Cell Shock, Corsair, and Kingston Introduce Ultra Speed DDR3

Conclusion

The recent performance improvements in DDR3 memory have far exceeded anything the end user or industry expected to see in such a short period of time. It is easy to heap praise on DDR3 memory that now routinely reaches DDR3-2000 speed. Put into perspective, the highest official DDR2 speed remains DDR2-800 with the best DDR2 memory performing in the 1100 to1300 range depending on the board and the custom timings that are used.

On the other hand DDR3 launched in July of this year at DDR3-1066 and has quickly ramped up to routine DDR3-2000 performance. Motherboard chipsets and motherboard makers were not completely prepared for a memory speed ramp up of this magnitude. This is evident everywhere with no real 1600 or 2000 ratios available in DDR3 chipsets. You can only achieve such speeds as overclock options.

With the small number of DDR3 kits that we had tested, and that were available for review, it was hard to tell whether these 2000+ speeds were the result of great binning and programming by the likes of OCZ and Super Talent, or whether they were more attributable to the Micron Z9 memory chips themselves. We now have enough test samples to at least begin to answer this question.

With the three additional Micron-based memory kits tested in this review a total of five Z9-based memory kits have been tested at AnandTech. All five reach DDR3-2000 or above as their highest stable memory speed. Today's three kits, all released in a similar time frame, reach 2044/2040/2040 as their highest speed - the same as slightly older OCZ at 2040MHz. Even more amazing is the tight clustering of timings and voltages at every tested memory speed with these 2GB kits. Every kit reaches all but the same timings at the same speed at virtually the same voltage. These results are the most tightly clustered performance results we have ever seen in many years of testing memory.

This can only lead to one of two conclusions. Perhaps all the small to large to specialized memory companies have now reached the same level of expertise in binning, programming SPD, and developing high-performance PCBs for the Micron Z9 chips. We find this possibility extremely unlikely. Or second, the Micron Z9 chips are very uniform as delivered and capable of similar performance. We find this the more likely scenario. This leads to the Micron chips as being the primary push of DDR3 memory to 2000+ speeds.

There is significant expertise in the enthusiast memory market, and that may mean we have not seen the end of higher and higher performing DDR3 modules based on Micron Z9 chips. Other memory makers will also make top performing chips to compete, and some may do it even better than the Micron chips we now have. All of these are good possibilities for the future of DDR3.

However, the best thing that can happen to DDR3 is wide adoption by enthusiasts and significant price drops. There are plenty of reasons to buy DDR3 and it is clearly the fastest memory you can buy today. Unfortunately price is not one of those reasons.

The fact that all of the five Micron-based DDR3-1800 kits perform all but the same in our testing means that you can select any one of these memories based on value and cost. You can also add to that list the new Kingston DDR3-1625 CAS7 (PC3-13000) which performs exactly the same at each speed and overclocks just as high as the slightly more expensive Kingston DDR3-1800C8. This is good news for buyers, but it is not particularly good for memory makers, since they prefer a scenario where real performance differences among memory brands can justify price differences. For now, top DDR3 looks like it will become a price war, but that may change as memory companies try to add more value.

With Micron chips performing so well compared to other DDR3 memory chips, they are naturally demanding a premium in the marketplace. Until another memory manufacturer has something very close in performance to Micron, prices will likely remain high. Another possibility might be a huge manufacturer like Samsung having a lower performance DDR3 chip but buying market share with extremely low pricing. Unfortunately there is little incentive for that event until the DDR3 market grows significantly.

We all know DDR3 memory prices will definitely drop; we just don't know when. However, if the price of admission for DDR3 does not kill the deal for you, DDR3 based on Z9 Micron chips will reward you with standout performance. We have found performance to be so good and so consistent that for now you can really choose a new DDR3 memory kit based on Micron chips just by comparing price, warranty, and other value factors. Performance in our testing has consistently been all but dead even at the top of DDR3.