Super Talent Project X 2x1GB DDR3 PC3-14400 Review

Conclusion:

Today's journey through the Super Talent world of Project X DDR3 certainly was an interesting one. These modules are rated for the highest frequency and tightest timings for DDR3 modules available at this time and the new Project X heat sinks make them stand out from the crowd. There is however a few minor and one fairly major setback that can't be overlooked.

Despite the motherboard that testing was performed on being more than capable of handling the specifications of this memory, and being the same motherboard model used for factory testing, it did take higher than rated voltage in order to run the specified frequency and timings. Not being able to run fully stable at the rated DDR3-1900 7-7-7-21 at 2.00v isn't the end of the world as was mentioned earlier but is something that does linger heavily over this memory. When a manufacturer outlines the rated frequency, timings, and voltage of memory, all kits sent out absolutely need to run the specifications with ease, this is what we pay for when buying highly binned memory like the Project X modules. The fact that they were un-able to run the specifications means the extra cost isn't being justified.

With that said, the performance of what this memory is capable of definitely surpasses most if not all DDR2 memory at 24/7 settings and easily out-performs any DDR2 setup for benchmarking. DDR3 memory is proving to be a very nice performance upgrade from DDR2 but only in certain areas. The lack of gains to be had in gaming really doesn’t entice people to make the jump to DDR3 as a large number of enthusiasts are primarily interested in gaming. Right now, their money is still much better spent in higher end graphics processors or even CPU power. For those into encoding, design, and number crunching, memory does play a heavy role in performance and right now, nothing can touch performance DDR3 like the Super Talent Project X modules.


Pros:

• Excellent heat sinks providing plentiful cooling
• Esthetically they add another dimension to a setup
• Amongst the highest rated DDR3 memory on the market right now
• DDR3 performance in certain applications easily surpasses DDR2

Cons:

• The same heat sinks that provide the cooling may also interfere with some setups
• The high ratings mean very little over-head for further overclocking
• This particular sample didn't actually run spec and required higher voltage indicating very tight binning by Super Talent
• Price of these modules is higher than some PC3-12800 kits on top of the overall high price of DDR3
• Absolutely zero Super Talent presence in Canada, a combination of manufacturer and retailers at fault

We like to hear feedback here at Hardware Canucks so feel free to bring up any questions or comments in the Discussion thread for the Super Talent Project X PC3-14400.


Review by: Jody Bailey