Corsair Dominator 2x1GB DDR3 PC3-14400 Review

Memory has very little in the way of specifications so let's keep this short and sweet, like Reese Witherspoon. As the image to the left indicates, these modules are tested for operation at 900MHz (DDR3-1800) 7-7-7-20 at 2.0v on the Asus P5K3 motherboard. This shows the relative age of these modules as they have been available for a number of months now. Corsair has since released an XMP version of these modules designed for Intel X38/X48 motherboards as well as an EPP programmed kit designed for the NVIDIA 7 series motherboards.

The other setting worth noting is that these modules are rated for this frequency and timings at 2.0v. This is pretty much the upper limit as far as manufacturers have gone with rated voltage for DDR3. There have been many discussions as of late dealing with this very topic in the enthusiast forums and 2.1v seems to be about the max current DDR3 IC's are willing to take without risking damage. Seeing most manufacturers limit voltage at 2.0v fits right into this pattern of thought. So despite this kit being tested with an Intel P35 based motherboard, we are quite confident that it will run just fine on the NVIDIA 790i Ultra SLI based motherboard we have planned for it.

At this point we turn our attentions to the superior cooling offered by the Dominator and all DHX Corsair memory modules. DHX stands for Dual-path Heat Xchange and is a term derived straight from how the heat sinks work. Essentially there are two pathways for heat to be dissipated. One path removes heat through the outside heat sink from direct contact with the ICs and the other path draws heat out of the specially designed PCBs to the inner layer of the heat sink.

As mentioned, these heat sinks are nothing new but still unique in an industry that has the competition scrambling to match the ingenuity some twenty four months after they have been released. It isn't often when that happens and that just shows how far ahead of the competition this memory cooling solution from Corsair is.