A New Standard For Overclockers

For the overclocking fanatics, the fastest memory (in terms of operating clock speed) available are the DDR500 memory modules offered by only a handful of memory vendors. We don’t know if JEDEC would certify them or not, because DDR-II looks to be the next memory standard late next year. Certified or not, many overclockers can hardly resist the temptation to squeeze more from their current system. Just how much gain do these users obtain by overclocking the memory subsystem? We’ll find that out in this little article as we test run Corsair’s newest DDR500 memory modules.

Hmm LEDs lined on top of the new Corsair memory modules? Read on find out more about them.

Corsair has been marketing their DDR500 memory modules for a couple of months now, but what we are reviewing today isn’t from their well known XMS series, but from a new line-up identified as the XMS PRO series. The XMS PRO series of memory modules feature something extremely unique and never before seen in the world of memory DIMMs – LEDs on the memory module indicating RAM activity level. It’s exactly like the LED-based VU (volume unit) meters present on amplifiers and Hi-Fi systems of the 80’s, except the real VU Meters measure sound intensity, whilst these LEDs indicate the level of activity. There are a total of 18 LEDs lined on the top of each RAM module and each set of nine LEDs corresponding to a memory bank (or side). The exact model of the memory shown and tested here are the TWINX1024-4000PRO.

This is the Corsair TWINX1024-4000PRO memory when there is no activity, e.g. when you are doing nothing but looking at your desktop pin-up girls.

At maximum memory activity, e.g. 3D rendering or other daunting tasks, you can notice that the LED’s activity reach the red portion and they stay that way till activity levels off.