Asia's Big Brand - Adata makes an impact in the Western market, but can it survive?

Adata is a Taiwanese based company who specialise in a wide range of memory products including DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 memory modules, SD Cards and USB flash pen drives. Although not that well known in the US or European markets, they are in fact one of the biggest brand names in Asia.

         

We're starting to see a lot more Adata memory modules now available in the UK through various retailers. One of the reasons could be actual cost (the come-in price) as retailers need to make a very small, but sufficient profit. A typical Adata memory module would cost significantly less than bigger bands like Corsair, Crucial or OCZ.

Thanks to our CPU3D Review team, in this review we'll be taking a look at the Adata DDR2-1066+ Extreme Edition 2Gb Kit. These modules are aimed at the enthusiasts and high-end market, and comes with nice looking heat-spreaders. Rated at DDR2-1066 (PC2-8500) with memory timings of 5-5-5-15, these modules should perform quite well. But what we are really interested to find out out, is how well they overclock ... that's the real difference between enthusiast and mainstream.

When I first heard about DDR2 memory, I was pretty confused how they class and labelled them. OK, I'll try and give you some DDR2 terminology ... More information can be found HERE

• PC2-4200 : DDR2-533 : 133FSB : 266Mhz
• PC2-5300 : DDR2-667 : 166FSB : 333Mhz
• PC2-6400 : DDR2-800 : 200FSB : 400Mhz
• PC2-8000 : DDR2-1000 : 250FSB : 500Mhz
• PC2-8500 : DDR2-1066 : 266FSB : 533Mhz
• PC2-9200 : DDR2-1133: 283FSB : 566Mhz **
• PC2-10000 : DDR2-1200 : 300FSB : 600Mhz **

** Unofficial DDR2 specifications

You know as well as I do that the enthusiast market is very cut-throat and extremely competitive. Especially when you have big brands such as Corsair, Crucial and OCZ which are all specialists in memory products ... and that's only just a few I mentioned. Although Adata have already established themeselves as one of the top memory manufacturers in Asia, the question remains ... will they be able to break into the US and European markets? Now that's a tough one.

         

OK, let's take a closer look at Adata's DDR2-1066+ Extreme Edition 2Gb kit, and see how well they perform ...