Corsair Dominator PC2-8500
Corsair was kind enough to provide us with two PC2-8500 kits for this roundup. We have the Dominator PC2-8500 kit in the labs today, which is one of Corsair’s enthusiast line of memory products. All Dominator modules employ a unique cooling solution labelled ‘DHX’ or ‘Dual Path Heat Exchange’, which I’ll get into with more detail later.
- Part Number: TWIN2X2048-8500C5D
- Capacity: 2GB kit (1GBx2)
- Type: DDR2 240-pin DIMM, Unbuffered, NON-ECC
- Rated Frequency: DDR2 PC2-8500 (1066MHz)
- Rated Timings: 5-5-5-15
- Rated vDIMM: 2.2V
- Warranty:Lifetime
- Approximate Retail Price: $114USD with MIRs that can take it as low as $74USD.
The TWIN2X2048-8500C5D kit comes packaged in a simple blister pack. Inside you’ll find some basic installation instructions. The specifications are listed on the modules themselves.
The modules themselves look very impressive. The large fin bank on them certainly looks the part, but Corsair has put quite a few design hours into their ‘DHX’ system and I assure you, it is very functional.
The ‘DHX’ system is comprised of two separate heatsinks. The first adheres to the IC tops to cool the memory directly. The other silver colored heatsink adheres to the PCB itself. This is significant because DDR2 ICs are BGA (Ball Grid Array) based. They attach to the PCB with little beads of solder at the rear of the IC. Because there is such a large surface area of solder behind the IC, a good portion of the heat output is transfered to the PCB.
Image courtesy of Corsair
Corsair’s specially designed PCB improves heat conduction and allows heat to travel up to the heatsink above. This is a very well thought out cooling system for BGA based ICs.
I had no issues getting this kit up and running. Setting vDIMM and the correct frequency in the BIOS was all that was necessary.
Overclocking and Frequency Scaling
I put the Dominator PC2-8500 kit through its paces on our Intel 775 test rig outlined in the ‘Testing Methodology’ section. It should be noted that there are several revisions of this kit on the market today. The one I tested was version 3.1.
WARNING: Increasing memory voltage beyond manufacturer specifications can be harmful to the modules and other system components. Although we subject modules to high levels of vDIMM for testing purposes, many of these results are not suitable for 24/7 use. Always consult with your memory manufacturer to see what a maximum ‘safe’ voltage is for 24/7 use. Increase memory voltage at your own risk!
I was surprised at how little headroom was present at 5-5-5 timings, especially considering this kit is of the Dominator brand. The kit was solid as a rock at its default specifications, but there simply isn’t much overclocking room to play with. Their mainstream XMS series did significantly better at 5-5-5 timings.
Things look very different at tighter 4-4-4 timings. The Dominator kit managed an impressive 975MHz. It did not respond to vDIMM at all, but I was much more impressed with its frequency scaling at 4-4-4 than with 5-5-5.
The Dominator kit didn’t have any difficulty running super tight 3-3-3 timings at 667MHz and was able to reach about 713MHz. It did respond well to about 2.3V in this instance.
Articles RSS