Corsair DDR3 CL8 1600MHz XMS3 Dominator 6GB Kit

Conclusion

Published: 14th December 2008 | Source: Corsair | Price: £255.99 | Author: Rich Weatherstone

Conclusion

The Corsair Dominator triple channel DDR3 C8 is a formidable piece of kit. Not only does it look extremely cool with the improved Dominator heatsinks but it has the performance to match. It simply breezed through all of our benchmarks scoring the highest bandwidth tests we have seen at OC3D thanks to the triple channel as opposed to the Dual channel of old.

As this is the first triple channel kit we have tested at OC3D it is difficult to draw a conclusion on how well this kit performs against other triple channel kits so one can only assume that the Corsair Dominator we have on test today is the perfect match for any i7 setup. We have now run the kit on 3 different i7 setups including the P6T Deluxe and only the MSI Platinum X58 had issues running the DDR3 at it's stock setting of 1600mhz but we feel this is most likely a motherboard issue and not a compatibility issue with the ram.

If you are planning on going i7 in the future then I can wholeheartedly recommend the Corsair Dominator and were it not for the price, it would no doubt have been coveted with the Editors choice gold award but then DDR3 isn't cheap, nor is an i7 setup. For that reason, at least until we have tested more DDR3 triple channel kits, the Corsair kit is awarded the performance stamp of approval.

The Good
- Overclocked to 1800mhz
- Excellent heatspreaders
- Good looking

The Mediocre
- Unable to lower timings
- Voltage ceiling (1.65v stock)
- The price

The Bad
- Nothing to report

Thanks to Corsair for providing todays DDR3 kit for review. Discuss in our forums.

Most Recent Comments

14-12-2008, 07:17:05

w3bbo

Looking to go i7? Unsure of what DDR3 to buy. Take a look at Corsairs Triple channel DDR3 1600mhz kit before you decide.

http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/artic...121513500s.jpg

Read the full review HERE

14-12-2008, 09:24:32

Molotov

Good review but the benchmarks seem a bit flawed as the CPU was overclocked as well.

14-12-2008, 10:22:25

w3bbo

Unfortunatley, simply using the memory dividers resulted in the memory being unstable (1866mhz). I could have lowered the CPU divider and adjusted the Bclk frequency but no configuration would have left the CPU frequency exact unless I forfeited some memory speed.

We now have some OCZ (same spec as the Corsair) which should give a better comparison, stock vs stock.

16-12-2008, 04:30:24

Blackbeard

Just FYI, the price in the review is a little high. You can also get the kit from Scan (pre-order atm) and CCL for ~£228 inc VAT.

6GB Dominator at Scan = tinyurl.com/6jnwb4

6GB Dominator at CCL = tinyurl.com/5s4f83

20-12-2008, 09:54:14

w3bbo

Hi Blackbeard (What happened to Yellowbeard?).

We are now retail partners with Ebuyer so it would be inappropriate to advertise products for sale at a major competitor

19-08-2009, 21:48:13

Pyr0

just got a newer revision of this kit (ver3.2) and they're much better than the ver2.1's, scaling well with voltage and lowered timings

i'm not going to try to say these are even remotely stable, but i managed 2000 8-8-8-24 with some extra voltage:

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=663557

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/9428/2000w.th.jpg

and 2000 9-9-9 with 1.66v, so there's prolly more in them.

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4870/200099924166.th.jpg

considering the ver2.1's i tried wouldn't even post much higher than 1650, these sticks act completely different in every respect.

19-08-2009, 22:06:09

tinytomlogan

Pyro you are turning into a bit of a bench fiend arnt you

19-08-2009, 22:17:50

Pyr0

hehe, just enjoying this new mem

Corsair DDR3 CL8 1600MHz XMS3 Dominator 6GB Kit

Conclusion

Published: 14th December 2008 | Source: Corsair | Price: £255.99 | Author: Rich Weatherstone

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