Reviews - The world's fastest desktop RAM? Corsair stakes a claim with DOMINATOR GT 2

[HEXUS]

If you want the last ounce of performance, that is.

Read more.

[Lozza81]

Very nice review Hexus, but why didn't you compare these latest Corsair 2000mhz dimms to Kingston's HyperX (with the newer taller heatsinks) which were the 1st to market with 2000mhz DDR3 RAM at the beginning of the year?

In particular the set you should compare against is the:

Kingston HyperX KHX16000D3ULT1K3/6GX 6GB (3x2048MB) (8-8-8) 2000MHz DDR3 Non-ECC 240pin XMP Tall HS UL DIMM Memory

I have been trying to obtain the Kingston's in the UK for nearly 4-weeks now, without luck.
I used Corsair ram in my last system build and now these DOMINATOR GT's have come out I'd very much like to see these two comparable products tested and reviewed against each other please, rather than comparing 2000mhz RAM with 1600mhz as that's already been done on other sites and we all know there is very little to be gained in terms of actual real-time performance, despite the huge extra cost. The Kingston does have a slightly slower latency than the Corsair's, but some are saying latencies really are unimportant on a Core i7 system. Another thing a future comparison could look at.

Price and availability would be the 2 biggest factors to many people out there (between the Kingston and Corsair and anyone else who brings 2000mhz DDr3 to market) and that is why I am suggesting the above review and comparison should be done as the Kingston 6GB DDR3 2000mhz are around £330-£360 mark (if you can find any) whereas these Corsair's are a whopping £475 (Corsair emailed me this week saying some where going to put for sale on their shop @ 7AM Pacific Standard Time (1500 hours GMT) February 13, but as soon as I checked they were sold out again and are now not expecting anymore until March!). The Corsair Dominator GT do come with the fan, which the Kingston's don't have, however, despite the major availability pain in the arse, there is a whopping £115-£145 price difference between the 2 companies competing premium DDR3 products and any Core i7 system builder out there could seriously up-rate their graphics card with the money they could potentially save there.

So then can we have that future memory test/stand-off by the 2 memory giants flagship DDR3 products please?

Cheers
Loz

[Gareth - ASUS]

Hi Lozza81,

The price tag of the 2000C7GTF kit is due to the huge amount of time and effort that goes into screening, testing and qualifying memory at these extremely high speeds. These modules are built from the very fastest ICs available, and hand-tested and matched. Very few modules make the grade at this level (and we need to find three perfectly matched 2GB DIMMs to make one kit, making it even harder) hence the price. But that's what you're paying for - the fastest and best RAM that can be built right now.

The Kingston kit you mentioned is a C8 kit, I think (although I can't actually see it listed on Kingston's site). The screening, testing, matching process is slightly easier at CAS 8, as opposed to the 7-8-7-20 timings of the kit Hexus has kindly reviewed. Corsair actually has a 2000C8GTF kit as well, which is $100 less than the flagship C7GTF kit, because it's not quite so difficult to build. This puts it in the £330-350 range I think, at current exchange rates.

The Corsair kits come with the new Airflow Fan as standard, as you mentioned, and they all also use the DHX+ heatsink, which is unique in that it cools the face of the memory ICs, and the heat expelled from the rear of the ICs, into the PCB. The DHX+ cooler is also modular as it allows for cooling upgrades in the future.

As the review states, the 2000C7GTF isn't for everyone, but it's not a mass-market product. It's designed for extreme overclockers, and for people who simply want the very best of everything. And with the soon-to-be-released thermo-electric cooler, it's even better

[Lozza81]

Hi Blackbeard,

Thank you for clearing up some of my thoughts and questions.
I haden't seen the CAS 8 Corsair much publicized and must have overlooked it when I browsed Corsair's shop. That raises perhaps a better question then:-

It would be interesting to see how the

DOMINATOR GT, 6GB (3x2GB), 2000MHz, 8-8-8-24, with Airflow fan @ $480 or (£340 approx)

comes out against the

Kingston HyperX KHX16000D3ULT1K3/6GX 6GB (3x2048MB) (8-8-8) 2000MHz DDR3 Non-ECC 240pin XMP Tall HS UL DIMM Memory

both of which are CAS 8 6GB DDR3 2000mhz sets and are around the same price.

Hexus please could you do a comparative test and article for both of these products on your Gigabyte EX58-UD5 board in the future?
Cheers
Loz

[Lozza81]

I just went through Corsair's shop checkout for that CAS8 RAM to see if there were any hidden costs.
All I can say is ouch!!!!

TR3X6G2000C8GTF (Quantity: 1) @ 479.99 each (edit)
Item Total: 1 Items ($479.99)
VAT/Sales Tax: $72.00
UPS Worldwide Expedited shipping = $39.00
Total = $591 or £415!!! OUCH!

I have bought expensive things from the USA and other countries before and anything likely over £32 entering the UK can also often be subject to customs charges, although it is hit-and-miss.

The Kingston still works out some £75 less (without the worries of custom charges) and it therefore seems like Corsair are just waving away potential sales by having this 'sell through our own US based online shop' only policy.....or am I being too harsh?

[Vulcanite]

More importantly than the CAS8 HyperX, where is the OCZ Blade 2000MHz 7-8-7-20 OCZ3B2000LV6GK ? Bit unfair to say it's the worlds fastest when OCZ have an equal spec product, still silly money though

[Tarinder]

More importantly than the CAS8 HyperX, where is the OCZ Blade 2000MHz 7-8-7-20 OCZ3B2000LV6GK ? Bit unfair to say it's the worlds fastest when OCZ have an equal spec product, still silly money though

It's still the fastest because nothing is faster, right? We've seen the OCZ RAM and will get some in shortly.

[Gareth - ASUS]

There's no duty on this product so you're only paying VAT and shipping.

We ship using a premium service via UPS - it's an expensive product, so a cheapo method of shipping wouldn't really be sensible.

I don't disagree that this is a serious purchase, but then it's a serious bit of kit. This is hand-tested and matched by our engineers at Corsair in the US (and at this level, testing, build and quality standards count for an awful lot) and is based on a superior PCB/cooling system to other high-end memory. Plus, there are the cooling upgrade options, which are also unique.

So there are reasons why it would cost more than another kit simply based on similar ICs, especially when you consider the level of personal attention each module & kit gets from engineers who are truly experts at building high-performance memory.

Of course, the choice, as they say, is yours

[Lozza81]

It is reassuring to know that one wouldn't have to pay customs charges if I ordered this from Corsair's US Online Shop for delivery to the UK.
The way things are going in obtaining Kingston 6GB DDR3 2000mhz (e.g. I have failed to obtain any after 4-weeks of trying everywhere in the UK) I may have to go for these Dominator GT's.
Cheers

[Vulcanite]

It's still the fastest because nothing is faster, right? We've seen the OCZ RAM and will get some in shortly.

I was being picky admittedly but if there is a product with equal spec then they are joint fastest, neither the OCZ or Corsair are fastest.

It wasn't aimed at you Tarinder, sorry if it came out the wrong way - just HEXUS is increasingly Corsair and SCAN biased. I guess what I'm saying is it would be good to have more group tests even if only 2/3 manufacturers. I like the reviews here but more comparison between different manufacturers products especially components like RAM, GPUs etc would be good so everyone can judge like for like

[Tarinder]

I was being picky admittedly but if there is a product with equal spec then they are joint fastest, neither the OCZ or Corsair are fastest.

It wasn't aimed at you Tarinder, sorry if it came out the wrong way - just HEXUS is increasingly Corsair and SCAN biased. I guess what I'm saying is it would be good to have more group tests even if only 2/3 manufacturers. I like the reviews here but more comparison between different manufacturers products especially components like RAM, GPUs etc would be good so everyone can judge like for like

Vulcanite,

I understand your concern here, but let me assure you that there is no bias toward any manufacturer.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=17066&page=8

Corsair really did not like the 67 per cent rating for the DDR3-1,866 pack, but it's a kind of no man's product; not fast enough to be cutting edge, like the 2GHz kit, and not cheap enough to be of mass-market appeal.

As it happens, I have just secured the Kingston modules that are mentioned in this thread, and we will be looking at them next week. Further, I'll be in touch with OCZ for its same-rated modules.

Admittedly, we're in a privileged position with Corsair insofar as sampling goes, but, and this is the realy important point, very few modules have scored 80 per cent or above. I hope you see the impartiality in the reviews.

So you'll see Kingston, OCZ and Patriot modules before, most likely, another Corsair review.

[Lozza81]

As it happens, I have just secured the Kingston modules that are mentioned in this thread, and we will be looking at them next week. Further, I'll be in touch with OCZ for its same-rated modules.

Admittedly, we're in a privileged position with Corsair insofar as sampling goes, but, and this is the realy important point, very few modules have scored 80 per cent or above. I hope you see the impartiality in the reviews.

So you'll see Kingston, OCZ and Patriot modules before, most likely, another Corsair review.

Excellent news Tarinder I can't wait to see you review of those as I am hoping to order some next week if stock comes into the UK.

Please could you compare them like-for-like if at all possible with other 2000mhz DDR3 RAM (e.g. the OCZ & Corsair) and not like Tomshardware did by only comparing the Kingston vs 1600 and 1866mhz RAM from other manufacturers in the same test.
Cheers

[starbuck]

With Ram speed increasing quickly, do you think eventually having ram and CPU running at the same speed will produce any performance benefits(if they ran in synch with each other?)