Corsair Dominator GTX2 PC3-18000 CL8 Memory Review

Conclusion

The fact that we can now buy memory that is specified to run at DDR3-2250 with 8-8-8 timings and only 1.65v is absolutely astonishing. A year ago that idea would have been downright ludicrous had you tried to tell us that. The fact of the matter is that memory is now capable of frequencies that far exceed most setups and as we saw with the EVGA P55 Classified setup, anything over DDR3-2200 just wouldn't run for us. Obviously this means we cannot run the Dominator GTX2 modules at even spec. This isn't typical of all P55 platforms but clearly was the case for us and goes to highlight that setups which can really push these modules could be a rarity.

Furthermore, our 8-8-8 overclocking results on the X58 platform were limited by the CPU being used as it couldn't handle the uncore any higher than DDR3-2346, and our CPU was at sub-zero temperatures. It really is a nice problem to have; memory that can literally outrun your setup, but it is something we want to stress. There is going to be some effort in order to get these modules to be running at spec with certain setups. At the same time, many users will pop them in and be running at DDR3-2250 or higher within minutes. It is just the nature of the game when it comes to high-end memory.

Our review today revolved around the Dominator GTX2's capability to perform in a competitive benchmarking environment. This requires a different set of criteria to designate pass or failure. On one hand, the modules easily made our setups look pathetic, even at vDIMM as low as 1.56v while the overclocking of these modules just seems limitless at the 8-8-8 timing set. On the other hand, we unfortunately didn't get the performance we wanted at 7-7-6 or 6-6-5 from our second set of memory we received from Corsair while our first set absolutely knocked our socks off.

We really hoped that the price tag of $200/stick would eliminate the saying that "in overclocking, it always comes down to luck of the draw". That obviously wasn't the case. It turned out to be a good thing that our first kit had the odd heat sink application as we were able to find out there was some variation amongst the modules with the Dominator GTX2 label. There are no guarantees, but it is evident that even with the worse of two different sets of modules, we ended up with a very strong Elpida Hyper based set of memory and that is what you are definitely going to end up with when purchasing sticks from the Dominator GTX2 series.

• Corsair Dominator heritage with DHX technology at the heart of the cooling
• Aesthetics that are still at the very top when it comes to memory in our opinions
• Excellent overclocking that we have come to expect from Elpida Hyper based DDR3 memory
• We are confident in saying that these modules at 8-8-8 will outrun almost any X58 system's memory clocking capability
• Sold in single modules, keeps things nice and simple, we like this very much

• The $200/stick price tag has to go first on this list
• With this type of price premium, we wanted to see something substantially better in the overclocking...but were limited by the CPU in some cases.
• There clearly is a bit of an issue with the heat sink application as one kit illustrated rather blatantly

We really wanted to give the Dominator GTX2 modules a Dam Good award but we simply can't justify the $200/stick price tag for memory that really didn't outperform any other top bin Elpida Hyper based modules that can cost $200 less than a set of three GTX2 modules. That much of a price difference is just too much for us without some kind of guaranteed benefit.