Mushkin have been selling enthusiast-oriented memory since the days of SDRAM, and although today’s technologies are different from what they once were, the demands of the overclocker have not changed. With more and more memory manufactures to choose from, each catering not-too-different products, what makes
Mushkin stand out from the rest, if at all? I have their PC3200 Level 2 Black Dual Pack (Dual Channel) here today to answer that question.
To begin with, I thank
shop4memory (brilliant simple name there, btw) for supplying the kit. Jakob Kristensen in particular has my deepest thanks and apologies, his patience in regards to the review has been phenomenal.
Without further ado (at least not for now) we’ll start off with
Mushkin’s specs for their PC3200 Level 2 Black Dual Pack:
Our PC3200 is built on a custom 6 layer PCB using the highest quality 5 ns discreet components available in the memory industry. Through fine-tuning of the resistor network on the PCB we have been able to achieve the highest possible speed beyond 400 MHz while maintaining the capability for low latency operation. Our custom-designed Heat Spreader* reduces the risk of thermal runaway of localized hot spots within the memory core and further increases overclocking margins of the modules.
Tested compatible with VIA, AMD, Intel, NVidia and Sis chipsets. Overclockability of your system is dependent on all other components including but not limited to Motherboard, CPU, graphics and PCI cards and other peripheral devices. Our PC3200 eliminates the memory as a potential bottleneck when overclocking. Tested on motherboards with the KT400, P4X400 and NForce2 chipsets most of which are officially supporting the PC3200 (DDR 400) spec. Please check your motherboard manual for more information.
*Heat spreader color may vary from photo. Tampering with heatspreader voids warranty.
You’ll notice the lack of the latter two common memory timings, tRAS and CMD. Click the question marks beside the specs to read up on Mushkin’s explanation for the omission. The most important timing is present though, namely a CAS latency of 2. Mushkin have also implemented a tweaked SPD, which tells your motherboard that this is indeed fast memory as opposed to the more generic Winbond ram which chips it most likely uses, which subsequently has slower default timings. Unfortunately, not all motherboards respond to the SPD, which means that you may have to do it manually after all.
P.S. Did you click the question marks? They're there for a reason, you know.
