8GB DDR2-800 and Vista

Product(s):

• SuperTalent T800UX4GC5 DDR2-800 4GB Kit
• Crucial CT2KIT25664AA80E DDR2-800 4GB Kit
• Patriot PDC22G6400ELK DDR2-800 2GB Kit
  
  

Provided By: SuperTalent, Crucial & Patriot
Price: ~$219.99USD, ~$399.99USD, ~$105.99USD

Introduction:

Memory prices have just crashed in the last few months.  It was not that long ago when a 2GB kit of fast DDR2 would cost you upwards of $400, and now you can snag a speedy 2GB kit for around $100.  Lower 2GB kit prices have cause the super-expensive 4GB kit prices to fall as well and now a simple search online reveals that you can grab a 4GB kit (2x2GB Sticks) of PC2-6400 for around $220USD.  This kit will not have the tightest timings, but offers lots of prowess for those memory hungry applications.

Thanks to the cooperation of SuperTalent, Crucial and Patriot we have been able to test out a couple of 4GB kits as well as a reference 2GB kit of DDR2-800 to see if more is better.  We also drop both 4GB kits into our system to find out if there is any advantage or disadvantage when it comes to 8GB of system memory.  I'm sure that there are not many people running 8GB of DDR2, but we will find out today if it's worth it or not. 

Pile of RAM

Super Talent 4GB Kit:

While we won't spend a lot of time describing and talking about each kit of RAM, we will list the specs and features of each kit so you know what you're getting should you decide to go out and buy a shiny new 4GB kit of memory.

The SuperTalent 4GB kit is possibly one of the cheapest 4GB kits of PC2-6400 on the market today.  This kit comes clocked in at 800MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings.  The beauty of this kit is that it runs at 1.8v and should boot with very little issues on most systems.  To properly use 4GB of memory, you will need to have a 64-bit operating system such as 64-bit Windows XP or Vista or one of the many flavors of 64-bit Linux.

Super Talent 4GB DDR2-800

Super Talent 4GB DDR2-800

Super Talent Heatspreader

Although I mentioned above that this kit runs at 1.8v, it's rated "Test Voltage" is actually 2.1v.  Your results may vary, but we had no issues running this RAM at 1.8v.

Module Features:

• 2x 240-pin DDR2 DIMMs
• Non-ECC, Unbuffered
• 4GB kit (2x 256Mx64)
• DDR2-800, 5-5-5-15 latencies
• Dual rank
• Chip Architecture: 2x 16 chips, 128Mx8
• Cast aluminum high-efficiency (HE) heatspreader
• SPD*: DDR2-800, 5-5-5-15 latencies
• Made in USA
• Super Talent Lifetime Warranty
  

SuperTalent Test Specs:

• These modules are tested and guaranteed to operate at these specs.
• DDR2-800 / PC2-6400
• 5-5-5-15 Latencies (CAS, tRCD, tRP, tRAS)
• Test Voltage: 2.1V
• Tested on Asus P5WD2 or P5B Deluxe
• Tested as a matched pair in a dual channel motherboard

On the next page we'll take a look at the Crucial and Patriot kits before we jump into some benchmarks.