Mushkin Announces Triple-Channel Memory Kits for the Intel Core i7 Platform

DENVER, November 17, 2008 – Mushkin, Inc. (www.mushkin.com), a global leader in high-performance memory products, today announced the release of its triple-channel memory kits designed specifically for the new Intel® Core i7TM platform. The flagship offering of the new memory kits is the XP3-12800 7-8-7, allowing end users to extract higher performance at 1600MT/s than competitors’ products while staying within safe operating voltages. Additionally, early adopters of the new platform will find Mushkin’s triple-channel products stable and reliable, ensuring a trouble-free migration.

“We’ve worked diligently to create parts for the Core i7 platform that push specifications to unprecedented levels while maintaining the high quality and reliability standards of our existing products,” said Brian Flood, director of product development for Mushkin. “Our triple-pack customers will be rewarded with the utmost reliability from our standard rated products, and greatly increased performance from our high performance line.”
Part Numbers:

998674 – 3GB (3x1GB) XP3-10666 6-6-6-18 1.65V
998675 – 6GB (3x2GB) XP3-10666 6-6-6-18 1.65V
998676 – 3GB (3x1GB) HP3-10666 7-7-7-20 1.5-1.6V
998677 – 6GB (3x2GB) HP3-10666 7-7-7-20 1.5-1.6V
998583 – 3GB (3x1GB) EM3-10666 9-9-9-24 1.5V
998585 – 6GB (3x2GB) EM3-10666 9-9-9-24 1.5V
998678 – 3GB (3x1GB) XP3-12800 7-8-7-20 1.65V
998679 – 6GB (3x2GB) XP3-12800 7-8-7-20 1.65V
998680 – 3GB (3x1GB) XP3-12800 8-8-8-24 1.6-1.65V
998681 – 6GB (3x2GB) XP3-12800 8-8-8-24 1.6-1.65V
998658 – 3GB (3x1GB) HP3-12800 9-9-9-27 1.5-1.6V
998659 – 6GB (3x2GB) HP3-12800 9-9-9-27 1.5-1.6V
998682 – 3GB (3x1GB) HP3-8500 6-6-6-18 1.5-1.6V
998683 – 6GB (3x2GB) HP3-8500 6-6-6-18 1.5-1.6V
998570 – 3GB (3x1GB) EM3-8500 7-7-7-20 1.5V
998571 – 6GB (3x2GB) EM3-8500 7-7-7-20 1.5V


The new triple packs are immediately available at mushkin.com in 3GB (3x1GB) and 6GB (3x2GB) kits. Every module is hand-tested beyond its rated specification and features Mushkin’s FrostByte heatspreader which keeps the modules within safe operating temperatures. Like all Mushkin products, these modules are backed by a lifetime warranty and an industry-leading technical support staff.


About Mushkin

Located at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Denver, Colorado, Mushkin provides performance-enhanced computer products to users worldwide. Mushkin products include an enhanced power supply line and a complete selection of memory upgrades for desktops, servers and notebooks. Mushkin caters to the overclocking community and value segment with its Redline and PerfectMatch products. Since its founding in 1994, Mushkin has received numerous awards and recognitions for quality, reliability, and technical excellence. The 14-year old company is dedicated to helping overclockers, gamers, IT managers, digital artists, and mobile professionals enhance their computing experience by providing reliable, high performance components.

OCZ Technology today unveiled the industry's first triple channel memory kit designed specifically for the impending Intel Core i7 processor / Intel X58 Express Chipset, available in 3GB and 6GB kits.

The new memory modules are Optimized for the Core i7's triple channel mode, combining low voltage requirements, speed, and latency.

Developed for enthusiasts and early-adopters, the low voltage OCZ Triple Channel solutions are the choice counterparts for leading-edge performance that won't inhibit the functionality of Core i7 CPUs."OCZ engineered these 3GB and 6GB kits specifically for Intel's imminent platform," commented Dr. Michael Schuette, VP of Technology Development at OCZ Technology. "By using special-screened, low voltage-capable ICs, these modules are the perfect complement for the Intel X58 Chipset to deliver the maximum performance by enabling low latency settings and higher system frequency."The advanced memory modules offer clock speeds up to 1600MHz at just 1.65V memory voltage. Elpida memory has also anounced the development of DDR3 memory that match these specifications.

OCZ will release the triple channel kits under the Platinum and Gold series designed specifically for enthusiasts and gamers:

OCZ PC3-10666 Gold 3GB (3X1GB) 1333MHz CL 9-9-9-20 1.65V
OCZ PC3-10666 Gold 6GB (3X2GB) 1333MHz CL 9-9-9-20 1.65V
OCZ PC3-12800 Gold 3GB (3x1GB) 1600MHz DDR3 CL8-8-8-24 1.65V
OCZ PC3-12800 Gold 6GB (3x2GB) 1600MHz DDR3 CL8-8-8-24 1.65V
OCZ PC3-10666 Platinum 3GB (3x1GB) 1333MHz CL7-7-7-20 1.65V
OCZ PC3-10666 Platinum 6GB (3x2GB) 1333MHz CL7-7-7-20 1.65V

OCZ?s Triple Channel kits feature propriety XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) heatspreaders. The company has not provided pricing details.

Love him or hate him, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel has managed to get his branding slapped onto nearly every PC component it takes to build a computer, leaving only hard drives and processors left to conquer. Don't believe it? Have a look for yourself. Motherboard? Check. Videocard? Check. Case, soundcard, mouse, keyboard, and headset? Check, check, and check ad nauseum. And thanks to a recent partnership with OCZ now coming to fruition, Fatal1ty can notch both DDR2 and DDR3 memory into his belt too."OCZ worked closely with Fatal1ty and his team to design new memory kits that pair perfectly with the top selling motherboards for a superior gaming experience," commented Alex Mei, cheif marketing officer of OCZ.

The press release works hard to tie Fatal1ty to its new line of memory, claiming the branded kits "were co-developed with the expertise of Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, 12-time World champion, to meet the specific needs of fellow gamers." Is anyone else having trouble picturing Wendel developing memory kits somewhere in his free time between gaming tournaments and honing his skills on company sponsored hardware? Maybe Wendel really is a master of module design, but marketing mojo aside, here's what the collaboration has come up with:

* OCZ DDR2-800 4GB, 5-4-4-18
* OCZ DDR2-1066 EPP, 2GB 5-5-5-15
* OCZ DDR3-1333, 2GB/4GB 9-9-9-26

OCZ claims each Fatal1ty Edition kit is "designed to help deliver exceptional gaming visuals and overclocking potential," and it's the latter claim that will ulitimately decide where these kits belong in the marketplace. Tighter timed modules already exist at each speed grade, some of which OCZ sells, so the Fatal1ty nomenclature will have to bring more to the table than a spiffy heatspreader to win the hearts of enthusiasts. Then again, hardcore enthusiasts have never been quick to jump on the Fatal1ty bandwagon in the first place, so maybe a flashy package will be all that's needed to attract whoever's buying these products.

Asus has had a lot of interesting motherboard offerings even since the P4P 800 series, which is flawlessly running on one of my test shuttle for three years now. Of all Asus' motherboard products, the Blitz line distinguishes the most by increased performance and state-of-the-art technology.

The Blitz series is dedicated to computer enthusiasts that price speed and performance most, at any price it may come. The new motherboard family from Asus is comprised of two mobos: the Asus BLITZ Extreme and the Asus BLITZ Formula. Both of them are absolutely identical, except for the fact that the Formula only supports DDR2 memory, while the Extreme edition comes with DDR3 support. The rest is unchanged, including the cooling system, the chipset or the CPU socket.
The Asustek Extreme is built with Intel's P35 series of chipsets with the P35 Express northbridge and the ICH9R Southbridge. It can recognize as much as 8 GB or DDR3 RAM clocked at 1333/1066/800 MHz. Since it is a professional motherboard, it comes with two Gigabit Ethernet ports onboard, two IEEE 1394a ports, 12 USB 2.0 slots, six Serial ATA II slots that can perform as RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1 and JBOD, one IDE channel and full support for AMD's CrossFire technology.

The motherboard manufacturer also packed inside the box a crystal-clear, stand alone SupremeFX 11 8-channel audio card, a full version of the 3DMark06 benchmarking software and a copy of the STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl game.

The Blitz Extreme comes with 45-nanometer Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors support, as well as any other processor that is compatible with the LGA 776 CPU socket and can support FSB speeds of 800/1066/1333MHz.

As I have already told you, the motherboard is a top choice and comes with a proportional price tag. It "only" costs $296, but add the costs of a quad-core Intel CPU, a professional watercooling solution and some rocket-fast memory modules and... here you go.

Just six short months after releasing the Radeon HD 2400 and 2600 series graphics processors, AMD has announced replacements for those chips. The new Radeon HD 3400 and 3600 series GPUs bring a number of refinements, many of which first made their appearance with the debut of the Radeon HD 3800 series two months ago. Like the 3800 series, AMD's new low-end GPUs have also made the transition to a smaller, "half-node" 55nm fab process.

Tops among the changes is support for DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1, a minor revision to the DirectX spec that offers game developers better control over antialiasing hardware and exposes a new capability, cube map arrays, intended to improve performance with global illumination algorithms. (I wouldn't expect DX10.1 games to set the world on fire with their sheer numbers or distinctive visual glory, but AMD does expect to see games with DX10.1 support hitting the market later this year.)

Many of the other changes simply amount to better plumbing—often necessary but rarely sexy. Among them: support for PCI Express version 2.0, which effectively doubles the bandwidth available between the GPU and the rest of the system. AMD's UVD video processor also gets more bandwidth in this incarnation, allowing the GPUs to accelerate the playback of high-definition video at higher resolutions. And the new chips include native support for DisplayPort connections, giving board makers the option to offer video cards with a, er, DisplayPort. The two chips, code-named RV620 and RV635, will replace the current RV610 and RV630 GPUs. The more potent of the two, the RV635, powers the Radeon HD 3650 graphics card. We can't really talk of a Radeon HD 3600 series per se, because the 3650 is initially the only product in this range; the $179 Radeon HD 3850 has already essentially replaced the Radeon HD 2600 XT. That leaves the HD 3650 to supplant the 2600 Pro at a suggested e-tail price range of $79-99.AMD estimates the RV635's transistor count at 378 million, which is, surprisingly enough, down from the 390 million transistors in the RV630. I suspect the differences in transistor count come from fairly arcane sources, because the RV635 shares the same basic 3D graphics architecture with the RV630, with three SIMD units that each have eight superscalar execution units. Since those execution units have five ALUs each, AMD says the RV635 has a total of 120 stream processors onboard. Like the RV630, the RV635 can filter eight texels per clock and output four pixels per clock, and it has a 128-bit memory interface.

The Radeon HD 3650 will come in two flavors. The tastier of the two will have GDDR3 memory onboard clocked at 800MHz, and the blander model will use DDR2 memory at 500MHz. Memory sizes will range between the standard-issue 256MB all that way to the goofy 1GB, for those who like lots of RAM on their $79 video cards—you know, as ornamentation. Both flavors will pack a 725MHz core clock, which is up somewhat from the 2600 Pro's 600MHz core. As a result, the 3650 should offer slightly better performance than its predecessor.

AMD rates HD 3650's power consumption at 75W, and as a result, it should be able to get all of its power through the PCIe slot without the need for an auxiliary power plug.

Foxconn has launched a new board in its Digital Life series. Branded P35AP-S, the board is based on Intels P35 chipset. The new board features a combo memory design or, in other words, it supports both DDR3 and DDR2 memory.

According to Foxconns press release they have managed to eliminate crosstalk and other electrical interference that is usually present with a combo memory design.The new board features support for up to 8GB of DDR2 1066/800/667MHz or 4GB of DDR3 1333/1066/800MHz memory, thus making it an excellent upgrade solution since DDR3 pricing is still a bit on the high side.

The P35AP-S also features two PCIe x16 slots with ATI Crossfire support, two PCIe x1 slots and three PCI slots. Other specs include six SATA, two eSATA, two FireWire, eight USB 2.0, one ATA and that strange Foxconn Digital Connector which provides a link to future Foxconn Digital Life products. There is also Gigabit LAN and 7.1-channel HD audio with S/PDIF outputs.

Since then we've returned the KHX11000 to Kingston and had a number of conversations with the company's Tech bloke and the whole thing is something of a puzzle. It seems that the methodology we used was fine and dandy as the other memory all worked well enough but it also looks like the Kingston modules were fault free. Kingston tested the memory after it was returned and sent us these four screen grabs from CPU-Z that show the memory running at an effective speed of 1400MHz with an overclocked Core 2 Duo E6550.

Clearly this was something of a mystery so we asked Kingston to send another batch of KHX11000 DDR3 for us to have another go at.