ADATA XPG V2 Review: 2x8 GB at DDR3-2400 C11-13-13 1.65 V
by Ian Cutress on November 11, 2013 1:00 PM ESTA 2400 C11 memory kit sits nicely on the performance curve. With DDR4 expected to hit within the next couple of years, buying a memory kit today might be the last DDR3 memory kit, at least on the Intel side, that you ever buy. Thus we always have to weigh up the potential benefits of faster memory between now and then against the cost.
At $200, this ADATA 2400 C11 2x8 GB kit is extraordinarily expensive, especially when everything at the same memory timings is cheaper, including the same kit but in a different color which retails for $140.
At $140, it would be at the sharp end of 2400 C11 memory kit pricing that you could buy – only a good sale would beat it. At a relative PI of 218, it sits above the 200 baseline of default kits a user should consider, but it does not set the world alight either. Through some quick and fast overclocking, it hit a PI of 242 (2666 C11), which might not show up much on the benchmarks due to the law of limiting returns.
Very few users need 16 GB right now, but it seems to be the sweet spot when it comes to memory purchasing for those who feel they need more than 8 GB, and plenty of memory manufacturers are offering these kits. Even under my heavy workload I rarely see the top side of 5GB unless I am also running everything in the background along with a game. For this reason amongst others is why no 16 GB non-ECC modules are up for grabs: the margins would be too high to invest in those ICs.
At $140 I could recommend these ADATA modules – this comes down to less than $8.75/GB. But at $200, it really is a no-go: aim for the $140 tungsten grey ones instead.
Addendum 11/19: After publishing this review, ADATA got in contact as they were confused at the high price of the Gold model against the Tungsten Grey model. I am told that the $140 value of the Tungsten Grey version of this memory is actually an internal special offer to Newegg, and that the $200 value of the Gold model is a misprint. Sounds like an expensive misprint: system builders will have a focus and it would be better to spend money on the focal point of a build. ADATA said the actual MSRP would be $180, which I pointed out is still quite high, given the price list I gave on page 2 of this review.
$180 would still put this memory at the rough end of the spectrum. ADATA took a few days, and then responded that the new MSRP for this memory would be $160. At $160, this memory is far more reasonable, and means that it sits between the G.Skill and the expensive kits, but nearer those from G.Skill.
$140 Mushkin Enhanced Blackline DDR3-2400 C11 2x8GB, Frostbyte
$148 G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3-2400 C11 2x8GB
$152 G.Skill Ares DDR3-2400 C11 2x8GB
$155 G.Skill Sniper DDR3-2400 C11 2x8GB
$156 ADATA XPG V2.0 DDR3-2400 C11 2x8GB, Gaming (EOL)
$160 ADATA XPG V2 DDR3-2400 C11 2x8GB, Gold
$170 Silicon Power DDR3-2400 C11 2x8GB
$170 Mushkin Enhanced Blackline DDR3-2400 C11 2x8GB, Ridgeback
This also means that in a sale, they might cost even less. As of this new information about pricing, the gold kit is sold out at Newegg. Does our conclusion about the memory change? Memory has to compete primarily on price and avoiding pitfalls in benchmarks due to a bad setting. On the former, ADATA is moving in the right direction, but it still has competition. On the latter, ADATA is very much ballpark - what you might get from another kit is better (or worse) overclocking. I have two other ADATA kits in for testing, so keep abreast for those reviews soon.
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Rick83 - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
So running memory on a 22nm CPU at 1.65 volts (or more, for the OC) has suddenly become acceptable again? Last I heard everyone clamoring to only get 1.5V memory, so as not to fry the IMC before its time.At $200, the key point is that by taking a $100 kit and putting those $100 dollars toward more memory or toward extra CPU performance would probably be better. Going with IB-E instead of with Haswell could probably done with that extra money - and you get double the memory channels to play with as a result.
IanCutress - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
Most DDR3 memory past 1866 C9 is at 1.65 volts. These IMCs are sturdy enough, almost all will take 2x8 GB 2933 C12 without breaking a sweat. When did it ever become unacceptable? I've never seen any issues except taking Sandy above 2400 MHz, because the IMC wasn't particularly built for it. Ivy kicked it up a notch and Haswell accepts most of what I throw at it as long as you're reasonable and the memory itself can handle it.owan - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
There was a LOT of talk when SB released about using 1.5v ram instead of 1.65v due to the IMC supposedly not tolerating higher voltages well. I don't know how true it was, but I thought this was common knowledge.hoboville - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
Yes, there has been (and still is concern) that over-volting RAM can have a negative impact on the memory controller, because it is on the CPU die. RAM voltages and power do have an impact on the memory controller, of that there is no doubt. In fact, Registered Memory (also known as Fully Buffered or just Buffered Memory) was a design that came about when the IMC had to interface with large amounts of RAM (and power), particularly servers where 8+ slots is not uncommon.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_memory
The Von Matrices - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
Well, according to Intel (http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-0299..."Intel recommends using memory that adheres to the Jedec memory specification for DDR3 memory which is 1.5 volts, plus or minus 5%. Anything more than this voltage can damage the processor or significantly reduce the processor life span."
However, I have not seen anyone who had a processor fail explicitly due to 1.65V memory. Granted, this might be hard to tell because many of the failed processors with 1.65V memory also have core overclocking and overvolting, and separating the actual cause of failure is impossible without an electron microscope.
I run my Hawswell system at 1.65V DDR3-2400, and I am not worried about 1.65V killing the processor. What's more concerning to me is that my Mushkin Blackline memory's XMP profile adjusts the system agent voltage +0.3V, which is far too much for me. I forced it back to default voltage and the memory works fine.
jabber - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
It may be that Intel's research determined that running at 1.65v could reduce the life of the CPU from 30 years to 28 years.freedom4556 - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
Yeah, I love that there is a huge difference between the statistical and colloquial meaning of the word "significant" that always seems to be abused by marketers and misused by media.kishorshack - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
This is an Anandtech Reviewhoboville - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
A quick suggestion: could you do a ranking of performance index as related to price, displaying performance per dollar?For gamers, the biggest point is how much time the GPU spends asking the RAM for data. Games that are more heavily CPU bound will probably see some benefit from faster RAM. It is worth noting that Dirt 3 seems to benefit the most from lower timings, as the lowest timings see the highest FPS. Undoubtedly, each GPU is waiting for information from RAM, and in turn, longer RAM latency means that each GPU has to wait for its chunk of data. Better titles will rely less on CPU and more on GPU, maybe Mantle will have some effect on this with reduced draw calls?
Anyway, the price scaling on these "performance" RAM is so large that I couldn't in good conscience ever recommend anyone buying them when they would be better off spending it on a: dGPU, better dGPU, second dGPU.
freedom4556 - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
"Games that are more heavily CPU bound will probably see some benefit from faster RAM."Not according to nearly every review I've ever read on memory. Most reviews have all results within about 5 fps of each other regardless of game. Only synthetics really benefit. See articles like:
http://anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-h...
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Avexir/Core_Ser...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/low-voltage-dd...