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Adata gives enthusiasts an affordable alternative when it comes to DDR3 ram for overclocking

INTRODUCTION

Adata has now become pretty much an established brand name as a manufacturer of memory products. This is quite an achievement, especially when you have big names like Corsair, Crucial, Kingston and OCZ all competing heavily in this market. What I do like about Adata is the fact that some of the lower-spec'd DDR2 memory kits they produce, actually use high quality D9 Micron ICs. This was evident in out last review of their DDR2-800 X-series 2Gb kit. Modules using these D9 Micron ICs offer better overclocking and excellent stability. For those who still don't know who Adata is ... here's a little blurb taken from their website.

"Founded in May, 2001 by Chairman and CEO Mr. Simon Chen, A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd. has quickly risen to become one of the world’s largest memory and flash product providers. At the beginning, with DRAM modules as the major product line, A-DATA’s mission was to become “The Global Leading Brand of Memory Products.” Later on, recognizing the market’s trend, A-DATA diversified its product portfolio to include Flash peripherals and multimedia solutions. Capitalizing on the strong growth of DRAM memory and flash related products in the market, based on DRAMeXchange 2006 and iSuppli 2006 reports, A-DATA ranks second in the world for DRAM Modules and fourth for Flash Disks respectively. "

When Adata announced their new line of DDR3 memory kits in their X-series range ... I was really excited. The X-series are designed specifically for overclocking and features their exclusive packaging, which all makes it look and feel special. Adata have now introduced a whole new range of memory products for all types of users ... from gamers to hardcore overclockers and enthusiasts. Take a look at the list below.

+ Series
Vitesta + series is designed to offer mainstream desktop users an opportunity to upgrade their PC with performance, reliability, quality, an affordable price.

G-Series
Vitesta G series offers flawless gaming experience with quad-channel configuration, high capacity, for gaming enthusiasts.

X-Series
Specially targeted for extreme overclocking enthusiasts!!! The X series is built with Micron original IC that delivers outstanding performance, rock-solid stability and high compatibility.  

In this review will be taking a look at the Adata DDR3-1600 X-series 2Gb kit. These modules are designed for overclocking, and are specified to run at 800Mhz (PC3-12800) with memory timings of 7-7-7-20. The overclocking ability of these modules will be put under our scrutiny, since Adata lay claim on their website that the X-series is especially designed to do just that. So, what can we realy expect from these modules?

 

A closer examination of these memory modules reveal that Adata had used similar Micron D9 ICs as found on their other memory kits. Their DDR2-800 2Gb kits, which we reviewed last month Adata used Micron D9DMH ICs, while these DDR3-1600 uses the Micro D9GTR ICs. From our initial assessment, we can be sure that the overclocking ability as well as its stability should prove to be extremely good. 

The labelling and classification of DDR3 memory can be a little confusing at times, but I'll try and give you some DDR3 terminology ... More information can be found HERE

 - PC3-6400 : DDR3-800 : 200FSB : 400Mhz
 - PC3-8500 : DDR3-1066 : 266FSB : 533Mhz
 - PC3-10666 : DDR3-1333 : 333FSB : 667Mhz
 - PC3-12800 : DDR3-1600 : 400FSB : 800Mhz
 - PC3-14400:  DDR3-1800 : 450FSB : 900Mhz

The packaging is very nicely presented, and comes in a glossy box ... rather like what you'll find on some DVD boxsets. Open the box, and you will then find the 2 modules encased around a thick protective neoprene padding. Very nice. The modules themselves features a rather boring looking heatspreader (I guess this is not one of Adata's strong points), but it does an adequate job of cooling the Micron D9GTR memory ICs.

In our tests we'll bee installing these modules on an Asus P5E3 Deluxe motherboard, along with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor and a Radeon HD3870 512Mb DDR4 graphics card, running Windows Vista. During the tests, we'll also see how well they can overclock.

We're expecting these Adata DDR3-1600 2Gb kits to perform extremely well against others in its class. As for overclocking, I expect these modules to overclock really well. Whatever the result, you can be sure that these 2Gb kits from Adata will probably offer one of the best price/performance products when it comes to DDR3 ram.

Ok, let's not waste any more time and take a closer look at the Adata DDR3-1600 2Gb kits  ...