, with all major platforms running DDR2, the performance of DDR2 has moved forward with incredible speed. It doesn't appear Micron D can be pushed much further - even with aggressive binning - so we wonder what the next milestone will be and which memory chip or memory manufacturer will take us there.
For now if you are looking for the very best overclocking memory you can buy for your new rig, then Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 should definitely be on your list. So should OCZ PC2-9200 Flex XLC. Both memories provide remarkable performance and push DDR2 performance to new levels. The absolute fastest memory tested is definitely Corsair Dominator DDR2-1111, which reached DDR2-1315 at 5-5-5-15 timings and the even more remarkable DDR2-1233 at 4-4-4-12 timings. If your platform will be 680i or 650i then Dominator is your best choice. OCZ Flex XLC is a bit slower at DDR2-1300 on the same platform, but it is also an excellent choice.
If your new rig will use an Intel 965X chipset then Corsair Dominator is again a good choice. We reached over DDR2-1200 on an ASUS P5B in very limited testing. For a 975x motherboard we would tip the scales to the OCZ Flex XLC. Flex seems more at home on the demanding 975X platform and reaches higher overclocks, but Dominator is no slouch on the 975X either. The Corsair Dominator may be just an SPD upgrade away from being equally excellent on the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe.
It's a lot of fun reviewing memory like the Corsair Dominator. It certainly isn't cookie cutter, and the performance levels reached truly make the testing worth the effort. Corsair has done a good job in analyzing the problems with pushing DDR2 speed, and their solution is both unique and effective. The 4-layer fins on Dominator cool very well, and when coupled with the three-fan and near silent airflow memory cooler, you can take DDR2 to new speed levels. The same can be said for the recently reviewed OCZ Flex XLC, which finds a different but equally effective solution to pushing memory speed to higher levels.
The question that remains is whether the speed gains also yield the performance increase that make the product worth what it costs. The unfortunate reality with Core 2 Duo and AMD is that neither platform is particularly bandwidth starved or bandwidth sensitive. This means the sometimes massive DDR2 speed increase we are seeing in innovative new designs like the Corsair Dominator often make only a small difference in bottom-line performance. Performance is better with the higher speeds as clearly demonstrated in out test results, but the real increases are very small.
The question then is whether memory that sells for $600 for a 2GB kit is worth it. You can certainly buy a 2GB kit for less than half that price that will provide most of the performance of the $600 kit. For those who measure their system purchases on a value basis it will be difficult to justify $600 for Corsair Dominator PC2-1111, even though it is the fastest memory we have tested. However, Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 was not designed for the value buyer. Many other companies, including Corsair, have memory products that will satisfy the value equation. Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 is for buyers who have to have the best - the fastest - the top performance - regardless of cost. If they buy PC2-8888 they will definitely get the best available on the memory market.
The Airflow fan unit is also available at Newegg and other vendors for about $20. If you have enthusiast memory or overclock, the Corsair Airflow fan is a great and useful accessory and a very good value for what it does. When you consider an 80mm fan jury-rigged into place will already cost $5-10, the $20 Airflow looks better, installs easier, and doesn't cost much at all - and it just might extend the life of your RAM if you run at higher voltages.
As was mentioned in the recent review of OCZ Flex XLC, the best DDR2 memory in the market is able to run at DDR2-800 3-3-3 timings and DDR2-1066 at 4-4-3. Those performance levels still have not changed. However Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 has added a new benchmark for enthusiast memory of DDR2-1233 at 4-4-4-12 timings. It was exciting to be running DDR2-1067 at 4-4-3 timings and reaching DDR2-1100 at 4-4-4 was something once thought impossible for DDR2. Now with Dominator running DDR2-1233 at 4-4-4 timings memory performance has pushed the envelope even further.
Now that memory is unified, with all major platforms running DDR2, the performance of DDR2 has moved forward with incredible speed. It doesn't appear Micron D can be pushed much further - even with aggressive binning - so we wonder what the next milestone will be and which memory chip or memory manufacturer will take us there.
For now if you are looking for the very best overclocking memory you can buy for your new rig, then Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 should definitely be on your list. So should OCZ PC2-9200 Flex XLC. Both memories provide remarkable performance and push DDR2 performance to new levels. The absolute fastest memory tested is definitely Corsair Dominator DDR2-1111, which reached DDR2-1315 at 5-5-5-15 timings and the even more remarkable DDR2-1233 at 4-4-4-12 timings. If your platform will be 680i or 650i then Dominator is your best choice. OCZ Flex XLC is a bit slower at DDR2-1300 on the same platform, but it is also an excellent choice.
If your new rig will use an Intel 965X chipset then Corsair Dominator is again a good choice. We reached over DDR2-1200 on an ASUS P5B in very limited testing. For a 975x motherboard we would tip the scales to the OCZ Flex XLC. Flex seems more at home on the demanding 975X platform and reaches higher overclocks, but Dominator is no slouch on the 975X either. The Corsair Dominator may be just an SPD upgrade away from being equally excellent on the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe.
It's a lot of fun reviewing memory like the Corsair Dominator. It certainly isn't cookie cutter, and the performance levels reached truly make the testing worth the effort. Corsair has done a good job in analyzing the problems with pushing DDR2 speed, and their solution is both unique and effective. The 4-layer fins on Dominator cool very well, and when coupled with the three-fan and near silent airflow memory cooler, you can take DDR2 to new speed levels. The same can be said for the recently reviewed OCZ Flex XLC, which finds a different but equally effective solution to pushing memory speed to higher levels.
The question that remains is whether the speed gains also yield the performance increase that make the product worth what it costs. The unfortunate reality with Core 2 Duo and AMD is that neither platform is particularly bandwidth starved or bandwidth sensitive. This means the sometimes massive DDR2 speed increase we are seeing in innovative new designs like the Corsair Dominator often make only a small difference in bottom-line performance. Performance is better with the higher speeds as clearly demonstrated in out test results, but the real increases are very small.
The question then is whether memory that sells for $600 for a 2GB kit is worth it. You can certainly buy a 2GB kit for less than half that price that will provide most of the performance of the $600 kit. For those who measure their system purchases on a value basis it will be difficult to justify $600 for Corsair Dominator PC2-1111, even though it is the fastest memory we have tested. However, Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 was not designed for the value buyer. Many other companies, including Corsair, have memory products that will satisfy the value equation. Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 is for buyers who have to have the best - the fastest - the top performance - regardless of cost. If they buy PC2-8888 they will definitely get the best available on the memory market.
The Airflow fan unit is also available at Newegg and other vendors for about $20. If you have enthusiast memory or overclock, the Corsair Airflow fan is a great and useful accessory and a very good value for what it does. When you consider an 80mm fan jury-rigged into place will already cost $5-10, the $20 Airflow looks better, installs easier, and doesn't cost much at all - and it just might extend the life of your RAM if you run at higher voltages.
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anandtech02148 - Tuesday, January 2, 2007 - link
let say a dual ddr2 800mhz occupied 2 slotand the other 2 slot is occupied by 533mhz ddr2
although they operate at different voltage, will it work?
what am i to do with older memory modules when all these new
1111mhz and newer models come out
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - link
Different grades of memory can be on the board, but the channels can not be individually set. Therefore the memory has to be run at the speed of the slowest modules. However, some 533 can run DDR2-800 and most run at least 667.anandtech02148 - Monday, January 1, 2007 - link
Cheers to Anandtech for using a 520psu. hooorayy.. finally we're testing something at a sane level.
600buxs for memory, one of the reason why Intel got out of memory business to focus on Cpu
in 1980s.
2.4v to operate, are we reaching 12v soon for running memory modules?
in the meantime i'm still dreaming for that 2gig at 100buxs range. and i was a fan of Rambus RAm until this ddr cartels took over.
daos - Monday, January 1, 2007 - link
I recently purchased some Dominator PC6400C4D to replace my old OCZ PC6400 Platinum. I can honestly say that the heatsinks make a huge difference in overall temps of the DIMMS. Either the OCZ ran extremely hot at default voltage or the Dominators are insanely efficent at keeping the memory cool.I run these at 2.4v 3-3-4-9 DDR2800Mhz and they are cool to the touch. I still cannot believe how cool these heatsinks keep the memory. At first I was hesitant to raise the voltage to 2.4v but after seeing how cool they run I wish my P5WDH board allowed for higher memory voltages!
Guys/Gals, the heatsinks really do work and I am a living example of it. I have always been the one to instantly rip the spreaders off of memory in the past but these really work.
MadAd - Monday, January 1, 2007 - link
Not so long ago ram worked perfectly fine without heatspreaders at all, calculations at the time showed that ram was no-where near needing them now its hard to get anything but value ram without them. For a few coinsworth of metal they have engineered lots of pretty colors and shapes to dazzle us with but do we really need it?IMO instead of a pro-forma memory review, you have an opportunity to spice it up a bit with the angle of either supporting this new fad, or cut through the spin, with some measured data. Simply take the ugly things off and benchmark it again. See if it still hits the same highs and still retains its timings with no heatspreader.
Wesley Fink - Monday, January 1, 2007 - link
A very good idea. The only problem is the inner heatsinks are heat merged to the PCB, and the outer heatsinks use a thermal epoxy for mounting to the memory chips. Unlike the old days, removing a heatspreader is now often fatal to memory. The surface mount memory chips are easily pulled off, even if you use extreme care, in trying to remove the outer heatspreaders. Removing the inner ones could destroy the PCB.We could test this if the memory makers would supply the memory without heatsinks. The question then is why would they want to?
I can tell you from past testing that fan cooling the memory definitely extends overclocking to higher levels. However, removing heatsinks made no difference at all in OC on DDR with simpler sinks. This setup by Corsair is quite a bit more sophisticated than the colored metal covers and it may make some real difference in performance.
MadAd - Thursday, January 11, 2007 - link
Ok point accepted that it may be hard to render them testable if epoxy is used but dont you love a challenge? :lol:Honestly, its starting to get serious now with these http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5662">http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5662
As you know yourself fan cooling is something applied whatever the form they come in, ok so you could analyse how efficient each method is but the big question is still whether its all just hype or not. I think hype.
cmdrdredd - Monday, January 1, 2007 - link
Team Extreme memory never comes with heatspreaders, and they make memory that can go to DDR2-1200 with the right setup. What does this tell you?customcoms - Monday, January 1, 2007 - link
Wes, I am sorry, but if I'm reading the same benchmarks as you are, of the three games you tested, the OCZ is still the fastest memory (granted, Quake 4 is within margin of error) period, around 1-2 fps faster than the corsair. Why you say the corsair is faster when the benchmarks speak otherwise (the tighter timings+higher speed and the higher raw speed of the corsair is the only thing I see better than the OCZ).
Basically, in real world applications (i.e games, which are what 95+% of the market buying these kits are doing with their machines), the OCZ is faster, according to YOUR OWN benchmarks. You also give it the edge on the 975X platform. Hence, I would say it is the better ram (plus it has the option for water cooling). Doesn't really matter, as I won't be spending that kind of money on ram EVER-better to buy an 8800GTX etc.
Wesley Fink - Monday, January 1, 2007 - link
When you also include results on the nVidia 680i the Corsair Dominator is faster overall. On the 975x, which is the only thing included in the graph results, the OCZ Flex XLC is faster. Individual timings are also slightly faster at DDR2 1067 and DDR2 667 on the Corsair.OCZ Flex XLC and Corsair Dominator PC@-8888 are both at the top of our benchmarking and either would be a great enthusiast choice. The Corsair pushes the 680i slightly faster and therefore is the fastest memory we have tested to date.