Corsair Dominator GT 8GB PC3-12800 CL8 kit

Introduction

Published: 30th October 2009 | Source: Corsair | Price: £209.44 | Author: Rich Weatherstone

Introduction

All to often it is easy to overlook one of the most crucial parts in a PC system, you have your CPU, graphics card, PSU, case, motherboard but what about the memory? Without a good memory kit your expensive CPU can become crippled while it waits for the memory to address data. The advent of DDR3 was originally greeted with gasps of despair as it appeared that DDR3 offered little in terms of performance over DDR2, more so the price of the DDR3 kits was extortionate. Today however we see that DDR2 prices are now slightly higher than DDR3 making for a perfect time to upgrade to Intels new LGA 1156 socket.

The new range of Lynnfield CPU's have on board memory controllers but that does not alter the fact that buying slow cheap memory will hinder your PCs performance drastically if you do not find a balance between all of your components, in this case the CPU and memory. As ever, enthusiasts are always on the lookout for the latest and greatest pieces of hardware to cram in their shiny new setups so today may I present you with the new Corsair Dominator GT, specifically designed for the P55 chipset.

In 8GB (4x2GB) format, the kit will fill up all of the available slots on most P55 motherboards. While this would normally be treated with disdain on older chipsets due to the fact filling every ram slot up would hinder overclocking results, the new P55 chipset is much more capable of overclocking, even with huge amounts of memory onboard. We also found in a previous review that the 6GB mark was perhaps the best configuration for a well rounded, performance machine. To add a further smidgen of future proofing, Corsair have released this 8GB, high performance kit which should satisfy both those who are looking to overclock and those who crave the bandwidth 8GB provides. So the best of both worlds then? Let's hear what Corsair had to say:

Very few components make it into the DOMINATOR family. Even fewer are hand selected to build the DOMINATOR-GT. Corsair’s team of engineers run extensive and exhaustive in-house testing and qualification with the premium performance motherboards used by overclockers and ultra enthusiasts.

This unique combination of over-clocking performance testing and guaranteed reliability and compatibility coupled with a limited lifetime warranty, make the DOMINATOR-GT - the cream of the crop, and... the ultimate solution for the ultra enthusiast and overclocker.

Specification

The following specification was taken directly from the Corsair website.

Product name	Corsair Dominator GT (Blue) PC3-1600
Main Board	Intel
System	Desktop
Type	DDR3
M/B Chipset	Intel P55
CAS Latency	8-8-8-24
Speed	DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800)
Test Voltage	1.65v
Registered/Unbufferd	Unbuffered
Error Checking	None - ECC
Type	240-pin DIMM
Warranty	Lifetime

Let's take a look at the modules themselves...

Most Recent Comments

30-10-2009, 08:40:08

tinytomlogan

W3bbo takes a look at the new Corsair 1600mhz 8gb memory kit for P55 motherboards.

Continue Reading

30-10-2009, 09:16:54

I Hunta x

nice review webbo, makes me wish i had the money to upgrade to ddr3 now :(

tho tom shouldnt your above post be "Corsair 1600mhz 8gb memory"??

30-10-2009, 10:19:48

tinytomlogan

It should, getting all confused, I saw pc3-16000 which is 2000mhz, my bad - was pre caffine :p

31-10-2009, 07:24:24

denis6902

been searching for 4GBx2 KITS today which was pretty lame, cause the only ones i found were from crucial.

Anyway, whats the point of these boards being 16GB capable if they barely exist?

btw ace review matey!!! Sexy memory! i want one! Well four!

31-10-2009, 10:00:04

w3bbo

Getting 4GB per stick is pretty expensive and as such most manufacturers stay clear of producing them. It's all about supply/demand. Our recent reviews have shown there is little gain to be had once you get over the 6GB mark unless you are very much infused by Photoshop and video editing/encoding.

Thanks for the comments:)

31-10-2009, 17:19:15

denis6902

Getting 4GB per stick is pretty expensive and as such most manufacturers stay clear of producing them. It's all about supply/demand. Our recent reviews have shown there is little gain to be had once you get over the 6GB mark unless you are very much infused by Photoshop and video editing/encoding.

Thanks for the comments:)

I didnt know that. Good to know now! Thnks man!

Btw ...perhaps u would be able to answer a big doubt i am having.

I want to sell my s775 harware as well as my h2o bfg 260, i want to move on to s1156 so i can use a good i7 on either an Asus Extreme Formula III or an Asus Premium or Premium PRO, dunno yet. I mostly use the pc for designing like sketchup, autocad, solidworks and on.

My big doubt is, how does the Nvidia Tesla 2GB compares to an GTX 285 / 295???

What would be more appropriate? And also would the tesla fold more PPD then a 285?

If u can help me with that one, give me a help please!

cheers

denis6902

01-11-2009, 11:47:29

w3bbo

I didnt know that. Good to know now! Thnks man!

Btw ...perhaps u would be able to answer a big doubt i am having.

I want to sell my s775 harware as well as my h2o bfg 260, i want to move on to s1156 so i can use a good i7 on either an Asus Extreme Formula III or an Asus Premium or Premium PRO, dunno yet. I mostly use the pc for designing like sketchup, autocad, solidworks and on.

My big doubt is, how does the Nvidia Tesla 2GB compares to an GTX 285 / 295???

What would be more appropriate? And also would the tesla fold more PPD then a 285?

If u can help me with that one, give me a help please!

cheers

denis6902

I would stick with a dedicated CAD card tbh. The mainstream cards are targetted more toward gaming and not 3d work although no doubt they would also do the job fine. No idea which would be better at folding, I suspect the tesla but without testing one I couldn't say for sure. 8 cores go a long way ;).

01-11-2009, 13:25:48

tinytomlogan

It all depends on if the folding clients can actualy utilise the card tbh, I know they are working on one now for the new 5000 series cards but Im not sure if the Tesla cards are supported or not.

01-11-2009, 15:26:32

denis6902

thats what i thought too

by eye comparinson through the specs, one sh9d think that the tesla cards are folding mosters, but u are right tom, i have no idea how the clients support them.

I think they should make them to support. As it is a shame to have such a card not folding when idle.

Besides....prices on the tesla will drop a lot!

Thanks for the help mates!