Corsair Memory Sets Memory Overclocking Record on AMD Phenom II.

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Corsair Memory, a leading producer of advanced memory modules, announced Thursday that it had managed to overclock memory sub-system of AMD Phenom II X6 microprocessor to 2287.6MHz. The achievement shows potential of Corsair’s latest Dominator GTX4 memory modules, however, actual performance benefits of such overclock may not be worth the effort.

Using an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition central processing unit, Asus Crosshair IV Formula motherboard, Corsair Hydro-series H50 microprocessor cooler, and a pair of Corsair Dominator GTX4 memory DIMMs with Airflow memory fan, Corsair has managed to achieve the world-record memory frequency of 2287.6MHz with CL9 timing. Independent overclockers yet have not achieved memory frequencies of higher than 2GHz on AMD Phenom II platforms.

Unfortunately, according to Corsair, at the frequency of 2287.6MHz SuperPi 1M ran into errors in the last iteration. Dropping the memory frequency to 2271.6MHz allowed SuperPi 1M to be run at a time of 18.486 seconds. Considering that SuperPi 1M is not exactly a useful tool and the fact that Corsair utilized Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT graphics card (launched in 2004), the overclockers did not run any video game tests so to determine performance benefits of nearly 2.30GHz memory speed operation on AMD Phenom II X6.

Corsair did not reveal the speed of memory controller and level-three cache of AMD Phenom II X6 1090T BE processor. If memory controller frequency multiplier was not changed, then its clock-speed could be as high as 2.86GHz. However, Corsair did note that it experimented with various timings, sub timings, voltages, multiple processors and various frequencies, hence, actual clock-speed of memory controller could be lower than 2860MHz and that means lower impact of memory overclocking on performance.

“The new Phenom II X6 CPUs offer a quantum leap in overclockability for the AMD platform. The combination of the new CPU core and Corsair’s most aggressively sorted DIMMs results in some truly amazing memory performance,” said Jim Carlton, vice president of marketing at Corsair.

 

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Response:
Corsair Memory certainly pushed the envelope on AMD Phenom II overclocking by achieving an impressive memory frequency of 2287.6MHz on their Dominator GTX4 modules. Using a setup that included an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition, an Asus Crosshair IV Formula motherboard, a Corsair Hydro-series H50 cooler, and a pair of Dominator GTX4 DIMMs with an Airflow memory fan, they set what looks to be a new world record for memory sub-system speeds on this platform.
A few key takeaways:

• Although the record was set at a blistering 2287.6MHz with CL9 timings, they encountered stability issues—as evidenced by errors running SuperPi 1M in the final iteration—which required dropping the frequency slightly to 2271.6MHz for a stable run.
• This achievement demonstrates the potential of Corsair’s aggressively sorted and high-performance memory, yet whether such overclocking provides meaningful performance improvements in everyday or gaming scenarios remains debatable.
• Notably, the overclocking setup used older hardware in other areas (like the Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT), and performance benefits in real-world applications weren't tested extensively.
• Details on the memory controller and L3 cache frequencies on the AMD Phenom II remain murky, so while the memory component has been pushed to nearly 2.30GHz, the impact on overall system performance might be limited if the memory controller isn’t similarly overclocked.

Jim Carlton, Corsair's VP of Marketing, lauded the new Phenom II X6 CPUs for offering a “quantum leap” in overclockability on the AMD platform, hinting at the exciting potential for enthusiasts who want to break records. However, as always with extreme overclocking, the trade-offs in stability and potential long-term reliability (plus the voiding of warranties) mean that such feats are best left to the lab—or for those who love tinkering with every bit and nanosecond of performance.
What do you think—is pushing memory speeds to record levels more about bragging rights for overclockers, or do you see practical benefits in daily use?