HotHardware Holiday Gift Guide
Thanks For The: Memory
GeIL DDR2-1066 4GB Kit - $225If you've looking for a high capacity memory without going overboard, then we suggest looking into the GeIL DDR-2 1066 4 GB kit. The GeIL 4 GB kit is plenty fast with its rated speed of 1066MHz and offers relatively low latency considering its size and speed. And by only populating two memory slots, you could potentially upgrade to 8 GB at a later time. There are a number of lower priced 4GB DDR2 memory kits on the market, but few offer support for speeds above DDR2-800 without overclocking.
OCZ Reaper HPC 2GB Kit - $85If you're a bit more price conscious we present to you the OCZ Reaper HPC 2 GB kit.
We had a chance put these memory modules through their paces over the summer and came away impressed.
Perhaps the most unique feature of these memory modules is their Heat Pipe Conduit (HPC) cooling system, which draws heat away from the chips and PCB through a heat-pipe connected to a heatsink that hovers above the DIMMs.
G.Skill DDR2-800 2GB Kit - $50If you're on a tight budget the G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ is for you. It's not the fastest or the highest capacity pair of memory sticks on the market, but it gets the job done for about 50 bucks. The G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ kit consists of a pair of 1GB DDR2-800 sticks rated for operation at CAS5. And unlike most other bargain priced DDR2-800 memory kits, the G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ sticks include nice-looking heat-spreaders.
For those shopping at the ultra high-end, we suspect an Intel rig built around the X38 or X48 chipsets is in your futre. To compliment a rig like that, some killer DDR3 memory is in order.
Corsair Dominator TWIN3X2048-1800C7DF - $555If you want the absolute best performance from your rig, you'll need to crank the memory speed as high possible for maximum bandwidth. Currently, Corsair's flagship 2GB dual-channel TWIN3X2048-1800C7DF DDR3 memory kit offers not only an impressive rated frequency of 1800MHz, but latencies that are lower than some DDR3-1333MHz kits at 7-7-7-20. When we took a look at the TWIN3X2048-1800C7DF kit in a recent DDR3 round-up, we ultimately came away impressed. Not only did this kit put up impressive benchmark scores, but it overclocked to nearly 2GHz with minimal effort. This is a top-notch product to say the least.
OCZ Platinum 2GB OCZ3P13332GK - $375When first introduced, most 2GB DDR3 memory kits ran in the upper $600 price-range. Over the last few months though, prices have steadily fallen. Today, a 2GB kit like the OCZ3P13332GK, which is rated for operation at 1333MHz, is available for well under $400. Not only is the OCZ OCZ3P13332GK kit a relative bargain in the world of DDR3 memory, it's also capable of running at relatively tight timings in comparison to early kits at CAS7, and with some tweaking this kit is plenty overclockable. If you're looking to build an Intel rig that requires DDR3 memory, but you don't want to refinance your home to do it, look into the OCZ OCZ3P13332GK kit.
