IntroductionDuring our
last memory roundup we talked about 8 different triple channel memory modules from 8 different manufacturers. As always, some were better than others, but in the end most - if not all - of them deserve their place in your PC setup.
We did have a couple of minor issues however with two of the memory kits, the Corsair Dominator and the Mushkin "Radioactive" modules to be precise. Although there was physically nothing wrong with the modules - both did their rated specifications without any issues - both proved a nightmare to overclock. At first we thought it was due to our motherboard, but after testing them with the "king" of the memory tuning boards (the DFI X58), we were able to rule out that possibility. What was wrong then ? Did we just get two unlucky OC kits ?
Whatever it was, both manufacturers were quick on their feet and provided us with two new memory kits straight from their labs, just a couple of days before our roundup went on air. At the time we didn't have the time to include them in our roundup, but we'll try and make up for it in this review.
Two more 1600 Mhz kitsThis is what came into our lab:
![Madshrimps (c)](http://www.madshrimps.be/files/images/articles/Corsair-Dominator--Mushkin-Redline-and-OCZ-Blade--meet-the-new-Elpida-Hyper-chips-thorgal-27623.jpg)
The Corsair Dominator is, apart from its very different packaging, an identical kit to the one we already tested - at first look at least. The Mushkin kit comes in the same package as the "Radioactive" kit we reviewed before, but as you'll soon see the appearance is very different.
Both these kits are reportedly equipped with a new chip revision made by Elpida, a revision B if you like. In the past months we got to know some of these "rev. B" chips as the "Elpida Hyper" chips - a special binning if you like, geared towards the (ultra) enthusiast. Elpida "hypers" have seen their share of positive and negative press, but more on that later.
A high end 2ghz kit to join the 1600Mhz bunchTo see what the new Elpida chips are really made of, we got hold of the true high end in today's memory chips : a 2Ghz "cas 7" kit, kindly provided to us by OCZ for testing. This is the box it comes in :
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(click for larger version)Let's see if these Revision B and Hyper chips are really all they're told to be : will they offer top performance and most importantly, will they withstand the many days of stress testing and benchmarking that is necessary for this review...