Windows 7: Release Candidate 1 Preview

Internet Explorer 8 and the Rest

Rounding out our look at Windows 7’s applications, we have Internet Explorer 8. Recently released for both Vista and XP, IE8 is the latest salvo in the ongoing browser wars between Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple, Google, and Opera. We’re not going to go too in-depth here since it’s not a Windows 7-only feature and we’ll be doing a proper review soon, but as the default Windows browser it’s best to quickly hit on the high points.

Microsoft has taken a lot of well-earned flak for the compatibility of previous versions of Internet Explorer. As far as rendering and adherence to web standards goes, IE has been off in its own little world. Microsoft has finally taken a number of steps to resolve that, making IE behave in a much more standards-compliant manner, even though it breaks sites designed for IE’s previously quirky behavior when those sites don’t explicitly ask for IE to use that behavior (i.e. compatibility mode). It’s still not the most compliant browser out there, but it’s a great deal improved from where it was.

Internet Explorer 8

Furthermore the rise of AJAX and other JavaScript-heavy application types has necessitated the need for better JavaScript performance in IE, with IE picking up a garbage collector for JavaScript along with a higher performing JavaScript interpreter. Also new in IE8 is a privacy mode (InPrivate), a new type of search feature Microsoft is calling Accelerators, and separate processes for each tab to keep malfunctioning tabs from bringing down the rest. We’ll have a full work-up of IE8 later this month to look at these features in-depth, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile when it comes time to talk about the rest of the applications, Windows 7 is unusually bare. Microsoft has finally gotten around to following through with their desire to decouple some of the standard Windows applications from the operating system itself, so that they can upgrade the applications separately from the OS. As a result, the following applications are no longer included in Windows as of Windows 7: Mail, Calendar, and Movie Maker.

Missing: Half the applications that should come with the OS

All of them have been spun-off into Microsoft’s Windows Live service (joining previously spun-off Messenger) as part of what Microsoft is calling the Windows Live Essentials pack. While there’s probably a good reason for doing it exactly this way (it’s hard to add features when you’re a convicted monopolist) it’s little consolation to the fact that it makes Windows 7 extremely confusing to use. An operating system without an email client or a calendaring application? What is this, 1995? And what about IE? It’s decoupled from the OS too, and yet it’s still included by default.

At least with Vista and its spun-off Messenger, Microsoft replaced Messenger with a link to the Windows Live website to download it. However with Windows 7 there’s absolutely no indication of where they went unless you start searching the help files. We’ll cut Microsoft some slack here since this is just a Release Candidate, but if this is how they intend to ship the final version (and it probably is) then there is likely to be a number of confused users once Windows 7 launches.

One Windows Live Essential install later, and we have Mail

One notable addition to Windows 7 is that Windows has finally gained some basic ISO disc image handling abilities. Unfortunately it’s not the ability to mount them as a virtual drive like Mac OS X can, but Windows 7 at least gets it half-right by getting the ability to burn them. The new Windows Disc Image Burner fulfills exactly this role, and is invoked by right-clicking on ISO files. It may not sound fancy, but with software increasingly being distributed on ISOs these days (including Windows 7 RC1 itself) it’s undoubtedly handy.

We can't mount them, but at least we can burn them

Last but not least, Disk Defragmenter has received an overhaul in looks and features in coming from Vista. With respect to looks, Microsoft hid the fragmentation status of a hard drive in Vista on the belief that users found it to be superfluous information, and they have restored that information for Windows 7 after receiving negative feedback in order to satiate the power users who wanted that missing information. With respect to features, Microsoft has given Disk Defragmenter the ability to move NTFS metadata files, which previously could not be moved and in some situations unnecessarily blocked the shrinking of partitions as a result. Disk Defragmenter is now also capable of recognizing SSDs, and will block the defragmentation of those disks since defragmenting is of no use due to wear-leveling algorithms.

The new Disk Defragmenter

After nearly a year-long build-up, Microsoft’s ongoing pre-launch campaign to woo computer users has come to a close, with the public launch of Microsoft’s latest and greatest desktop OS, Windows 7.

Windows 7 is being born in to a world of uncertainty, one Microsoft has never faced before to such a degree. Apple’s (and Mac OS X) market share is the highest it’s been in over a decade. Linux has finally gained however small a foothold in home computers through netbooks. And what was Microsoft’s next-gen operating system, Windows Vista, has taken enough backlash that it’s going to be in therapy for the rest of its life.

By no means are these troubled times for Microsoft, but never has victory been less assured.

Unfortunately, Windows Vista started life as a technical misfit, something even we didn’t fully comprehend until later. It ate too much virtual address space, it copied files slowly, and it ran poorly on the lowest of the low-end computers of the time. Microsoft fixed many of these problems by the time SP1 hit, but by then it was too late. Vista went from a technical misfit to a social misfit, with no hope of immediate redemption.

So Windows 7 is being launched with some gargantuan tasks on its shoulders, few of them technical. First and foremost, it needs to reverse Vista’s (and by extension, Microsoft’s) bad image among existing Windows users, in order to get them off of the old and insecure Windows XP. Then it needs to help stem the continuing flow of Windows users to Mac OS X, which has continued to grow over the years. And finally, it still needs to innovate enough so that Windows doesn’t end up stagnant, and ideally sell a few copies to Vista users while it’s at it.

It’s a large order, one that as we’ll see Microsoft won’t completely deliver on, but they’re going to get fairly close to.

In the meantime, we’re left a launch that has been a very long time coming. Between the public beta, the public RC, and Win7 having been finalized 3 months ago, virtually anyone that wanted Win7 has had the opportunity to try it. Anyone could get the release version by the middle of August through TechNet, MSDN, Action Pack, or any other of a number of sources that Microsoft released Win7 to well ahead of the public launch. The real launch was 3 months ago, so the public launch is almost a technicality.

And with that said, let’s get started with our final look at Windows 7.

window desktop

Revisiting Linux Part 1: A Look at Ubuntu 8.04

Back in the early part of 2008 we decided that we wanted to take a fresh look at Linux on the desktop. To do so we would start with a “switcher” article, giving us the chance to start anew and talk about some important topics while gauging the usability of Linux.

That article was supposed to take a month. As I have been continuously reminded, it has been more than a month. So oft delayed but never forgotten, we have finally finished our look at Ubuntu 8.04, and we hope it has been worth the wait.

There are many places I could have started this article, but the best place to start is why this article exists at all. Obviously some consideration comes from the fact that this is my job, but I have been wanting to seriously try a Linux distribution for quite some time. The fact that so much time has transpired between the last desktop Linux article here at AnandTech and my desire to try Linux makes for an excellent opportunity to give it a shot and do something about our Linux coverage at the same time.

After I threw this idea at Anand, the immediate question was what distribution of Linux should we use. As Linux is just an operating system kernel, and more colloquially it is the combination of the Linux kernel and the GNU toolset (hence the less common name GNU/Linux), this leaves a wide variation of actual distributions out there. Each distribution is its own combination of GNU/Linux, applications, window managers, and more, to get a complete operating system.

Since our target was a desktop distribution with a focus on home usage (rather than being exclusively enterprise focused) the decision was Ubuntu, which has established a strong track record of being easy to install, easy to use, and well supported by its user community. The Linux community has a reputation of being hard to get into for new users, particularly when it comes to getting useful help that doesn’t involve being told to read some esoteric manual (the RTFA mindset), and this is something I wanted to avoid. Ubuntu also has a reputation for not relying on the CLI (Command-Line Interface) as much as some other distributions, which is another element I was shooting for – I may like the CLI, but only when it easily allows me to do a task faster. Otherwise I’d like to avoid the CLI when a GUI is a better way to go about things.

I should add that while we were fishing for suggestions for the first Linux distro to take a look at, we got alot of suggestions for PCLinuxOS. On any given day I don’t get a lot of email, so I’m still not sure what that was about. Regardless, while the decision was to use Ubuntu, it wasn’t made in absence of considering any other distributions. Depending on the reception of this article, we may take a look at other distros.

But with that said, this article serves two purposes for us. It’s first and foremost a review of Ubuntu 8.04. And with 9.04 being out, I’m sure many of you are wondering why we’re reviewing anything other than the latest version of Ubuntu. The short answer is that Ubuntu subscribes to the “publish early, publish often” mantra of development, which means there are many versions, not all of which are necessarily big changes. 8.04 is a Long Term Support release; it’s the most comparable kind of release to a Windows or Mac OS X release. This doesn’t mean 9.04 is not important (which is why we’ll get to it in Part 2), but we wanted to start with a stable release, regardless of age. We’ll talk more about this when we discuss support.

The other purpose for this article is that it’s also our baseline “introduction to Linux” article. Many components of desktop distributions do not vary wildly for the most part, so much of what we talk about here is going to be applicable in future Linux articles. Linux isn’t Ubuntu, but matters of security, some of the applications, and certain performance elements are going to apply to more than just Ubuntu.

Core i7 Giveaway Winner, AT on Kindle, Site Redesign Preview and More

We have a winner to our Core i7 giveaway from last week: Gregory Peng from California (user name Possum). Congratulations Gregory! I've just sent you an email to confirm your details, drop me a response and I'll get this out to you.

Below are the specs of the iBuypower system that Gregory won:

	iBuypower Core i7 System
Case	Chimera Inferno
CPU	Intel Core i7 870
CPU Cooler	Asetek Liquid Cooler
Motherboard	ASUS P7P55D-LE
Memory	4GB DDR3-1600
Video Card	ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB
HDD	Intel 80GB SSD, 1TB
Optical	LG Blu-ray Reader
PSU	NZXT 800W
Media	12-in-1 Card Reader
OS	Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
KB & Mouse	iBuypower Keyboard & Mouse
Monitor	ASUS 23.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor

We're already working on gathering hardware for the next giveaway, so this won't be your only opportunity to win. Thanks again to Intel and iBuypower for sending in the hardware for this giveaway and thanks to all of you for entering.

Next on the Agenda: AnandTech is now Available on Amazon Kindle Devices

I'm a Kindle 2 owner and I have to admit, it's sort of exciting seeing AnandTech on the device. Our 10 most recent articles are available for reading (subscription required) on the Kindle through Amazon's Kindle Store. If you've got a Kindle, check it out.

The AnandTech Redesign

I mentioned this a while ago, but we're finally at a point where we can give you guys an idea of what's coming. Have a look at the new AnandTech and be sure to leave your feedback in the comments section. We haven't implemented it in HTML so there's still room to tweak.

Not all of the ad placements are in (something I want to get your input on shortly) and there's going to be a ton of customization options offered as well. So keep those two in mind. The main carousel up top with three big article images will actually automatically rotate through a set number of articles so you'll be able to get a good idea of the past several articles on the main site without any scrolling.

Our main goal here was to make the site look and feel a lot more modern, as well as bring its functionality where it should be for 2010. There's a lot of cool stuff coming with more giveaways, more content and more categories of Bench next year. Here it is, constructive criticism is always appreciated :)

Click to Enlarge

Coming Soon: A Call for Writers

It's a bit premature but I just wanted to give you all a heads up that we'll be looking for some new writers in the near future. If you've ever wanted the chance to get into the industry, it may be time to start polishing off your writing skills. Get those writing samples ready folks!

More details soon...

Anand Goes to India?

From 12/1 - 12/15 I will be traveling to India for the first time in 10 years. If you're an AnandTech reader in/around Mumbai, Delhi or Jaipur let me know. If we can get enough folks together we might do a reader meetup :)

CES 2007 - The Best of CE from the Show

Latest Nvidia Graphics Card Price List – Updated October 2008

Nvidia Graphics Card Cost Over > RS. 20,000/- INR(Indian Rupee)

• XFX NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 1GB Graphics Card Price – 43,200/-
• XFX NVIDIA GeForce 9800GX2 1GB Graphics Card – 34,800/-
• eVGA NVIDIA GeForce 9800GX2 1024MB Graphics Card – 34,400/-
• XFX NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB Graphics Card – 27,200/-

Nvidia Graphics Card Price Between RS. 10,000 – 20,000 INR(Indian Rupee)

• MSI 8800GT OC Edition 512MB DDR3 – 10,400/-
• EVGA Nvidia Geforce 9800 GTX+ SC 512 MB DDR3 Price – 13,900/-

Nvidia Graphics Card Price or cost less then <>

• XFX NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB Graphics Card Price – 8,900/-
• EVGA GeForce 9800GT Graphics Card – 9,900/-
• POV 8800GT 512MB DDR3 – 10,250/-
• Palit NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT 512MB DDR3 Graphics Card – 8,300/-
• Zotac NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT 512MB Graphics Card – 7,800/-
• eVGA NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT Graphics Card – 7,500/- Indian Rupee
• Palit NVIDIA GeForce 9600GSO 384MB Graphics Card – 6,500/-
• NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT 512MB Graphics Card – 5,000/-
• Palit GeForce 9500GT 256MB GDDR3 Graphics Card – 4,000/- Indian Rupee
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400GT 512MB DDR2 Graphics Card – 3,000/-

NXL Nitrous Systems

Nitrous Express introduces the “NXL ” nozzle with Integrated Rail Technology.This plug-and-play,direct-port nozzle system is available for Honda B16A/Type R intakes and all LS1/LS6 motors.There is no drilling required,no engine disassembly and no solenoids to mount.The entire nitrous system is self-contained in the high-fl ow fuel rail.Systems come complete with bottle,jetting,custom insulated distribution lines,and all installation hardware. This hi-tech direct port system comes with a wiring harness for true plug-and-play performance.We also offer universal systems for all other four,six,and eight cylinder applications.

COMPONENTS NXL System

1-Nitrous Bottle

2-Bottle Brackets

1-Bottle Nipple D-4

1-Bottle Nut

1-N2O Feed Line

1-Complete Wiring Harness

1-Toggle Switch w/Bezzle

1-Pack of wire connectors

1-1/8x-4 Fitting

1-1/4x-4 Fitting

2-1/8x-3 Fitting

1-90 Deg.1/8x-3 Female Red

1-90 Deg.1/8x-3 Female Blue

1-Jet Pack

1-Blue 7ft Wire

1-Red 7ft Wire

4-Bolt,Nuts,Washers

*Qty May vary with system selection

-Factory Replacement

Fuel Rail W/Integrated Solenoids

-NXL Nozzles

-Fuel Rail Brackets

-D-2 Black Hoses

1-Tube NX Thread Sealer Piranha Nozzles*

*Qty.varies with number of cylind

Digital Storm Core i7-965

Introduction

Digital Storm was a new name to us when they first called to offer a gaming system for review. They carry a number of different systems, and pride themselves on "performance, support, and value". Today we're looking at a no-holds-barred, top of the line system: an overclocked Core i7-965 with water-cooling and triple-SLI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 GPUs. First, we'll look at the company, the website and ordering process, and the system and components; then we'll jump into our performance review of the Core i7-965 system.

Digital Storm - Overview

We didn't know much about Digital Storm's history, so we asked them for a brief PR blurb, excerpted in part below.

Digital Storm was founded in San Jose, CA in 2001 and has been in the computer gaming industry for nearly 9 years. In that time we have come to be regarded as a system integrator that builds bleeding-edge: fast, stable, and highly customized gaming systems backed up with a passionate staff that stands behind their product. We are also the only computer gaming company with an "A+" rating from the BBB. This rating reflects our company's dedication to taking care of our customers. Our company has adopted a simple theory: put yourself in the customers shoes. Every decision we make reflects this anthem.

Also, as previously stated, their "About Us" page claims they operate by providing performance, support, and value. We'll look at each claim in turn and examine how they rate.

Gigabyte GM-M8000 Mouse - A GHOST Story

We had a very interesting package show up at the front door a couple of weeks ago. No, it was not our new supply order from ShamWoW or even that P55/Lynnfield box we recently reviewed. It was a mouse designed and built by a motherboard company. Specifically, it was from Gigabyte and included a keyboard we will discuss later. Of course, there were a couple of motherboards and video cards in the box but our attention was naturally drawn to the new shiny trinket in the tricked out package.

Normally a mouse would not elicit such excitement but since I change mice about as often the US elects a Democratic president one could easily forgive me for being a bit too eager to give this product a through thrashing. Honestly, I had no idea that Gigabyte even offered mice but after checking out their PC peripheral page, I was impressed with the range of products offered. In fact, Gigabyte offers a total of nine mice ranging from an entry level wireless optical mouse to several gaming mice including our GM-M8000sample.

The GM-M8000 is part of Gigabyte’s new GHOST gaming series of products. This particular mouse features the AVAGO 6090 Laser sensor featuring adjustable sensitivity from 400 dpi to 4000 dpi, Gigabyte’s GHOST Engine featuring 8KB of onboard memory, GHOST software suite, 16-bit wide data path, five independently programmable buttons, four level on-the-fly DPI adjustment, USB report rate tuning, and an adjustable weight system with 38 grams of metal weights.

It all sounds impressive; the key is if this mouse actually works as advertised. So, let’s find out if this GHOST is the real thing or just another Casper wannabe.

Mushkin XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2 – Xtreme Performance Memory

Mushkin XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2

Has the time come for DDR2 memory? Is now the time for enthusiasts to finally embrace DDR2 technology with better performance on Intel based platforms, and the promised Holy Grail of AMD's new AM2 socket with DDR2 support and built-in memory controllers?

Socket AM2, the 940 pin DDR2-ready Athlon 64 socket, will be unleashed upon consumers some time this summer, most likely by the end of July. AMD is expected to have working samples in place by the time of Computex 2006, which will be held from June 6 th to June 10 th in Taipei.

After DDR2 was first introduced for Intel, Micron D fat body chips gained enthusiast's attention in a big way, due to the lower latency timings and the ability to push performance to much higher memory speeds. Unfortunately, the Micron fat body D DDR2 memory chips are now history.

Perhaps Mushkin has discovered an alternative to the famed Fat Body IC's. While 3-3-3 at DDR2-667 is not quite as fast as the 3-2-2 timings seen with the best Micron chips, it is still among the fastest specifications that you will find for DDR2-667 memory modules. It is also worth mentioning that the older, and now discontinued, Micron Fat Body D chips were never specified as performing at 3-2-2- timings, so perhaps these new Mushkin Elpida modules will do even better than their rated timings.

With that in mind, the goal in testing was to see exactly what the new Mushkin XP2 memory could do in our memory test suite. How do the new Mushkin DDR2 with Elpida chips compare to the top Micron DDR2 memory? Is this new Mushkin DDR2 memory a worthy choice for current Intel and future AM2 enthusiasts?

Product Specifications and Information

Mushkin confirmed the use of Elpida IC's for the Extreme Performance Black Series (XP) memory modules.

Brain Power confirmed that the B62URCE PCB used in the new Mushkin XP2 PC-5300 is manufactured by them. Brain Power manufactures custom PCB modifications for their customers. They can also supply stock memory boards.

Elpida provided a data sheet for these integrated circuits, which are being utilized by Mushkin in this XP series memory.

PC2-5300 667MHz DDR2	CL 3-3-3 (CAS-TRCD-TRP)
2GB (1024MB x 2)	Unbuffered
Improved Black Heat Spreader with new thermal tape	Lifetime Warranty
2.1 - 2.3 Volts	240 Pin DIMM
Elpida IC: E5108AG-6E-E	Brain Power PCB: MLL E186014 B62URCE

In a screen capture from the Elpida data sheet, you can see how to decode the information from the actual IC part number. We are examining the EDE5108AGSE-6E-E part. The "A" in the part number is indicative of voltage (i.e. this is normally specified as a 1.8 volt part).

The XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2 memory uses the new Mushkin heat spreader, recently designed to improve Mushkin heat spreader performance. One feature of the new design is the use of better thermal tape.

On July 28, 2005, Mushkin announced their new heat spreader for their high performance memory modules. Mushkin claimed that the new heat spreaders provided 58% more surface area than their previous designs.

Below is a photograph of the sample heat sink design, which Mushkin sent back in July 2005 for feedback.

Consumers and enthusiasts should note that the XP2 PC2-5300 DDR2 memory kits are available in either a 1 GB or 2 GB matched pair. With memory intensive games and applications such as Adobe Photoshop, the advantage of having two gigabytes of memory will be quite apparent.

FAST 2GB DDR Kits - Part 2

Part 1 of the 2GB DDR Kit Roundup took a close look at 3 memories based on Infineon memory chips. Since that review in October, a number of 2GB DDR kits have appeared in the market with most based on Infineon C or B die memory chips. There are, however, a few brands that have taken a different approach to memory chips for 1GB DIMMs, and we have included those in this roundup, along with the latest Infineon-based memories.

1GB DDR DIMMs began appearing in the market over a year ago, but it wasn't until mid-2005 that 1GB DIMMs with reasonably fast timings became widely available. These faster 1GB DIMMs finally made the choice of 2GB memory kits to be a reasonable choice in a market that had been dominated by fast DDR 512MB DIMMs.

There are many reasons to choose a 2GB kit over a 1GB kit or 4 512MB DIMMs. Two 1GB DIMMs on the AMD Athlon 64 can still run at 1T Command rate, instead of the 2T required by the 4x512MB DIMMs needed for 2GB with 512MB DIMMs - a definite advantage for the 1GB DIMMs. On the other hand, until recently, the available 1GB DIMMs were generally much slower than the fast 2-2-2 DIMMs that were commonly available in 512MB DIMMs. We normally saw 3-3-3 or 3-4-4 or slower timings for 1GB DIMMs. These poorer timings for 1GB DIMMs took away most of the advantage for the 1GB 1T Command Rate.

There was an additional "gotcha" with the 1GB DIMMs that many enthusiasts quickly discovered. With a starting point of 3-3-3 or 3-4-4 at DDR400, the 1GB parts did not overclock nearly as far as the 512MB parts. For all of these reasons, we generally recommended that most users were better off with 512MB DIMMs - at least until memory timings improved on the 1GB DIMMs.

The time for faster 1GB DIMMs has finally come in the past 6 months, and they are now available from almost every memory manufacturer. In Part 1, we looked at three 2GB kits from Corsair, Gigaram, and OCZ. In this part 2, we put six additional fast 2GB kits through our test bench, with some interesting results. We also updated some parts of our memory test bench, which required retesting of the original three 2GB kits.

Our memory tests differentiate memory in two ways. First, AnandTech has always been an advocate of real world performance measurements, and we've shunned using just synthetic benchmarks in our testing of every type of component, including memory. This is not because synthetic benchmarks are not useful - they are often very revealing of component differences - but rather, it is because running just synthetic benchmarks can severely distort the picture of performance with real applications and real games. That is why we always use games and the pure number-crunching Super Pi in our memory tests. It is also the reason why we test using both Buffered (Standard) and Unbuffered synthetic benchmarks. We have found in much of our testing that the less commonly used Unbuffered benchmarks mirror more closely how games really respond to memory differences.

Second, we moved to testing different memory speeds at the same CPU clock speed in our Athlon 64 memory tests. The AMD CPU, with unlocked multipliers, allowed us to finally remove the CPU speed differences from our memory tests. This allows you to finally see the true impact of memory speed increases and memory timings on performance. As you have seen in past reviews, those performance differences are very real, although they are much smaller than what many memory manufacturers might want you to believe. On the other hand, faster memory speeds and faster memory timings do improve performance, no matter what some nay-sayers are determined to prove.

Crucial Ballistix DDR2: The New DDR2 Standard?

The DDR2 market enjoyed some incredible DDR2 performance early in its life with a Micron DDR2 chip that we have since come to know as Fat Body D9. Everyone who made DDR2 used these chips because the performance was so outstanding, and when Micron decided to discontinue them last year, memory makers began scrambling for a replacement. Thus far, they haven't found a new DDR2 chip with the same low latency and high frequency capabilities of the now legendary Micron chips.

Two months ago, a new buzz began that Micron and their Crucial direct sales arm would be introducing a new and even better DDR2 memory chip. Every enthusiast memory maker with whom we talked about DDR2 was saying to wait until March when we have new high performance chips. Those chips, of course, are to be based on these new Micron DDR2 memory chips. When Crucial offered to send us their newest and top-performing DDR2 memory in early February, we couldn't wait to take a closer look. Were these the new Micron wonder DDR2?

In this review of two of the new Crucial Ballistix DDR2 kits, the biggest question on everyone's mind is: how will it compare to the legendary Fat Body D9 chips? Does it maintain tight timings at higher clock speeds? Is it still responsive to increased voltage like prior iterations of the Fat Body D9 made by Micron?

Crucial Technology's PC2-6400 has memory timings specified at 4-4-4-12 at speeds of DDR2-800. The other memory kit that Crucial sent along for testing was their PC2-5300, rated at DDR2-667 speeds with lower latency timings of 3-3-3-12.

What lies under the copper-colored, aluminum heat spreaders? Crucial Technology continues to use their trademark black PCB.

After careful removal of the heat spreader, we scanned the PCB itself below:

Click to enlarge.

This depicts the PCB lurking underneath the Crucial Technology PC2-5300 DDR2 memory kit that we tested recently.

Closer examination of the IC's showed some distinctive markings, which can be used to help identify the integrated circuits that were used in construction of this particular memory module.

On the top row, beneath the Ballistix stamping on the IC, the first row is marked 5KAH.

The 2^nd row shows markings of D9DQT. Please note that the D9 is indicative of Micron's Fat Body integrated circuit. At the very bottom of the IC, there is a -3F marking, which is usually used for speed grading.

By entering the FBGA code into Micron's Part Marking Decoder, the search output was rather inconclusive. This part appears not to be in the Micron database yet. The restamping and lack of information from Micron keeps us wondering about the real speed of the new DDR2 Chips. Does this new die revision of the D9 IC's still contain 3.7ns chips as we saw with past D9?

With limited specifications and no memory ID that tells us anything, memory benchmarking is the only way to find out if the new memory from Crucial Technology can produce the widely anticipated results?

Click to enlarge.

With the advent of the new 975X chipsets available on the market, this was a prime opportunity to test some new DDR2 modules from Crucial on this Intel based platform. AnandTech utilized the quite stable ASUS P5WD2-Premium motherboard, in conjunction with an Intel Pentium 955 Extreme Edition CPU, which sported a 1066MHz FSB dual core solution, containing a whopping 2MB of L2 cache onboard, as part of our testing platform. You can read our full Asus P5WD2-E Premium review here.

Asus advertises this particular motherboard in their February 2006 product information spreadsheet, claiming it as their flagship 975X motherboard with native DDR2 800 support. The chart below shows the myriad of memory options at different front side bus speeds available with this particular mainboard. The asterisks indicate settings provided for overclocking purposes only.

FSB	Memory Configuration Options/ASUS P5WD2-E Premium Motherboard
	Auto	DDR2-400	DDR2-533	DDR2-667	DDR2-711*	DDR2-800*	DDR2-889*	DDR2-1067*
FSB 1066	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
FSB 800	*	*	*	*	-	*	-	-
FSB 533	*	*	*	-	-	-	-	-

Click to enlarge.

Super Talent & TEAM Join the Fast DDR2 Club With both AMD and Intel solidly in the DDR2 camp memory makers have pulled out all the stops in creating

Well here's one story that managed to slip behind our desk for a few days: Samsung has finally begun mass production of their 900MHz(1.1ns) GDDR3 chips. As the primary high-end memory supplier in the video industry, ATI and NVIDIA effectively live and die by what and how soon Samsung can offer bigger and faster memory chips, so the ramifications of this are going to be pretty straightforward.

The timing on this is fairly consistent with what little information we know about ATI and NVIDIA's winter-refresh products due some time in Q1 2006, so mass production of the necessary memory a couple of months ahead of time is fairly normal. These are all 32bit-wide 512Mb chips, so the sweet spot for any cards using them will need to be at least 512MB, since 8 chips are necessary to achieve a proper 256bit memory bus (so those of you looking for a 7900 GTX 256 may be out of luck). For those users worried about the power consumption of the latest video cards, don't look for things to get any better with these memory modules; it's no fluke that the 7800GTX 512 and X1800XT ran hotter than previous cards, as these are 2.0V chips, so if there's a drop in power usage with the refresh cards, it won't be due to the memory.

The more interesting factor at this point in time however is what this means for NVIDIA's oft-lauded and hard to find GeForce 7800GTX 512. It's no secret that while NVIDIA managed keep with their press-favorable policy of hard-launching the card with the announcement, they haven't been able to keep the card in any regular supply (much to the chagrin of eVGA owners in the step-up queue), and its rumored that the supply of this memory had a great deal of involvement in this problem. While NVIDIA certainly is not apt to talk about the problem, given that this memory only entered mass production a month after the GTX 512 launched, we're inclined to believe that this is indeed the case.

Now if NVIDIA and its partners intend to use some of these mass produced parts to pick up GTX 512 production or horde it all for the winter refresh remains to be seen, although it is more likely they'll horde it given the difficulties and amount of stock required to hard launch a high-end video card. So consumers still looking for a GTX 512 may be out of luck and better off waiting for the winter refresh. We can't say we would disagree with the decision to use the current stock of memory to build up the refresh if this is the case, though it doesn't excuse our disappointment in NVIDIA for being unable to regularly supply the GTX 512. Certainly some initial exhaustions of stock are expected for a new card, but a hard launch is only as good as the card supply, and this is a case where NVIDIA has failed.

With the mass production of their 900MHz modules, Samsung is nearly done with GDDR3 as their headliner graphics memory. One last refresh is due in 2006, 1GHz modules which Samsung is still working on, after which they will move to GDDR4. Samsung expects to start mass production of GDDR4 in Q2 2006 with speeds of at least 1.25GHz, so everyone can get out their calendars now and start dreaming about what the summer 2006 lineup will look like.

Super Talent & TEAM Join the Fast DDR2 Club

Super Talent & TEAM Join the Fast DDR2 Club

With both AMD and Intel solidly in the DDR2 camp memory makers have pulled out all the stops in creating new and faster DDR2 memory. The latest Intel Core 2 Duo and AMD AM2 platforms both support DDR2-800, and enthusiast memory makers have filled the market with DDR2-800, DDR2-1000, DDR2-1066, and even DDR2-1100 modules. The new DIMMs, mostly based on Micron memory chips, established memory timings of 3-3-3 as the newest standard for Enthusiast memory at DDR2-800. All of these new memories have also reached DDR2-1067 and beyond.

Even Value DDR2 became faster very quickly. Most of the value sticks began using Elpida memory, and while these were usually rated at DDR2-667 or DDR2-533, they managed to run at DDR2-800 at 4-3-3 timings at around 2.2V. None of the DDR2-800, DDR2-667, or DDR2-533 rated modules tested have been able to reach DDR2-1067, which is supported by recent Intel Socket 775 boards, but DDR2-800 at good timings is plenty fast for many users. You will find a recent roundup of Value DDR2 in the Value DDR2 section of theConroe Buying Guide. However, you will need to ignore the prices quoted just two months ago, because memory is in another period of price escalation. Some memory has increased 50% or more in price, and the great value 2GB memory kits for $150 are no where to be found.

From this stew of ever-escalating DDR2 memory prices, two brands have landed on our test bench that may not be familiar to all our readers - particularly at the high-end of memory performance. Super Talent and TEAM have both established a reputation of delivering solid value in memory, but they are not the names that normally come to mind when you think of the best memory available. However, both companies are out to prove their products are more than competitive when it comes to memory aimed at the computer enthusiast.

We were excited to look at both these new DDR2-1000 offerings because top DDR2 memory has become so expensive so fast. Both Super Talent and TEAM seem to have a knack for pricing their products at the value end of whatever speed they ship, and it was time to find out if the value was real, or whether there were performance penalties for the lower prices.

The first glance at the rated performance of both new modules was not particularly encouraging. Super Talent rates their T1000UX2G4 at 4-4-5-15 timings at DDR2-1000 with 2.2V . The important rating here is the 5 which represents RAS to CAS delay. TEAM is even more conservative than Super Talent, rating their DDR2-1000 at 5-5-5-15 at DDR2-1000 with 2.1V to 2.3V. These rated performance numbers compare to our champion Corsair and OCZ DDR2-1000 modules which both run with complete stability at 4-3-4-11 timings at 2.20V to 2.25V at DDR2-1067 - well above their rated speed. However, we have often seen much more conservative timing and speed ratings than the best memory can actually achieve, and this is particularly true with high-end memory. The proof is in what the memory can actually do in competitive memory benchmarking.

Corsair and OCZ: New Standards in Fast DDR2

The Fastest DDR2 from Corsair and OCZ

DDR2 memory has zoomed to the forefront recently, after several years of benign neglect by the enthusiast community. AMD, which has led the enthusiast market for the last couple of years, moved from DDR to DDR2 in late May. Intel Core 2 Duo was recently introduced and finally gave enthusiasts a reason to want to own Intel processors again. Suddenly, no matter what platform you wanted to buy, you found it was fueled by DDR2 memory.

As a result of the increased spotlight on DDR2, memory makers pulled out all the stops in creating new and faster DDR2 memory. The two newest platforms support DDR2-800, and enthusiast memory makers quickly brought DDR2-800, DDR2-1000, and DDR2-1066 modules to market. The new DIMMs, mostly based on Micron memory chips, established memory timings of 3-3-3 as the newest standard for enthusiast memory at DDR2-800. All of these new memories also reached DDR2-1067 and beyond. You can read more about high-performance DDR2 in our Conroe Buyers Guide.

Even value DDR2 became faster very quickly. Most of the value sticks are now using Elpida memory. These were rated at DDR2-667 or DDR2-533, but most managed to run at DDR2-800 at 4-3-3 timings at around 2.2V. None of the value RAM tested could reach DDR2-1067, but DDR2-800 at good timings is plenty fast for the majority of users. You will find a recent roundup of value DDR2 in the Value DDR2 section of the Conroe Buying Guide.

The enthusiast, by definition, is always looking for more - more speed, more power, more performance. The quest is for the best - performance so good and speeds so fast that no one can touch their results. You may even consider the enthusiast an elitist, but that is no different than the car enthusiast, a photography enthusiast, or any technology area where hobbyists can be found.

Corsair has a long and illustrious history as an innovator in the memory market. For many years the only recognizable brand of enthusiast memory was Corsair. OCZ has firmly established itself in recent years as one of the most creative makers of enthusiast memory with innovations like Extended Latency memory and high-voltage VX DIMMs for extreme overclockers. It was no surprise then, given the history of these two companies, to be contacted for a look at their newest and fastest DDR2 memory.

Both memory companies consider the modules tested here the best DDR2 they currently offer on the market. It is surprising then to see Corsair rate their DDR2 at DDR2-800 with specified 3-4-3 timings. OCZ rates the new Titanium Alpha at DDR2-1000 at 4-4-4 timings. As seen in the past, both OCZ and Corsair are often quite conservative in their ratings of their best memories. We were curious to see what these "best-of-the-best" could really do in our new Core 2 Extreme memory test bed.

Intel P965: DDR2-667 Memory Performance

We had a very interesting response to part one of our P965 Roundup. There was the central fact that we still have part two and three to deliver over the coming week. Yes, before anyone sends another message, both parts will be published by next Friday. However, there was one recurring theme in the hundreds of emails and private messages we received about the first article. This theme revolved around our choice of memory. We felt like dropping down to performance oriented DDR2-800 would be a better choice for this market in regards to price while it would still allow our P965 motherboards to overclock to their limits.

It turns out our choice of memory for the article is now priced higher than a lot of us make in a week. This was not our intention when we started the P965 roundup but over the course of the last eight weeks our GEIL DDR2-800 memory has witnessed an almost 60% increase in price. We have seen increases on average of 45% across the board since the beginning of summer in the general DDR2 market. The majority of higher end memory is experiencing even larger price increases along with very limited supply.

While we are finishing testing on two recently received P965 motherboards for the value sector roundup we decided to see how our new "value" performance memory would fair on the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard. Of course, this new value range is now DDR2-667 memory with typical timings of 4-4-4-12 and prices hovering around $220 for a 2GB kit. We decided to test 2GB memory kits from five different manufacturers to see how well they would perform with optimized timings at DDR2-667, DDR2-800, and however far we could overclock them before they went up in flames. Actually, there were no flames and we promise none of our modules were hurt during testing. Before we get to the results, let's take a quick look at our testbed.

Test System: Benchmark Setup

Performance Test Bed Configuration
Processor:	Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86GHz, 2MB Unified Cache)
RAM:	Various
Hard Drive:	Seagate 320GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Buffer
System Platform Drivers:	Intel - 8.1.1.1001
Video Cards:	1 x MSI X1950XTX
Video Drivers:	MSI/ATI Catalyst 6.10
CPU Cooling:	Scythe Infinity
Power Supply:	OCZ GameXstream 700W
Optical Drive:	Sony 18X AW-Q170A-B2
Case:	Cooler Master CM Stacker 830
Motherboards:	Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (Intel P965 C2) - BIOS F7
Operating System:	Windows XP Professional SP2
.

We are utilizing our standard benchmark testbed from our P965 Roundup article. We chose several different DDR2-667 memory modules that were previously tested in our Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard for compatibility. Our memory choices represent an excellent blend of performance at today's inflated prices, although we are finally starting to see some price stabilization in the DDR2 market.

A 2GB memory configuration is now standard in the AnandTech testbed as most enthusiasts are currently purchasing this amount of memory. We highly recommend 2GB based upon the pending arrival of Microsoft Windows Vista, newly released games, and video encoding requirements at this time with H.264 standards. We are utilizing the MSI X1950XTX video card to ensure our 1280x1024 resolutions are not completely GPU bound for our memory test results. Our video tests are run at 1280x1024 resolution for this article at standard settings. Let's see how well our five choices faired and if the overclocking results reveal any surprises.

Conroe vs. AM2: Memory & Performance

Core 2 Duo (Conroe) launched about twelve days ago with a lot of fanfare. With the largest boost in real performance the industry has seen in almost a decade it is easy to understand the big splash Core 2 Duo has made in a very short time. AnandTech delivered an in-depth analysis of CPU performance in Intel's Core 2 Extreme & Core 2 Duo: The Empire Strikes Back. With so much new and exciting information about Conroe's performance, it is easy to assume that since Core 2 Duo uses DDR2, just like NetBurst, then memory performance must therefore be very similar to the DDR2-based Intel NetBurst architecture.

Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. While the chipsets still include 975X and the new P965 and the CPU is still Socket T, the shorter pipes, 4 MB unified cache, intelligent look-ahead, and more work per clock cycle all contribute to Conroe exhibiting very different DDR2 memory behavior. It would be easy to say that Core 2 Duo is more like the AMD AM2, launched May 23^rd, which now supports DDR2 memory as well. That would be a stretch, however, since AM2 uses an efficient on-processor memory controller, and the launch review found Core 2 Duo faster at the same clock speed than the current AM2. This is another way of saying Conroe is capable of doing more work per cycle - something we had been saying for several years about Athlon64 compared to NetBurst,

The move by AMD from Socket 939 to Socket AM2 is pretty straightforward. The new AM2 processors will continue to be built using the same 90nm manufacturing process currently used for Athlon 64 processors until some time in early to mid-2007. AMD will then slowly roll-out their 65nm process from the bottom of the line to the top according to AMD road-maps. This could include memory controller enhancements and possibly more. Performance of AM2 only changed very slightly with the move to DDR2, generally in the range of 0% to 5%. The only substantive difference with AM2 is the move from DDR memory to official AMD DDR2 memory support.

Our AM2 launch reviews and the article First Look: AM2 DDR2 vs. 939 DDR Performance found that AM2 with DDR2-533 memory performed roughly the same as the older Socket 939 with fast DDR400 memory. Memory faster than DDR2-533, namely DDR2-667 and DDR2-800, brought slightly higher memory performance to AM2.

The Core 2 Duo introduction is quite different. Clock speed moved down and performance moved up. The top Core 2 Duo, the X6800, is almost 1GHz slower than the older top NetBurst chip and performs 35% to 45% faster. With the huge efficiency and performance increases comes different behavior with DDR2 memory.

With the world now united behind DDR2, it is time to take a closer look at how DDR2 behaves on both the new Intel Core 2 Duo and the AMD AM2 platforms. The performance of both new DDR2 platforms will also be compared to NetBurst DDR2 performance, since the DDR2 NetBurst Architecture has been around for a couple of years and is familiar. We specifically want to know the measured latency of each new platform, how they compare in memory bandwidth, and the scaling of both Core 2 Duo and AM2 as we increase memory speed to DDR2-1067 and beyond. With this information and tests of the same memory on each platform, we hope to be able to answer whether memory test results on Conroe, for instance, will tell us how the memory will perform on AM2.

In addition we have an apples-apples comparison of AM2 and Core 2 Duo running at 2.93GHz (11x266) using the same memory at the same timings and voltages with the same GPU, hard drive, and PSU. This allows a direct memory comparison at 2.93GHz at DDR2-1067. It also provides some very revealing performance results for Core 2 Duo and AM2 at the exact same speeds in the same configurations.

Mid-Range DDR2-800 from G.Skill

Mid-Range DDR2-800 from G.Skill

Many readers have been looking for DDR2-800 as memory prices sky-rocketed over the last couple of months. Now that memory prices are dropping, there is less pressure to save money with DDR2-800 instead of top-line DDR2-1000 or DDR2-1066. However, the question still remains whether a step down to DDR2-800 will save a few bucks while delivering performance about as good as the top DDR2 memory.

Almost every major memory manufacturer has DDR2-800 parts, but the ones of greatest interest to hobbyists are those from well-known high-end memory makers. G.Skill seemed to come out of nowhere a couple of years ago to establish themselves as a manufacturer of enthusiast memory. They got exposure and won credibility with Forum targeting and a sharply focused advertising campaign. G.Skill distributes a full line of desktop and notebook memory products, and the line includes a 2GB DDR2-800 4-4-4 kit at a mid-level price in the $300 range.

G.Skill DDR2-800 Specifications

Since it has only recently appeared on the US and European scene, it was a little surprising to find that G.Skill has been producing memory products since 1989. Manufacturing is based in Taipei, Taiwan and G.Skill serves memory markets in most of the world. The G.Skill website provides English, German, Chinese, and Korean versions - typical of the Taiwanese websites that cater to world markets.

As you will see on the website G.Skill targets the computer enthusiast, with a strong emphasis on overclocking and extreme performance. The DDR2 product line includes kits rated from DDR2-533 to DDR2-1067. DDR2-800 kits include both 1GB (2x512MB) and 2GB (2x1GB) kits rated at 5-5-5-15, 4-4-4-12, and 3-4-3-8.

Competitive with other high-end memory makers, G.Skill provides a Lifetime Warranty with their memory products. The RMA form can be accessed at the web site. Technical support and a Users Forum are also available at the website.

To satisfy readers' requests for a mainstream DDR2-800 memory product we selected the DDR2-800 2GB kit rated at 4-4-4-12. You can also buy cheaper DDR2-800 G.Skill kits at e-tailers like www.newegg.com. A 2GB G.Skill 5-5-5-15 kit sells for $210 to $260, some $40 to $90 less than the faster 4-4-4-12.

The G.Skill F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ 2GB kit is supplied with attractive gloss black heatspreaders with a G.Skill logo in brushed metal. Many G.Skill DIMMs do not even have heat-spreaders, and G.Skill seems to reserve the heatspreaders for their top memory.

G.Skill builds their DIMMs with Micron D9 memory chips - the same chips we have described as top performers in every recent high-end memory review. However, the binning for these chips is a bit different. G.Skill uses Micron D9GMH chips rated at 333, 3ns in this 4-4-4-12 DDR2-800 kit. Most top-end DIMMs use D9GKX chips which are binned for higher specs. Still, with Micron D9 chips, we expect excellent overclocking with these G.Skill DIMMs.

G.Skill F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ Memory Specifications
Number of DIMMs & Banks	2 DS
DIMM Size	1GB
Total Memory	2 GB
Rated Timings	4-4-4-12 at DDR2-800
Rated Voltage	2.0V to 2.1V

While top-end Micron memory chips have easily delivered 3-3-3 timings at DDR2-800, G.Skill rates this memory kit at slower 4-4-4 timings. The good news, however, is the more modest 2.0V-2.1V specification for memory voltage. This is much lower than the 2.2V-2.3V that is normally required for DDR2-800 at 3-3-3 timings. It also represents memory voltages that are normally available even on more basic Core 2 Duo and AM2 motherboards.

The memory chips are slower bins from the best chips available. Timings are a bit slower and voltage specs are more reasonable. The question remains whether the G.Skill DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 kits are a top-of-the-line memory in disguise, or whether there are compromises to top performance? Does the cost/performance of these DDR2-800 modules represent real value to buyers?

Corsair Dominator PC2-10000: Fastest DDR2

Corsair seems determined to hold the record for the highest memory speed in production memory. We recently reviewed the highest speed memory available at the time in Corsair Dominator DDR2-1111 (PC2-8888). Several other memory makers tried to match or surpass the Corsair speed record and Corsair responded with PC2-10000 (DDR2-1250) which was first demonstrated at CES earlier this month. A few short weeks after CES we have production PC2-10000 fresh from Corsair for testing.

To put memory speed in perspective, consider a few facts. Core 2 Duo provides synchronous support for DDR2-533, which is the DDR (double data rate) match to the base Core 2 Duo bus of 266. The 266 is quad pumped so the "real" processor bus speed is 1067. Intel Core 2 Duo chipsets support faster memory speeds as well - DDR2-667, DDR2-800, and DDR2-1066. AM2 also supports memory speeds to DDR2-800, but the AM2 controller does not support DDR2-1066 at this time.

In a world where you rarely find DDR2 memory rated at even DDR2-1067, Corsair Dominator DDR2-1250 is a very fast speed rating. Considering that many of our readers are searching for good value DDR2-800 when building a new system, the PC2-10000 sounds like it is worlds ahead of anything available. In some ways it is, but it should also be asked what compromises were made to reach this new speed rating?

Where the Corsair PC2-8888 is rated at 4-4-4 timings at DDR2-1111, Dominator 1250 is rated at a higher 5-5-5 latency at its specified 1250 speed. In addition, Corsair was very clear that this PC2-10000 performed best on the NVIDIA 680i chipset. Boards based on the 680i, like the EVGA 680i SLI and the ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus, certainly have the headroom to support DDR2-1250, but they are also very expensive motherboards. Corsair also told us, just before publishing the review, that new P965 boards designed for massive overclocking, like the ASUS Commando, have been reported to support PC2-10000 at the rated speed.

Corsair PC2-10000 is the new top dog in the Dominator series - a name used for the highest speed memories produced by Corsair. As you can see from the chart below, the Dominator family has grown rapidly, and now includes six high-performance kits.

Cosair XMS2 Dominator Modules
PART NUMBER	SPEED	SIZE	LATENCY	KIT	FAN
TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF	XMS2-10000	2048MB	5-5-5-18	2X240DIMM	Yes
TWIN2X2048-9136C5D	XMS2-9136	2048MB	5-5-5-15	2X240DIMM	No
TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF	XMS2-8888	2048MB	4-4-4-12	2X240DIMM	Yes
TWIN2X2048-8500C5D	XMS2-8500	2048MB	5-5-5-15	2X240DIMM	No
TWIN2X2048-6400C3DF	XMS2-6400	2048MB	3-4-3-9	2X240DIMM	Yes
TWIN2X2048-6400C4D	XMS2-6400	2048MB	4-4-4-12	2X240DIMM	No

Some of the kits, including the DDR2-1250 being tested, come standard with a Corsair designed cooling fan. The memory cooling fan attaches to the locking clips of the memory slots.

For Dominator kits without the fan, the Dominator Airflow fan kit is available for about $20. The Corsair fan kit also works well with any high-performance memory you choose to install. It is highly recommended for cooling any memory you choose to use in your system.

OCZ Flex 9200 and Corsair Dominator 8800 both approached high performance with an eye to lower latency as well as speed. Dominator 10000 appears to aim for the highest speed with relaxed latencies. Which approach works best? Is the new Dominator 10000 the fastest memory tested so far? Where does the DDR2-1250 Dominator fit in the high performance memory arena? These are questions we will try to answer in benchmarking Corsair Dominator XMS2-10000.

As·sump·tion - an assuming that something is true; a fact or statement (as a proposition, axiom, postulate, or notion) taken for granted. A very power

The memory market has been rather routine lately. After the introductions of AMD AM2 and Intel Core 2 Duo memory was a unified solution again - with both camps supporting DDR2. Micron had the best chips, as they have almost since the first DDR2 DIMMs became available, and the top of the memory heap could do DDR2-1067 to DDR2 1100 at spectacular 4-4-3 timings and the more mainstream DDR2-800 at 3-3-3 timings. The best memory was expensive, at about $400 to $500 for a 2GB kit, and the mid and value performed almost as well, but at about half the price.

Buyers have shopped for a value/mid memory solution if cost was a big concern. With memory bandwidth not making a huge difference in performance on either the C2D or AM2 solutions, many were not willing to invest in the best memory available. Those who did want the best could choose from Corsair, OCZ, Mushkin, Patriot, Team, G.Skill, Kingston, Geil, and Super Talent but there was very little to distinguish between the top performers. Perhaps a company might have done a better job of binning chips for the high-end, but the real differences were small and they mostly looked the same - different-colored heatspreaders combined with some variations on how to build a heat-spreader that stood out from the crowd.

Enter OCZ with a new idea - memory with built-in water blocks. OCZ Flex XLC is built for record-setting performance in regular air cooling, with the option to cool with water when you want even more. It is sold with the heatsinks and nipples to connect water-tubing and it is aggressively binned to provide unheard of performance levels in overclocking - on either air or water.

The new OCZ solution certainly looks impressive, but AnandTech readers are used to pretty packages. The real question is whether OCZ Flex XLC delivers the performance it promises. Does OCZ's bold new approach deliver the record-setting performance it promises?