Mushkin Redline Ascent 3x2GB PC3-12800 C6 Memory Review

Specifications

Obviously the photos we just looked at outline the primary specifications of the Redline Ascent memory we are looking at today. Here is a complete run down of the operating specifications for these modules from Mushkin.

We mentioned in the opening that these Mushkin Ascent modules, along with their standard Redline counterparts are the first triple channel DDR3 parts that have been released for operation at DDR3-1600 with a CAS Latency timing of 6. The overall timing set is 6-7-6-18 with the standard 1.65v for operation with the X58 chipset and Intel i7 processors. Mushkin, however, also has a 6-6-5-18 set of memory available on the market as well, at a substantially higher price of course. The real question that everyone in the forums is asking about these modules is, "what IC's do they have on them?". Unfortunately we are not going to be able to take the heat sinks off to tell. Mushkin, however, was quite forthcoming with the information with this quote:

"...we used a new proprietary IC design made from a strange, glowing material gleaned from a meteorite that fell in the parking lot behind our office. The whole thing weighs about 300lb so I figure we can make a couple hundred more kits. It has a few minor side effects (headaches, nausea, zombification) but we figure the performance is worth the risks. We do recommend that users not taunt the modules, as this has been found to result in some...issues*.

*We are looking for new employees for shipping/receiving."

Well, we may not be closer to knowing what the ICs are, what we can do is say which IC's they are not, based on their shape.

We already saw a pretty good photo of the IC's in the previous section when looking at the heat sinks underbelly. Through the use of macro photography, we get another here from the bottom of the memory. Under the heat sinks we can see a virtually square IC mounted to the PCB. This indicates that the memory is definitely not the much raved about Elpida Hyper memory that is on the high end PC3-16000 7-8-7 kits. Some speculation was that any CL6 PC3-12800 module was going to be this expensive new IC. The price of this kit is also an indication that it is not Elpida Hyper aside from the shape as Hyper have beveled edges to the ICs. These have perfectly straight edges with 90 degree corners. Our best guess at the IC's on these modules, based on the regular Redline memory of the same operating specifications, is that they are indeed Elpida; but DJ1108BBSE DJ-F. A couple of forum users were able to remove the regular Redline heat sinks and identify the IC's. The overclocking results will certainly be interesting for us as we have no prior experience with this IC, if in fact that is what are on these modules for ICs.

We really don't have a great grasp on the eVCI technology behind the Ascent heat sinks, so we have presented a diagram from the Mushkin site that outlines just what is going on inside the long flat heat pipes behind the Ascent heat sinks. Again, our best description of the process is similar to that of a vapor chamber. The interior of the heat pipes simply act as a distribution channel to evenly spread the heat out over a larger surface area, thus allowing dissipation of the heat to be easier. The heat pipe simply takes the heat from the relatively small surface area of an IC and spreads it out over a larger surface area that is then transferred more efficiently to the outside heat sink for dissipation into the ambient air. In theory it makes sense, but at these low voltages, heat might not be the biggest determining factor of a modules performance. As with any heat sink on memory, we question the validity of it even being there. No matter how you look at it, they are definitely cool looking and beefy modules.