DDR3 Shootout - Geil, Kingston & OCZ

Overclocking the Modules

Now we get down to what matters, overclocking the modules to see just how far we can push them. Thanks to the P35 motherboard we are able to use a 333MHz FSB and a 1:2 memory divider which gives us 1333MHz memory from stock. This allowed us to keep the overclocking of the CPU down while pushing the memory modules as far as they would go.

OCZ PC3-10666

Geil PC3-8500

Kingston PC3-11000

Our overclocking tests were quite fruitful. DDR3 may be in its infancy but the chips that are coming on the production line at this early stage are extremely capable. Our OCZ memory managed to hit the highest speed at 1600MHz using just 1.8v on the memory, however no extra voltage would allow it to go any faster, this possibly due to the limit of the early chips. Kingston did a good job of 1532MHz, and despite its low starting point, the Geil managed to hit 1400MHz using 1.8v.

Important Editor Note: Our maximum overclocking result is the best result we managed in our limited time testing with the P35 motherboard. Due to time constraints we weren't able to tweak the motherboard to the maximum and find the highest possible FSB as this could take days accomplish. We do however spend at least a few hours overclocking every motherboard to try and find the highest possible overclock in that time frame. You may or may not be able to overclock higher if you spend more time tweaking or as new BIOS updates are released. "Burn-in" time might also come into play if you believe in that.