Don't listen to W. Garrahan's review.
This kit, if put in a proper I7 motherboard with tri channel and 3 slots will be fine.
XP won't recognize the 6gb ram but will not slow your pc down at all.XP 64 would be better but I'd go windows 7, I won't install vista or Vista64.
This kit is rock solid, superfast and easily handles more voltage and oc. Corsair Dominator 6 GB PC3-12800 1600MHz 240-pin Triple Channel Core i7 DDR3 CAS 8 Memory Kit CMP6GX3M3A1600C8
For those of you new to building Core i7 based PCs, be aware that in order to run this RAM at 1600, you will have to set the memory profile to XMP in the BIOS, or on some motherboards, fill in the timings manually. These are printed on each of the 3 sticks so they shouldn't be hard to find. Not doing so will cause the RAM to run below 1600, or on some boards, not be stable.
Now that I've owned these for nearly a year I feel I can comment on them. And the comment is: Flawless. I'm even going to buy a second set to upgrade to 12GB.
I am using these with a Intel Core i7 920 on an Asus P6T6 WS Revolution motherboard.
When I was choosing the various pieces for my new gaming/multimedia powerhouse PC the RAM choice, obviously, was a critical thing to consider, and Corsair "Dominator" has proved to be the best-performing, fastest, most stable SDRAM I've ever had the privilege of working with. I am flat out telling everyone reading this review that you are about to invest in the finest SDRAM in the marketplace of retail products, bar none!
Dominator is right! Holy Stuffed PC's! I have had my Corsair SDRAM doing everything but sitting up and "barking" for me, while I sorted out the OverClocking potential of the new PC, via air-cooling only, and it's just incredible performing SDRAM. I have had it overclocked some 266Mhz at one point, to 1866Mhz in my EVGA motherboard's BIOS/CMOS settings, and it laughed at me! NO PROBLEMA, senor!
I ended up backing the SDRAM down to 2:6 ratio in the BIOS/800Mhz, just to stabilize the CPU's high clock (3.6Ghz setting, stable as a Spring Chicken (!) with all components registering 100%, across-the-board stability for one week, and counting), but I had it set at 738Mhz DRAM Frequency for many days, and it didn't complain one little bit, was never the reason for me adjusting things downward at any time.
Where do I start? OK, let's start with the construction of the DIMMs, something of note right away that needs describing and publicity, so I'll do my best here, but don't hold me down for not trying...
Each DIMM, in its packaging, is set into a separate double-walled plastic container, inside of the shipping/display box, and there are 3 in a pack. You cannot buy them separately, as Corsair sells 6GB of Dominator in a package for "Triple Channel" memory use only. Each DIMM is heavily shielded and protected from any external forces, and from the great dread enemy HEAT itself, by a rather huge heat-sink contraption. It encompasses the entire DIMM but for about 2mm of its surface, down where the gold contact points are where the DIMM inserts into its DRAM slot in the motherboard.
That heat sink is quite a thing to behold! It has something like 25 individual fins on the top, and it "cradles" the DIMM itself in a physical "wall" to both protect it and keep it cool, no matter what the application is. They mean business like crazy with their heat-sink construction and execution! The only concern I had after examining the DIMMs after I removed them for installation was whether they'd physically fit in the computer! There is only so much space on a motherboard for the RAM installation, and when I finally got ready to install the board into my HAF 932 case, literally putting the board onto 9 standoffs that jut outward from the case surface to keep the motherboard physically off the case, I wanted to have the base DIMM configuration in there, didn't want to fool around with my 4 base DIMMs from outside of the case.
And when I finally installed the 4, I was amazed that they indeed did fit! There is a scant mm or two between each one, but Corsair obviously thought this all out before I built the PC I just finished, a lot more than I did for sure! And they all DO fit, whether you're using just 3, or all 6 slots as I do, these Dominator DIMMs will fit into the slots just fine...it turns out!
So, the heat sinks on each DIMM do have obvious benefits, much like those on certain Mac Pro computers I am familiar with, but I didn't know just how much of a benefit they were until much later in my project...when I literally took readings on the inside of my case with a heat-gun measuring device, so I could pinpoint any potential "hot spots" or thermal zones in the inside of my build-up that could/would be hazardous to its health...more about that later.
Now, there needs to be some clarification about the install of these DIMMs in a given motherboard setup, so here's what I learned, and I didn't practice or do a trial-and-error session because I couldn't afford the time to do such a thing, nor would I WANT to do such a thing with a brand new computer build. So here goes, I'll do my best and keep this as short as I can, but it's going to be through, so bear with me.
I've read here from other reviewers that you need to "break in" or "seat" each DIMM in the chassis separately first, restart the computer, and go on installing DIMM after DIMM until you fully populate your build. WRONG! Totally unnecessary!! Do your reading, nice people, and you will save yourself a lot of time, trouble, and problems just go away instead of randomly happen to you.
I went to the Corsair web site, and did some reading in their FAQ's first, did some reading via Google Search on other people's installation tips, mostly concentrating on advanced builds like mine would be, and finally, I called Corsair's USA support people and talked to somebody, not just anybody, a supervisor in in the Tech Dept there. To a one, all of these reports that I read online, and in the FAQ's, and then followed that up with a chat with the supervisor-guy, they all pointed to simply following this precept: check out your motherboard's recommendations as for RAM/SDRAM installation, and go with it, and things will be aok fine!
With my EVGA xx758 1366-compatible SLI-3X motherboard, there was a specific chapter in the instructions and descriptions of DIMM installation that told you what to do with multiple configurations of DIMMs, and it was so easy that I just had to laugh a little about it! In the EVGA board you populated slots 1-2, 3-4 first, then added slot 5 after your initial power-up of the system, restart, then shut down and add slot 6, and then, you're DONE! It was just that easy...no hocus pocus, no multiple restarts, no fooling around at all. Frankly, I don't know WHERE people have been getting their information about these DIMMs, but that's how you install them with the configuration being 6 DIMMs, ie populating the board fully, maxxing out the SDRAM to the tune of 12GB in my case. And there is NO OTHER WAY of doing it, that's IT!
If I was using 3 DIMMs or 6GB of SDRAM, there's another procedure, but I am not going into it now, as space is precious and bandwidth here is all about the Corsair architecture, its functioning, and installing it should be something handled somewhere else...perhaps in the Forum here perhaps, I don't know. All I can say is follow the directions for your motherboard, to the letter and don't deviate from them, and all will be well, you'll be fine with these DIMMs, they are a piece of cake to install and use!
Now let's get to the more intricate part of using this multi-faceted array of SDRAM, and that's the voltage and clocking aspects of using it, and using it successfully, optimally shall I write. The SDRAM is capable of feats like I've never seen before, since I've never had anything like this before to work with, have pretty much taken the conservative road when it comes to memory in a given CPU system...even Macs, you know? And there is a vast difference in Macs and PC's no doubt!! With a Mac, their RAM is very specific and certain, and if you deviate from the specs you'll have problems for sure...with a PC things are quite different, as with PC's the SDRAM is "adjustable" in terms of setting the BIOS settings for a given type of SDRAM in a specific case, installation, or use.
Now, you have your choice, yah? You can configure it exactly like the manufacturer says you should, OR, if doing some Clocking of your system, you can take the other route, and that's utilizing the adjustments in BIOS to tailor your SDRAM exactly to the specs you want, the ones that work for your installation and CPU adjustments. And here I leave the door wide open for comments from the people who are used to this sort of work, because this was my first attempt at making an overclocked PC work to the 110%-degree, and it was a work in progress for me for the better part of one week. Yup, I'll admit it freely, and openly, this build took some time to get right considering what I eventually settled on in terms of CPU clocking and SDRAM clocking.
Corsair says that you can utilize up to 1.65V or less, to make things work well with a given PC installation. Well, I agree, and couldn't agree more with their assessment of their own SDRAM. There's no point in pushing the SDRAM to its maximum voltage adjustments just because it seems to be the way to go, what everybody is doing with theirs, yah? Each case is unique with a PC build, and I wasn't going to bother with anything that was extreme because I was NOT using water cooling, wasn't going to clock my CPU excessively, just do what was reasonable to achieve reliable, consistent, solid performance...that's ALL I wanted to do, no more no less.
I had the Corsair Dominator SDRAM placed anywhere from 1.60v to 1.65v during my week of 'adjustments' to optimum, and I had the DRAM clock trimmed from 800Mhz to 1600Mhz in BIOS, virtually all over the place, while I searched for the exact combination that would make this PC hummmm! Finally, when I was done experimenting with BIOS and CPU ratio and DIMM voltage and DRAM settings, I realized that the SDRAM has to be the No.1 stable thing for long-term high performance, not just some quickie "happy to go fast" deal where you get the PC up to some ridiculous speed for a few minutes, take a screen shot for the Forums and board, and say "Look at me, I got my 2.67Ghz CPU up to 4Ghz with just air cooling!" Right!
I don't think that would work for me, nor did it, because I do something with my CPU's, all of them, and it's a little unusual perhaps, but do it nonetheless I do, and it's not going to change anytime soon. I do a little thing called Folding@Home with my PC's and Mac's...they all do it, and they do it 24/7 because I'm committed to the program, and have been since 10/2004. Stanford University's FAH Program will be spoken of in the future as a ground-breaking, research-backed program that created miracles for the scientists and educators, and researchers who worked in it and made things happen in regard to protein synthesis and folding, where the good, the bad, and the ugly things happen to life.
Just briefly, FAHome puts 100% CPU and SDRAM on the line as long as you choose to have your computers participate, there IS no "middle of the road" with FAHome, because if you have a CPU folding, its processor is maxxed out to the tune of 100% of its "spare CPU cycles", and that is unlike any other program or test that I am personally aware of. It will stress your CPU 100% 24/7, and you'd best get it right because there is no mercy, for PC or Mac, there is NONE! So, once I got the PC "right as rain", it meant that it passed muster with FAHome, that it could partake in the program just like my other computers do, and get some Work Units done without worry, without care, and without crashing or having problems.
Thus came to be my adjustments with this SDRAM. They had to be right as rain, perfect in every regard, no holds barred, no punches pulled, in order to have a perfectly fine, and overclocked PC that didn't have any problems at all. So the SDRAM settings were crucial, and intricate, and they ended up being a little different than anything I'd read about here or at the other Forums, but then again, I was not reading about people doing FAHome with their home-brewed PC's. Mostly they were playing high-end online games, doing some graphics or film rendering or composition, maybe just had their CPU overclocked for the hell of it, for all I know...some people build things just to say they can do it, I guess, what do I know?
Well, this build was for science as much as it is for ME, yah? My Macs and PC's do work for me, and they do work for Stanford in the background, 24/7, anytime they are on, and that's ALL the time. Finally, I settled on a very low clocking for the SDRAM because my CPU ended up being 3.6Ghz with only air cooling, from a base Mhz of 2.67Ghz, a huge bump upward that makes it truly worth of the label, "Nehalem CPU, the most powerful CPU in the world right now."
I have the SDRAM set at 8, 8, 8, 24, 88 and 2T Clocks in BIOS, and the frequency that works best for my purposes is 1067Mhz. I've got a happy, and stable PC set there, and that's pretty much it. The Corsair SDRAM runs cool, cool, cool no matter what I'm doing with the computer, whether it's just letting FAH run, playing Call of Duty: World at War, with the PC hooked up to my Samsung 40" HD LCD TV, working on photography in Photoshop CS3, LightRoom, and rendering the photos into poster-prints or 8.5"x11" prints for clients, or making a movie with Pinnacle Studio, Sony Vegas 5 Pro, and my other secret editing tool, good old Windows Media Center in Vista Ultimate 64-bit! Hah-hah! Sounds a little bit 'off' to write that, yah, but that's what works for me, and I use it for quick views of anything that I'm working on.
The best part about having this SDRAM is that it CAN be clocked waaay over my settings, and take it, and be aok fine with that sort of setting. It's got a LOT of Headroom, yes it does! You've got energy, settings, power in reserve should you ever need it, and the Corsair SDRAM will take it, and deal with it, and not cause problems.
I didn't mind paying a premium for this stuff, it's worth it totally, no doubt, and I'd do it again given the chance. From the impressive packaging, to the heat sinks, to the plain as day settings marked on the side of each DIMM, Corsair Dominator is very, very professionally done SDRAM, the finest of its kind, the highest base-clock SDRAM that you can buy right now. It will take overclocking settings, and eat them up and spit them back at you. It runs cool, the heat sinks do their job, and each DIMM is pretty much a work of art in itself, just to "look" at them is KUHL! I've got 6 of these inside my custom PC build, giving the PC 12GB of memory power for anything I want to do, and I just love it to the maxx, it's such a great product...I've never purchased anything quite this special before, and I definitely appreciate it 100%.
Kudos to Corsair, and Kudos to Amazon.com for having it priced so competitively that they made me get it from them! It goes without saying that my heart was in my stomach for a couple days, as the SDRAM shipment made its way from Kentucky/Tennessee out to California via the USPS, and it didn't come Priority Mail either...! But get out to me it did, and I have to give Amazon.com a compliment for packing it very, very carefully, and getting it to me for free with Super Saver Shipping.
This is the Good Stuff, Amazon.com people, guys and gals, and you should think about having some in your PC if you want only the best in it, bar none. I give this SDRAM 5-Stars ***** for performance, build quality, adjustability, packaging and last but not least, sex appeal! Yes, this one is IT, and I don't know what else to write about it except this: if you ever find anything better, please comment here in this revue about it and tell me about it, ok? I just don't think anything better exists.
Wavey Davey 5-03-2009 - Ram - Corsair'
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