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Drop us an idea, win 6GB of DDR3 memory!
Author: Richard SwinburnePublished: 3rd July 2009
Win a G.Skill Trident Core i7 memory kit - all you need is a good idea!
Unfortunately our boss doesn't agree and thinks we should covered this crucial part of hardware since we meticulously test everything else, yet, ideas how to do it that's of interest and entertaining to you guys fail us because, well, it's just memory.
So - we're asking you, our readers and our community for suggestions! How do you want to see new memory products covered online and in the magazine? Silly, entertaining, fun, educational, thorough? Do you want to just know about overclocking potential? IC's used? close ups of new heatspreaders? A value roundup in co-operation with an online etailer?
Give us your ideas and we'll decide which is the best complete suggestion - and then to reward that person, we'll give away them a 6GB G.Skill Trident PC3-16000 memory kit! And yes, this is one competition that's open to everyone, worldwide, whether you live in Ealing or Timbuktu.
Let us know your ideas, and win a memory.. or three, in the forums!
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Comments (155)
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RAM definitely doesn't need full-size reviews.
When i look at ram i want to know it's overclocking potential - if i put a heavy oc onto my cpu i want to know if the ram will be able to keep up or if i'll have to lower the multiplier, and if it does keep up if it'll need additional cooling to the stock heatsinks (will i need an active fan blowing on them to keep em stable for a good few hours?)
Everywhere you turn, people are always asking things such as "Is speed better than timing?" "Does it matter if I mix and match kits?" "Is 1:1 REALLY better?" "Will XXXX speed memory provide me much more benefit?" - give us something to point at and go "Look!" when people ask!
After that, I'd love to see something on heatspreaders. Example - if I buy 4GB of cheapy 800MHz memory for, say, £20, can I go buy some of those 50p heatspreaders and get them higher than normal? Do heat-spreaders really make much difference on the high-end kits? Why do Corsair insist on their DHX Giant Heat-sink Blocking Spikes Of Death (tm)?
Tbh, I don't think it'd be too hard to get a test rig set up, then plug new memory in, run a quick synthetic test, a CPC benchmark, jot the scores down, and see if the brand makes a difference. Heck, sort me out with petrol money and a parking space (and a night with Antony Leather, that charismatic, virile stallion he is), and I'll come down and do it!
So why dont you go on a proverbial quest to find out if its possible to get the memory to make a difference... and do it in space :D
Just my idea anyway, now review that RAM!
The problem with basing the review around overclocking is that there's a chance our kit will overclock better than what's available to buy. We had a similar issue with one memory manufacturer in the past (I won't name them), where we said the memory could clock like the shizzle with tight timings and retail kits were rubbish in comparison. Meh.
We could do, but would it really make a difference to whether or not you'd buy Brand X RAM over Brand Y?
If you see PCX-YYYYY, the X is the number that goes after DDR, and the YYYYY divided by 8 is the memory speed. Not sure why, but 8 it is. Meh.
So, DDR2-1066 and PC2-8500 = same thing.
Anyway, back on topic - a picture of a giant mountain of every piece of RAM in the office would be cool... And my original offer still stands!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a97/PsychoMaverick/t_130.jpg ;)
Looking at ram for my high-end rig if both kits were of a similar price and spec i'd definately go for the cool one. For a HTPC build i built recently i wanted to get the coldest ram possible to keep temps inside the case as low as possible as i was putting in low rps fans and need the coolest components possible.
Of course if the RAM which was cooler was significantly more expensive or a lot slower then the temperature it ran at wouldn't matter much.
Something like a montage of shots of it during testing, after installation. Just a thought; which could really be extended to a lot of things. It just strikes me that the atmosphere over at Bit/CPC is very relaxed/fun, therefore including that perception with (what might be to some) a boring review of memory, could maybe tip the balance towards 'exciting'.
THG used to do feature videos, but I reckon small video spots with each review could go down well.
Otherwise though, just keep up what you're doing: Bit's review layouts rock. :)
Just a guess, but maybe it's because 8 bits equal a byte.
Maybe, if memory gets very hot during normal use, it's going to be a bear to OC, but the main reason is..
You get some funky images to put up. Make it more interesting to read rather than a really dry discussion on timings that a noob like me gets totally turned off by.
;->
don't compare DDR2 kits to DDR3 kits unless that's the aim of the article.
Compare Fancy heatspreader equipped RAM with high price tags with others of the kind (e.g. Corsair high end vs Kingston hyper X or something of that ilk).
Think about who would buy suck RAM (is this mainstream market, or is this gonna be bought by overclockers).
Rate coolness of the RAM (as in how cool is it, not in a temperature way)
Run Gaming benchmarks and possibly some video compression/other really RAM heavy tasks only if you must.
Look at Operating tempereatures.
Keep the reviews short. No use for a 5 page review on a stick of RAM. Just tell users what they wanna hear: How does it compare to other modules in the same league, how does it OC, and why should you spend the price tag on it... in short: 2 pages, 5-6 screenshots of benchies showing IO speeds and some other things, a quick blurb into OC performance (temps matter here), a pic or 3 of the RAM itself, a note of warrantee and how cool it is. Compount the score. Blam.
Yes, thank you. I haven't slept yet. And it's 1pm. Pants.
Yup.
I bought the Corsair PC-3500LL kit for my Opteron back in the day (seems like forever ago now...) because every single review I'd read said that they overclocked quite happily to 260-280FSB if you slackened the timings off. Well, my kit wouldn't, no matter what. It didn't matter whether I ran it at 2-3-2-6 (the stock timings) at it's rated speed, 2-2-2-5 at it's rated speed, or 3-4-4-8 at it's rated speed - the RAM was quite happy as long as I never took it past 218FSB. Even at 3-4-4-8 and an extra 0.1v over what Corsair said... I couldn't get it memtest stable at even as low as 240FSB.
Yeah... I, too, would like to know how hot some of these kits run. When some RAM is basically the same price (within, say, £10-20) for the same specs, but one has a tiny heatspreader on it and one has something like the Corsair Dominator heatspreaders... does one run significantly cooler than the other? Because I've always been of the opinion that most of these big bulky spreaders are more of a gimmick than anything else.
You get the idea; basically really picky about little components and give detailed explanations of all the imporvements over other brands. No offense to any Germans here it's an old Top Gear reference.
Memory, while fairly generic is a pretty core component and probably one of the most complicated to understand IMO. That said I buy ram on looks and price still provided is has a good frequency and latency.
I'd also like to see how much memory temps matter: i.e "do cooler temps give you better overclocks?", "how much heat is pumped into the case by memory?", "do they really need heatspreaders?" e.g my GEIL RAM is rated at 2.2V-2.4V but it's naked with no heat spreader whatsoever (but it looks geil with the black PCB and makes me feel geil, little joke for you Germans there, should make up for before :p) so perhaps a few standalone articles on those would be cool.
Core2Quad Q9650 @ 3.0Ghz Ram @ 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15 2T = (results of Ram tests)
Core i7 920 @ 3.0Ghz Ram @ 2000Mhz 8-8-8-24 2T = (results of Ram tests)
Phenom II 950 @ 3.0Ghz Ram @ 1333Mhz 4-4-4-12 2T = (results of Ram tests)
Core2Quad Q6600 @ 2.6Ghz Ram @ 800Mhz 5-5-5-15 2T = (results of Ram tests)
We need to be able to compare builds as well as Ram only for comparison and to help us decide on upgrades.
The overclockability of the Ram is also most important. Also Temperatures would also help.
Aslo a generic comparison rather than all the different latencys read speeds and write speeds.
The same would also be useful comparing the same DIMMs in a 2-channel vs 3-channel memory arrangement.
What I'd value from Bit-Tech as reviewers is that you guys handle dozens of kits of memory from a variety of suppliers every year, and so getting feedback on your overall impressions, build quality, packaging etc that you cant really get from a commercial website.
Perhaps review more in the way of SODIMMs too, with growing small form factor and laptop/netbook markets, information on memory upgrades and purchases of this nature would be useful too, even if the actual reviews themselves are short.
And while this may be shooting myself in the foot should I wish to win the competition prize... I also think the temperature idea mentioned by marlowdrummer would be handy. I like to have a fast gaming PC, but I'd also rather not need my fans spinning up like a tornado if im just browsing the internet and reading bit-tech (shameless plug).
Now you'll have them fighting over who's who! My money's on:
Lizard for Clarkson
Clive Webster for Hammond
Joe Martin for May
"THIS, is the OCZ Black DDR3 i7 kit. It's designed by a mix of madmen, Einstein clones and sweatshop workers, hand-crafted in factories in places we've never heard of. It'll do 0-1600 in CAS 8, and 0-2000 in just 10-9-9..."
Yes, we want Top Gear!
But, also, I want to see high-res images of the memory and heatspreaders... e-porn FTW! :D
This.
But who's Top Gear Dog and not to mention The Stig.
Rogan for Top Gear Dog, I reckon. As for Stig? Hmm... OK, whoever's got the best car out of the rest of the CPC/Bit staff gets Stig role. All cars put up in a poll, we choose.
Maybe testing the sticks' cooling solution under heavy load, to see if it copes, and just measuring the surface temp after the tests you've done, just to see if heat is well dissipated.
(thermal camera is not that good because some materials have low emissivity and thus are difficult to see even though they work)
And last but not least have glamour shots of the sticks posing with female models (or the opposite : models posing with sticks, I'm not sure :p)
"Battering RAM"?
I vote for boobs.
oh and boobs....
I'd like to see you describe your experiences with the support you receive from the company in question, maybe by buying a budget stick in the shop, breaking it somehow (i'm sure Harry will find a way ) and then sending it off to RMA.
One other thing that would be interesting is compatibility. Some motherboards are notoriously picky about certain brands and/or certain chips. It would be interesting if you could get some results, and it would also be a good thing to see if you could test the memory you have there on a variety of the boards you have. Over time, that could become a true life-saving repository for some of us.
Power draw could also be interesting. I don't even have the faintest clue how much power memory usually draws, so if it's about the difference between 1W and 1.3W, forget it, but the difference between 25W and 35W could actually be a buying decision.
I salute you all for even asking this quastion by the way, because you are bang on the money. Memory latency numbers are among the very very few pages on this site i always skip. I go straight to the real-world stuff, and there i always go: "meh".
I utterly applaud the guy who said Mythbusters first in this thread. There's a lot of memory myths to be cleared up, and i thouroughly enjoyed this article, and more of those is the way to go as far as in-depth testing is concerned.
1.) Show the impact of the memory in testing on several platforms and not just one. Socket 775, AM2+ for DDR2 and 775, AM3, and 1136 for DDR3. Since most of the the already important parts (processor, motherboard) are already going to be different, and depending on the strictness of your tests this may allow you to test multiple platforms simultaneously. At the very least this will only increase the time to do your tests by a minor amount but give your reader base much more information. Only downside to this being there will be more variability because even though you may use the same hardware SKUs (meaning, you would be using 3 graphics cards instead of one that gets tossed between 2 systems) they will still differ slightly which may or may not significantly skew results (something you might have to test first).
2.) Practically everyone knows that for most programs differences in timings and bandwidth make a minute difference. However, to make your tests really interesting (and perhaps more useful) would be to lump your Image Editing and Video Encoding, and File Compression and Multitasking tests into one giant multitasking test. A fraction of a second difference is nothing to write home about in one program benchmark, but if you extrapolate that to a large number of programs running simultaneously the differences could be significant to some people. The downside I could see from this is that you would have to use kits with the same memory capacity, but you'll be testing kits in the same price bracket against each other so this doesn't seem like a huge concern. This will also save you time in the benchmarking process because you will be running all tests at the same time.
3.) Some people still don't run DDR2, let alone DDR3. Show the differences between DDR, and DDR2/DDR3. You can simulate this by running PC2 6400 RAM at PC2 3200 and tighten the timings as best you can. Probably not the best idea, however I would still throw in some older kits in there. In your DDR2/DDR3 reviews toss in some DDR2 533Mhz & DDR2 667. Like my previous point was, not everybody is running the latest and greatest and it will be important to those people if they should make a relatively cheap upgrade to DDR2 800/DDR2 1066+.
Nope:
RAMDisks could be a good way to test how fast RAM actually is?
Warranty considerations?
+1
thermal image would show how efficient the heatspreader is in absorbing and dissipating the heat, across the entire heatspreader. how well the heatspreader gets rid of heat would surely affect a few of our purchases, and it would be nice to see whether the extra paid for the more complex designs are worth it. that and it will look funky too
also, maybe some kind of ball-busting benchmark, that pushes a kit of RAM to its very limits, so that only the worthy kits actually pass. personally, i've got nfi what such a test might be, but if it can cause some silicon to melt, then i reckon its suitable (as long as we get pics)
also, boobs... maybe get companies to send some sort of promo babe with the RAM, and hotness of the babe counts towards the RAM's overall score? (pics must again be included in the review)
Following that testing how useful 3rd party coolers and RAM waterblocks are? Like what gains in terms of speed and temperature can be had from them.
Also would be cool to see how more blocks influence the performance.. as in is 2 faster than 4 blocks?
neither of these things are a format or a general way of reviewing memory though as they would be a one off article.
I think one thing that would be a good idea to include it testing the memory against cheapo value memory. Especially considering that not all of us overclock our systems, and consequently it would be interesting to see if the higher price is justified by better performance at stock speed.
I like the compatibility idea, but can see how it would quickly be a lot of work...
other than that.. I can only say BRING ON THE BOOBS :D
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a97/PsychoMaverick/Joe_May.jpg
MSPaint ftw!
EDIT: What's with this wordfilter that doesn't let me express how much this image is contributing to victory?
Make it funny (i want to ROFL).
Also, have swordfights?
See how long they take to die at like 3kmhz.
See how water resistant they are (incase watercooling goes wrong)!
PLease let me win...
And include temperatures.
What I look for in reviews are a few benchmarks, at first so people can get a feel for the differences between different speeds and timings, and how they affect performance (a lot of people still ask if lower timings or more raw MHz are better for example), but this is less important when you have a few reviews done, as the differences between different kits with the same timings and speeds are minimal at best. Throw in your usual ratings (for value, performance and the like), and we are on to a winner.
But, being bit-tech, I want a little bit more for us enthusiasts; the obligatory overclocking session (be careful to point out that YMMV though, ofcourse), details on the chips used, removal of heatspreaders (will show up those sticks with bad memory contact etc, and also allow you to see the chips used), and benchmarks showing the difference between stock and overclocked speeds/timings, so people can tell if the effort, potential voltage increases and the like are worth the performance gains.
Obviously, I can appreciate that such reviews are boring, so benchmarks should be kept to a minimum, purely for sake of completeness should they be in there. Things that would be more helpful are tests of games and programs etc. But again, not too many.
Other than that, at the end of the day it is just RAM. There is only so much you can do. Throw in the usual bit-tech humour and attention to detail, and you are looking at more of the usual; the best hardware reviews on the web.
Finally, if I were to have my way; Good looking, semi clothed girls + alcohol + violence + general messing about + all the above RAM talk = The most thorough, entertaining and downright enjoyable RAM reviews to ever exist!
Files servers and media servers. Does the ram improve the performance in real life situations.
For got he bench tests and do some real life results. Over a month of useage does the user relay notice any difference.
Do all the fancy lights on ran make the system look any better or do they make it look like a cheap stripper club......
Do the heat spreader really do a good job or are they just a fancy needed add-on. Which Heat spreader does a good job and wich are just a waist of metal.
IC's used and as much info about those as possible.
Any special features of reviewed modules.
High quality photographs of the modules.
Platform/Chipset compatibilty check.
Popular motherboard compatibilty/performance check.
Your overclocking results, tighest timings/highest clock speed, voltages etc. Results may vary which is fine, we can check other reviews aswell, problems occur when manufacturers quietly change ICs used so it'd be good to have edits for that too should that happen.
Sisoft and Everest memory bandwith graphs.
Gaming + Real World Benchies
What is customer support experience like? Where do I have to RMA my modules to?
Value Assesment
Besides boobs I don't see what else you can do.
- Post when a note-worthy new kit comes out or a decent kit is spotted at significantly lesser price
- summerise the performance (no need for bench marks when everythings so close)
- Cost, thats a massive factor with ram...why buy crucial 6400 4442 when cosair 600 4442 is £5 cheaper?
- Overclockability! the main reason for reading ram reivews and buying high end ram is to overclock, this is what we care about and why we read the reviews, and should be factored into the value.
- Value vs overlcockability - this is the key to buying ram....eg Ballistix is £10 more but gives a much better overclock headroom. If possible keep this in some 'at a glace' value chart, perhaps in combernation with a popular e-tailer (OCUK?)
-compatability checks with popular motherboards....and coolers, not everything fits with massive heat spreaders!
In conclusion I want to know which is the best bang-for-buck of each ram type (DDR2/DDR3) at a glance, obviously this is hard to keep up to date, but a educated estimate that I wont go far wrong with would be very much appreicated!
AMD favors slower speeds with as tight as timing as possible, owing to the fact that something makes them actually suffer from raising the HTT under about 4.5GHz. On Intel, looser timings but raw speed win the day. AMD and Intel also both have varying voltage ranges-you really can't just bung AMD memory in an Intel board, unless you're not fond of the memory controller, but the AMD boards don't much care (a sign of a more robust controller if you ask me, but I'll test that if you get me an i7.) Heatspreaders are well good and all, but I don't even have them on my sticks and I have no issues. What IS important to me is the ICs on them-I shop by IC, not by name. I purchased my 8GB of Crucial ValueRAM because it's 8GB of matching D9s. They run like stink, but more importantly to me they're very tight timings even undervolted.
There's a lot of important stuff that SiSoft Sandra and Everest can't tell you. What's the volt range for Intel DDR3 (1.5v,) what heatspreaders don't block a Prolimatech Megahelems (arsed if I know,) and just what was that monkey carrying (a bunch of bananas and a Dremel.)
Memory as it were isn't the most amazing piece of tech-seldom has it gotten me MASSIVE score improvements, except for the time that I got my DDR2-3200 to about 1100.
But hey, if people want me to answer these questions, I have DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 rigs, and I just need an i7 to round out all platforms. All I'm missing is an IR thermometer.
(And that RAM, guys.)
Heat dissipation[b], most ram sticks have heat sinks on them nowadays, see if they are really required and if so how much heat is generated and dissipated. Thermal images are always awesome
[b]Overclockability, see how far you can push them until you get read errors or they ignite from poor heat sink design
Overclocking in general, see how they compare with a standard overclock on a CPU that would be commonly seen (i.e 3.4ghz on a Q6600, etc)
In-depth IC information: A lot of people base their ram choice off of what ICs are on the memory. So by providing extra info people can see what memory has a weakness or strength.
REAL memory intensive tasks: open up a CAD design with about 3000 parts and see how the memory handles it.
Comparison graphs, because everyone loves graphs
Motherboards with clearance conflicts: pop them in and if they fit without a hitch it passes, if the ram sticks can't fit due to XYZ, note it down and drop it in the review.
A cheap memory comparison: Show just how much better the ram is compared to the valu-ram
Overtime performance: build a machine that is used for all DDR3/2/N and run the memory non stop for 24-48 hours under Full memory intensive takes, i.e if you have 4gb of ram use all 4gb of ram and hammer it with random data and see how performance is affected.
I think also that the price/performance ration should definitely be taken in to play.
For Fun:
Ram toss How far can it go and will it still work?
Tension/Compression testing make a bridge from one of the sticks and see how much it can hold.
Overall though, keep the sections short and moving to keep people reading
Just my 2 cents
also measure which one is most 'aerodynamic' by throwing them like a frisbee and seeing how far they get, becuase we all want to know how far our RAM can go!
2. Highest overclock achieved with test kit - and at what latencies
3. Coolness (fonz style - not temperature style) of the heatsinks
4. Price comparisions and availability
5. More brands reviewed - I don't think I've seen them all reviewed back to back either
6. Tested to destruction ? At what voltage do they break - just so we know
7. Real world performance gains - from a benchmark
-Category 1 will be low budget ram, quick and easy upgrade options and simple to understand
-Category 2 will be Performance ram but for non-overclockers, best performance for value and high quality ram kits etc with a bit more information but still simple to understand
-Category 3 will be the High budget, high performance ram and more targeted towards Overclockers.
The Category 3 will have more detail about the timings, voltage and frequency etc...
These categories will make it easier for people to decide what they want without having to sort through a bunch of different ram without knowing instantly if it's for low end, mid-high and prime cut.
Call them bronze, silver and Gold class for example.
Personally I think that flashy pipes and big sharp designs should come last in the decision making for your ram, just because it looks good doesn't mean it's going to make your pc faster, Perhaps a sub category under each of the bronze silver and gold... something like Bronze PLUS, Silver PLUS and Gold PLUS... for example. informing people that this is the nicer looking of the category if you are seriously into pc makovers.
Straight up in any review there should be a table or graph of some sort, detailing specifications, performance, value, warranty and more, perhaps a score out of 10 for each.
For Performance Ram there should be a review detailing how well they run applications, similar to how you at Bit-tech already are doing, but condensed into 1-2 pages, usually i flip through 3-5 pages of graphs without really reading much text, only to see that the ram in the end did fairly average.
For Overclocking ram, the information should be again the same as before but condensed, simple easy to read graphs and a score out of 10 or even a slider valueindicating that the ram can be tuned from "x.xx voltage" to "x.xx voltage", "Lowest timing value" to "Highest timing value" and the performance given as a graph to indicate loss or gain of performance aswell as stability issues or something else.
I also think that comparison with AMD and Intel chips is important, if the same ram is compatible for both, show how the ram performs over other similar sticks on the same systems, to show how much performance is increased and compare to how much one cpu does over another.
At the end of the review a overlook at the pros and cons of the ram, final thoughts, some recomendations for the ram...perhaps which motherboards or cpu's could benefit or work smoothly with the ram, Temperature measured by a heat gun or probe at the fins or to determin if this will be a problem for the system temperature...
And Price is oviously one of the most important factors, maybe some thoughts about the value against performance and a two bar "volume style" graph showing price versus performance. out of 100.
Hmm i hope i didn't miss anything out here, I hope this inspires for better reviews :)
Higher latency faster speed ram to lower latency lower speed ram... I want to see how latency and speed will affect overall performance. I don’t want to spend more money or higher speed ram is cheaper lower latency ram will perform better.
Overclocking the all the processors that the tests are performed on to the same speed to see the systems perform with the ram. This doesn’t necessarily entail overclocking the RAM but it could for $hits and grins...
Also, you could split the review into two versions, there could be a more technical version and then one that is more like an executive summary version that doesn’t get into the “nitty gritty” technical jargon etc… Throw a couple of bar chart in there with some commentary. It would be like a just “just the facts ma’am” a la Dragne, review, and the other one could be more of a “1.21 gigawatts? 1.21 gigawatts? Great Scott!” a la Back to the Future highly technical review.
On a side note, I would like to see overclocking results of the compared CPUs to the overclocking results of the reviewed CPU in your CPU reviews. I want to see how these CPUs stack up to each other in an end game scenario of overclocking. I think that is one thing that is really lacking in the CPU reviews. We get to see how the reviewed CPU overclocks, but at the same time we don’t get to see how it compares to the other CPUs in the comparison overclock. I know we could just go look up the other reviews, but what is the point of the current review if we have to look up the prior reviews.
I see you there... :D
simply post 8GB DDR3 MEMORY KIT in largest letter possible when they become less than £80 and i'll be a very happy reader.
honestly, 6GB kits for i7 are not enough. 12GB or 8GB DDR3 should be out by now.
edit: said 8GB for dual-channel socket 1156 and AMD, as those are going to be more popular when 4GB sticks are actually released.
Would that be those special 2.67GB sticks of triple-channel RAM?
EDIT: Which one of the mods/admin actually set my avatar? And did it really take 4 PAGES to spot my smalltext?
JK, I would like to know how overclockable the kits are, but that would be relaint on the manufacturers playing ball with you guys as pointed out earlier. Besides that and how they look, I don't really bother to find out really.
how well it overclocks
how well it performs from stock
Temperatures + voltages aat stock and OC
What it looks like in the case (good/bad)
thats what i think we could do with the reviews for, but some of the other suggestions are also really good
1) Introduction
Consisiting of Manufacturer Info and reviewed Modules Specifications - like package , size , heat spreaders ( yes/no ) , latency, supply , cost , warranty ...
2) Packaging
Some info on the packaging
3) Compatability Testing on different hardware ( Very Important )
Encountered several issues with DDR3 setups , mostly solved by emailing manufacturer of either RAM and motherboard
Most of times - Setting of Bios DRam Rcomp ODT and voltage helps.
On reviews compatability testing will be a plus point when buying particular brand of DDR for mounting on a specific make of motherboard.
4) SPD timings testing
5) Stability testing / burn tests
6) Overclocking testing
7) Performance
8) Overall score
So, to sum up:
A group test of memory at a certain price, and tell us what's best of out the group for the money.
Real World performace, how it stocks up when used from day to day, not just in an air condidtioned lab (Also perform for other hardware, and maybe your monthly system builds)
Cheers
P.S, Please don't enter me into the draw, i already have 12gb of DDR3, therefore i allow some other bugger to win;)
Sam
I don't know, but it's quite simply brilliant.
It took me a while before I saw this post, so for a minute there I thought Anthony had pulled! Or at least had a not-so secret admirer
Short summaries are likely fine, with longer "reviews" for RAM worthy of note. Quality of chips used and overclockability are probably the most important factors. Heat dissipation based on various heatspreader styles would be nice, i.e. are those fancy heatspreaders only for looks or do they actually function better than others.
Oh, it would be very, very, very VERY nice of you to write down the ICs used. At the moment this is a painfull rpocedure if you want to know. It's either googling, asking on the forums, fiding out the hardware revision, etc., etc. If you wrote it in a review i think it would be a step forward in memory reviews.
Memory companies want to brand things differently, want to make whatever will sell. They'll use funky heatspreaders and such to try to sell their product. Essentially their are 2 types of people: those that care about the looks, and those that don't.
The problem is that almost all RAM performs similarly. Even super-dooper-uber timings will simply not make a noticeable difference in real world usage. Synthetic benchmarks are a vehicle to mathematically show the differences between supposed performance differences in memory products. But who notices? Who cares? The guy looking to hit DDR3-2350 I suppose and break a world record.
Case in point: take a cheap set of Crucial DDR3-1333. Overclocks almost as well as any OCZ, Patriot, Corsair, Kingston, etc DDR3-1600 set, yet costs significantly less. But will anyone NOTICE the performance difference? No. Is Coke or Pepsi better for you? Neither. That's the point: companies WANT you to think otherwise, which is why you get fanboys, otherwise more properly known as Brand Loyalty.
So the danger here is that a site may actually expose this, and come out and say, "You know what, it doesn't matter what brand or speed you buy unless you're looking for some world record or e-peen willy-wagging because they're all essentially the same. They all perform well, they all can overclock reasonably to the point you won't notice a performance difference in anything but synthetic tests, so just go ahead with whatever looks the best or is the cheapest."
THAT........now THAT........is an approach that is realistic but it is an approach that will scare the pants of memory companies because you've effectively rendered their entire advert/marketing purpose null and void. And THAT will make companies loathe to send you products to test.
And with the problem that Tim S notes about sample sets potentially being better than retail sets, you're left in a very tough position: your review can't solely focus on overclocking because the results would be skewed for everyone reading the review. Your review can't focus on performance numbers because they're all essentially the same in the end. You can try focusing on temperatures but the new DDR3 tri-channel kits simply do not run hot at 1.5V, and only get really warm when highly overclocked, which brings us back to the narrow focus of a review (not to mention a $5 fan can do far more than those fancy $50 heatspreaders anyway). You can try focusing on aesthetics but that's subjective so no point going there. You can focus on price but that changes so bloody quickly that by the time you get the modules and the review hits the front page, your info is no longer correct for pricing. So even a peformance-to-price analysis is then buggered.
What's that leave? Ah......therein lies the question. Which is the whole purpose of this contest, isn't it?
Not sure I have the answer, but you need to address different things to different people, since all types read the reviews. So it needs to be accessible to all, but you can delve deeper into specifics. Those that don't want to read about ICs and nanosecond latency can move onto the shiny photos of heatspreaders. Something for everybody, as it were.
Cover:
-heatspreaders / aesthetics
-heat produced (just use an IR gun)
-overclocking
-price (at time of review)
-stability / ease of use (some modules are more touchy to voltages for example. People want to know if memory modules are stable and easy to work with)
That covers something for everyone. Performance benchmarks in synthetic apps to show a 0.3% increase in SuperPI? Meh. Don't bother. Great price? For sure! Look sexy for that newly modded rig? For sure! Overclock like a champ for those needing an e-peen boost? Okay! Easy to use and aren't picky about voltages? Yes!
That's the stuff people want. That's the stuff that gives someone for everyone. But perhaps more importantly, that's the stuff that keep companies happy; you address their marketing/business concerns without pissing them off, but you can still be objective and honest at the same time. Now that.......THAT is a winning formula right there.
make sure you bring out joe with 2 ram sticks taped to his ears like a elf
*edit corrected my spelling mistakes.. I got excited
Alternately, see how easy it is to cut through a block/pack of butter when the RAM is hot.
I always want to be sure that my RAM can withstand a 3 minute cook in the microwave.
What's the Maximum and Minimum altitude that i can use my RAM at?
How many Posotive and Negative G's can you pull off while it's in use?
The Maximum and Minimum Operating Temperatures?
And, How fast can the Stig get it round the test track? haha
Sam
After all, RAM is only as good as what's under the hood (heatsink!).
Hmmm. Checking a certain person's IP points him within ten miles of the office. :)
-> Achievable frequencies and timings at DIFFERENT VOLTAGES
-> SIZE AND SHAPE OF THE MODULES, this is very important as they might not comply with the cpucooler. This is the only issue that i have encountered with ram. This includes:
---> Width (how much it goes outside the socket on either short side (two values)) 1 and 2
---> Height (preferably from mobo pcb to tob edge of heatsink)
---> Depth (how much it goes outside the socket on either long side, aka thickness)
example: (X is heatsink and O is ram)
______________________________________________
|XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX|
|XXXX ____________________________________ XXXXX|
|XXXX|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|XXXX|
|<-2--|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|--1->|
|XXXX|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO|XXXX|
|XXXX|_____________________A______________|XXXX|
I am currently at my parents house with a computer that can hardly even run paint:( so my photoshop skills are useless and thus: tadaaa!:D
also, first post EVER after reading at bit-tech for several years :D
1 - Performance between different kits doesnt differ much.
2 - Price differs between Kits
3 - Appearance and features beside plain performance numbers is very important.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solutions:
1 - In an review on bit - tech performance cant be neglected, because were enthusiasts, if a kit gives me 10 % more speed, ill buy, other factors aside.
Create an easily comprehensive standart suite of real world Bench apps, but not too many, as performance is just one of the three main factors ( 2 Games / 2 Office apps / 2 Content Creation apps )
Just use two different platforms for benching, which are always in the same config ( one DDR2 /one DDR 3 )
Create a score out of the results ( score 1 )
2 - Find the cheapest available price online, create a score from the price range of other available kits withe nearly the same performance score ( score 1 )
Create a score out of the results ( score 2 )
3 - Heatspreaders, water cooling, running temps, colors, bundle, appearance, build quality
all these factors accumulate in the last score, ( score 3 )
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Create 3 Categories for ram Rating
1st Enthusiast
(weighting ration of scores Score 1: 70% / Score 2: 10% / Score 3: 20% )
2 Bang for buck
(weighting ration of scores Score 1: 30% / Score 2: 40% / Score 3: 30% )
3 Features and Appearance
(weighting ration of scores Score 1: 20% / Score 2: 30% / Score 3: 50% )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In every Category a kit can either win a gold or silver award, outstanding kits will be clearly recognisable by winning more that 1 award.
I think like that everyone will be happy, as an enthusiast, ill be able to compare the numbers quickly that matter most to me as an bargain hunter aswell and if im out for a nice looking rig ill know straight away which kits i have to have a closer look at.
thats it :)
or just spend 8 pages talking about the sexiness of the heatspreaders, because that's really all anybody cares about.
We are always looking for this kind of hardware too, so maybe, aside from the usual benchmarks, and test, you can include some 3ds max and maya benchs, and tests like the FPS in a 3ds or maya scene with 10M polygons, how many polygons can Zbrush handle, some photoshop tests with really big pics, after effects, or even how any of this programs runs having all the others open at the same time plus a winamp or an itune and a firefox, i believe that that's how most of the people works.
Compatibility testing is impossible. Not only does it require x amount of motherboard but it requires x amount of BIOS too - the time to test all that is far too much. It's for manufacturers to do in their QVL lists.
Burn in test is also pointless because if memory works - it works - and it has a lifetime warranty. The ICs are guaranteed up to 85C which is almost impossible to reach for standard DDR3.
Overclocking testing - much the same - kits vary largely, especially if manufacturers change ICs mid-run.
And performance.. meh. We've already said it makes a percent or two difference at most. :(
Could you send us some larger 3ds scenes to render?
I for one would actually also like to see some stuff on the height of RAM and their coolers when it comes to some of the CPU coolers that are likely to cover the RAM area. I myself discovered that it can sometimes be extremely tight, particularly with my Corsair Dominator and the CoolerMaster V10 cooler...
http://wayne.sebbens.com/components/com_joomgallery/img_originals/computers_1/erebos_2/09042009006_20090510_1194606007.jpg
the fins on the cooler are actually resting on the Dominator's cooling fins there. God help me if i decide to put another 6GB on the board, I'm going to need to pry the cooler off first
How far it Overclocks
Price/performance ratio compaired to other modules
Points of interest: EG. extras, coolers etc.
A shot of the memory with the heatsink off?
Temps.?
I not sure if any of these have been already posted, but if they have great minds think alike :D
- Specifications (timings, voltages)
- Some performance benchmarks(OS loading time, RAM-CPU operations)
- Overclocking (oh, yeah!)
- Thermal analisys (off, idle, load)
- Aesthetics (heatspreaders, light...)
enough?
No! Also pricing :P
Huh?
The only time I think about RAM is when After Effects runs out of it.
Well I´m here not for the competition alltought it will be good if I won it. I really enjoys the technical way that reviews are made here however when I was searching for my future ram modules I didn´t found anything here, so I will put the things that I was looking for:
1 º I was looking for specific 1600 MHZ modules.
2º X.M.P it worth pay for it and wich modules support?
3º CAS can I play with it? What improvements from it stock´s I can manage to obtain?
4º Heatspreader they are working or it´s just fashion?
5º What external cooler devices fit this modules (xxx airflow, or xtc cooler) stuff like that.
6º OC´s we like to see the capabilities of the modules.(I know this is difficult because of the usual things, like every chip has his own capability and the problem you at bit-tech pointed as the retailer´s send you special ram modules :( )
7º Finally some benchs or software that use the RAM capabilities.
Sorry for the bible but it´s what I face trough I didn´t put anything about the prices because it´s very difficult for me because of my country but it´s always good to see the avaliation of the value.
My kit is a OCZ X.M.P Intel Extreme 1600 MHZ just to mention.
Oh yeah and fill a bucket with RAM and blow it up on video, always good.
Though you might end up testing the memory controller like this..
This may sound like a lot of work but it could all be done with a single program and a few reboots, link it to a graphing library and it could even spit out the review page lol.
-The length from the cpucooler to the closest ramslot (this can be done by ripping the heatsink of the ram and measuring from the rampcb to the cpucooler)
-The height of the clearance above the ramslots to the cpucooler
And in moboreviews you give the distance from the cpusocket to the ramslot
This would make an almighty compatibility chart of mobos, cpucoolers and ram. It isn't really as hard or complicated as it sounds. It is simply a few lengthmeasurements and surely you must have some old/broken ram that you can sacrifice to get a rampcb from which to measure distance to cpucooler?
As far as being totaly lame, Id also like to see the Windows Experience Index (Found in Vista and Win7) rating of each component reviwed, not just the RAM.
And if you could convince the manufacturers to sell the produts you review at a slightly cheaper cost to your readers, perhaps with a kind of "I want it Now!" button on the site, that could be usefull and economical for all involved.
Cheers
Richie
Since performance in synthetic benchmarks gives results in the fractions of seconds, and in gaming the general performance is fairly consistent across equally classed types, I think that memory reviews should move away from direct comparisons to the miliseconds and focus on the following factors:
Reliability
Cost
Design
overclock-ability
voltage tolerance
heat
motherboard compatibility
cost/performance ratio
extra features like fancy heatsinks and watercooling adapters
Availability
General performance. Load times, real-world apps, not synthetic benchmarks
The bandwith and speed are now so high that I really cannot feel the difference, so som graphs comparing the different kits thermal properties would be great.
Maybe you could even stick a probe in a measure som surface temperatures on the heat spreaders, compared to the internal IC temperature(is that possible?) ?
Thankyou
If you're buying performance ram, you want to check the puppies out asap and it's infuriating if the blister pack has to be opened with a pair of scissors or you have to twist the packaging for the sticks to pop out and end up with your heart in your mouth as one drops onto the carpet.
But I don't think there is much point to doing proper reviews of specific kits, simply put, especially with I7 memory speed and timings does not really matter anyway for normal use and for benching you buy ram based on a specific IC and hope to get lucky with the oc headroom.
You guys have a retail partner right? Get the retail version preferably, test and OC as many as possible and get some averages from that.
2. Provide a tabled list that could separate each class, ie. DDR2 on one column, DDR3 on another column or separate table, and so forth. And a comparative column or row to show the over clocking results.
Show the top 3 - 10 in performance, the top 3 - 10 in overall performance vs. value; and show what the current BIT-TECH recommended modules are.
3. Create one table as a point of reference that shows what each recorded test provided, with a small say, 300 character or less note on each, as a master history list; on a separate page. The goal would be like a master list of memory review results.
4. Try to work with the E-salers, and Re-tailers with a way to provide a link to memory in the review table, although this wouldn't be as important. Anybody here that can't cut&paste to their favorite shopping site should not be shopping in the first place.
5. As to individual IC's, or specific IC layout, very short, or no description unless it is a new to market item. Close ups of the heat spreaders and anything different than a piece of stock ram without heat sinks are very much appreciated.
6. As to content/review flavor; quick, to the point, and any notable quirks found, is pretty sufficient. Show the breaking point of stability on an over clock.
- Bandwith
- Max freq
- The weight and volume of the heatspreader (by dipping it in a liquid and seeing how much the level rises)
I have no idea why anyone would care about anything else, it's a shame if your boss makes you test memories in the first place,.. I just don't see how 100 game tests with differences of 0,4 FPS or program tests with differences of ,1 seconds could be made interesting.
1. Answers to questions like which is the quickest/most efficient for Mental Ray rendering of complex scenes.
2. Which is the best setup for 2D work using large Photoshop files.
3. How well does importing video into Flash to compress using Flash Video On2 encoding etc...
4. Important features about cost effectiveness (bang per buck) etc...
All of this could easily tie into other reviews about processors and other kit. Magazines do sometimes touch on these areas, but i've never seen one talk about industry standard software on a regular monthly basis used on the best kit around, standard setup or overclocked.
Graphics software is expanded constantly so what better way of testing new kit but with new software, it may also encourage software vendors to release bug fixes which may be found wanting as a result of Custom PC tesing! NICE.
OLD vs NEW
I think it might prove useful to the community as a whole to provide benchmarks that include a reference back to older memory modules in addition to the new ones. This would provide a good basis for comparison seeing DDR compared against, DDR2 & DDR3.
REAL WORLD APPLICATION TEST BOTTLENECK
How does Brand X really fare in a real world environment and when running memory intensive benchmarks does a particular brand have more of a bottleneck and how do memory controllers affect this. Does the speed of the CPU make affect the results?
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON
Show the relative performance differences between Single, Dual channel and Triple channel and how well do they scale as you increase the amount of memory from say 1GB, 2GB, 3GB, 6GB to 12GB? How does this affect Heat, Reliability and Overclocking?
HEAT SPREADERS
How does memory perform with their standard heat spreader vs no heat spreader vs custom heat spreaders? Measure Heat, Reliability and Overclocking potential. How does airflow or complete lack of, affect their performance/reliability.
GOOD OR BAD DESIGN
We've all read about motherboards and design features to look out for that help one manufacturer stand out from the crowd. Are there different designs that make one memory module rise above another, i.e. quality of IC's or is it just a cost issue?
COST vs QUALITY
Not just another bang for buck, but how do the "no-name" budget brands compare to the top tier manufacturers?
I would like to see how well suited each offering would be for different purchasers.
One has to weigh price, value-for-money, performance, future-proofability, etc. - for different pockets and aspirations. Another desirable feature is a comparison table covering rival offerings. Ascertaining whether an item is too good, or not good enough, for one's setup is more important than exact performance data.
If that doesn't help, just put it on a firework, and see which RAM can withstand the G's! Everyone loves explosions..
..and boobies.
Make them into bridges and try to hold up weights.
You should review on those factors, enthusiast systems are about being fast, but look good also, so high def images of the heatspreaders are a must.
Enthusiasts are all about squeezing every ounce of performance from their system, so overclocking potential is important to cover too.
Cover those aspects of a review thoroughly, and you have a winner.
I have never considerd memory boring either! :D
I think that some sort of endurance test is required, how gruff actually is the RAM in question? For a start they need to prove that they are in fact as tough as a billy goat. The first test required will be an "active-static" test, first attach all memory to be tested to a animal with fur (in the most humane manner, of course) or perhaps even an office "guinea pig" and then allow the tester to roam freely, cross bridges and generally move a lot to try and build static.
Secondly you see lots of companies touting extravagant heat spreaders, while they may look cool and do their job the real important thing is how well they can fly (duh) - are they aerodynamic enough to be used on a paper plane in your case or perhaps even a commercial flight jet, even if just for looks? I'd sure love to hear something like "..Welcome aboard and thank you for flying with CorsAIR". This could be known as the "Random Aerial Madness" test.
Finally RAM needs to be headstrong, it needs to be fast and needs to know when to rest, wrestle or retreat, I'm not exactly sure how to legally test this as I believe any sort of forced animal fighting is illegal however I'm sure you guys are able to find a work around.
All tests will award points and a bonus multiplier will be given to those that have survived each test, the overall winner should be allowed to sport a typical "approved" badge such as this very quick mock-up I've made in MS paint - http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/6711/bgga.png.
I do not condone the abuse of RAM or any kind of electronic component and I always eat my greens and recycle appropriately.
Heat dissipation - Are the Flex RAM better? Do the Reapers need that huge heatsink? What about the generic rectangular spreaders? Like people said, thermal imaging would be bad ass.
RAM Width - at least let us know if these are super thick modules. I crammed some OCZ RAM with the SLI logo into a board and the logos were pressing against each other. Wish I knew that before I purchased.
Practical RAM benchmarks - Artificial benchmarks are cool and all, but according to some other sites DDR3 1333 has better price to performance than DDR3 2000. Maybe create a RAMdisk and run something intensive out of it, compare to SSDs or normal hard drives. With 6GB kits you've got some to spare.
Single / Dual / Triple channel comparisons, or at least a special on that.
Please note the default profile on the RAM. Most of the time the XMP profile is advertised but when you first boot it up the timings are different.
Maybe you could rate based on style, or extras (fans, interchangeable heat spreaders). Does a RAM fan help that much?
IC information, but that might get a bit touchy with the manufacturers. There's only so many people in Tawain/China making chips.
Apples to Apples comparisons - DDR3 in LGA1366 vs AM3 vs 775. Will the architecture make a difference in dual channel? Adding the 3rd channel does the i7 blow it out of the water?
Standardize your motherboard for benchmarking RAM. If you benchmark Corsair GT Special XYZPDQ type RAM, and I go back 6 months I expect to see the same motherboard used for benchmarks so I can compare it to the G.Skill OMGAXXOMNESS RAM that you decided not to put in the same chart.
Or perhaps, dynamic charts? Sort by brand or speed or timings. That way I can see if the Corsair 2000 does considerably better than the Corsair 1866 or 1600. Or I can see if the Patriot 1600 is slower than the OCZ 1600.
2) Aesthetics vs Cooling performance. (Ok, maybe this matters too)
3) Extra accessories that come in the package( (And then there's the goodies included, everyone likes goodies)
Temperatures recorded when stressing the modules at the max stable overclock reached.
Also, dunno if it is worth incorporating into RAM reviews, but I'd like to see more info on extended memory timings and their effects on stability and performance.
Finally, is it possible to add the reviews info to an online database/spreadsheet, so we can download and compare what we need to compare? It may reduce the usual negative "why didn't you list the module floppiness index"-type comments.
...That is probably the only way to make memory reviews at least a bit entertaining.
I can fully see your point memory isn't the funnest thing to test and its just that much you can do to test it,regardless the minuscule performance increase more often than not isn't even noticeable in real word testing, I normally skip reading memory reviews as well.
In theat mix, you have explosions, destruction and instant laughs!
The two major aspects of memory are the speed and latency and these have ben covered by most other suggestions in terms of stock and overclock potential. But just as important is the motherboard and how well it deals with data throughput in the memory data paths. My suggestion is this...
There really is no more to say about memory than has been done already. Although in motherboard reviews memory performance is intrinsic perhaps a more specific rating as to to how each motherboard performs in terms of memory speed, timings and voltage requirements would be more useful. This would give each motherboard a sort of 'memory profile' which would suggest a range of memory specifications unique to each motherboard. For example one motherbord may perform better with high performance memory than another motherboard that is just as happy with memory costing half the price.
For a review finale you could OC the hell out of them, then quickly remove and apply to Harry's face, (or any easily markable spot on him). The one that leaves the biggest burn mark wins.
1 - How long can the memory last at it's rated speed and voltage. I've some 8500 Corsairs DDR2 ram that would die within 3 months of regular use and they would be underclocked. I went through 3 RMA's (that's 4 pairs) before moving on to a different brand. This probably can't be tested though, since you can't leave prime95 on for 3 months and then publish a review.
2 - Can the RAM run at it's rated speed at extreme temps. I live in Texas and it's humid AND hot here. When I'm not home and the AC is off, the ambient can easily get to 30C. The case probably gets to 40C+ ambient inside it. It would be nice to see reviews of the system running in an oven at 40C or even 50C just to show the limits of the RAM.
3 - Finally and most importantly, warranty. Not just the coverage on paper, but the RMA process. If I have 10 year warranty but the process is convoluted, a total hassle, and they take 3 months, then it's not really worth it. Corsair's extremely easy. It was done online, and the turn around time was only about 1 week.
It's hard to make RAM interesting but you can at least provide as much useful consumer advice as physically possible in words that people are able to understand. Easier said than done I presume!!
I had some Mushkin sticks that died and found that while their website had a very easy form to complete to claim on the warranty, the dropdown box didn't have UK or any other country other than USA and Canada listed.
I think I still have them sat here. Maybe I should check the website again.....
Ease of return, speed etc... would be good to know. It doesn't matter if one module is 1% faster than another if when they break it takes a month to get replaced.
With regard to the modules being hand picked would it not be possible to get modules on loan from retailers etc rather than from manufacturers. Should help cut the fiddling.
A buyers guide to memory would also be much better than a roundup - how much difference do timings make? Should you buy faster Mhz or lower timings? Does this differ for AMD or Intel CPU's?
You could even buy some of those horrible looking sticks people sell on ebay and see if the branded ones are more stable or overclock better.... mythbusters style...
Things that have not seen, and would like to see in future:-
Cheers~
Some operating temperatures on those mb would be nice also...and compared to other similar products.
I would like to know like an example which one is better to choose from DDR2:2GB, 4GB, 6GB and test this with some software so that the buyer can be ready to deal with buying what`s most appropriate for him running similar software. Same with DD3.
Some dual channel DDR3 vs triple channel DDR3 test. Of course when mb with p55 will be available so that we can know the difference of performance between the platform, if it worth go for the high-end one, or sticking with performance level at a better price and almost the same performance in %.
For OC lovers they should see how well those modules overclock and what temps they`re reaching.
So, overall educational, but fun also, let`s not become too serious. Otherwise you`ll get a picture with The Jocker on the email after we read those articles...Why so serious? :)
I'll flash my moobs if you let me win!
Another article that I would like to see is the effectiveness of ram heatsinks. Do we even really need them? My ram only feels warm to the touch. Will overclocking be diminished with or without these heatsinks. Is there any reason to shoot for the biggest heatsink and fan combo.
I think it's bloody brilliant and it just might work too (for me, at least)... :D
- midgets
- boobs catching sticks of ram
- squat trick on a stick of ram with a heatpipe
- orbit girl
- joe with ram taped to his ears
Only thing I can think of was that ATI HD 3xxx series card that had both an AGP and PCI-E interface on it..
Made me giggle x)
I guess you could compare it with other 2000Mhz DDR3 kits, see how much the 9-9-9-24 timings affect real-world performance (comparing it to the more expensive 8-8-8-24 and 7-8-7-20 kits), but I think you're going to be doing that anyway.
Though there's always the question of whether or not you could make a cuppa by using only 2000Mhz DDR3 RAM heatsinks as heating elements :D
I havent had the chance to read all 8 pages yet but what i would really like to see would be some pictures of the ram fitted to diffrent motherboards, OCing is all well and good but i spend a lot of time and money making sure my pc looks good, getting ram that matches the colour/design of the system would help a lot?
Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme. This would be good if you could show close up images of the gaps, becuase with high ram people will be wrorried that it will not fit in their system. Using other common components e.g. motherboards and heatsinks to show that the two are compatible.