While almost every enthusiast who has tinkered with memory knows the name Infineon, few know Infineon's memory division, Qimonda (the #3 DRAM maker in the world), or Qimonda's OEM branch Aeneon (although, again, those familiar with memory ICs, might recognize the name from some pretty good enthusiast kits). Aeneon memory has, until recently, made their mark primarily as a supplier of OEM parts for notebooks and desktops.
While almost every enthusiast who has tinkered with memory knows the name Infineon, few know Infineon's memory division, Qimonda (the #3 DRAM maker in the world), or Qimonda's retail branch Aeneon (although, again, those familiar with memory ICs, might recognize the name from some pretty good enthusiast kits). Aeneon memory has, until recently, made their mark primarily as a supplier of OEM parts for notebooks and desktops.
With the release of the XTune Series, Aeneon hopes to expand their market beyond the OEM sector and offer their own branded enthusiast parts. Today HardwareLogic takes a look at Aeneon's initial DDR3 offering, the Aeneon XTune DDR3-1333 2 GB memory kit. Although DDR3 is still figuratively in its infancy, Aeneon is jumping head first into the DDR3 market, hoping that early adopters of the next generation memory technology will scoop up the XTune kits.
| Kit |
- Aeneon XTUNE DDR3-1333 2GB Memory Kit
- AXH760UD00-13GA98X
|
| Type |
|
| Size |
- 2GB (2x1GB) Dual Channel Kit
|
| Timings |
- 8(CAS) - 8(tRCD) - 8(tRP) - 15(tRAS), 2T(CMD)
|
| Speed |
|
| Voltage |
|
| Warranty |
|
With prices ranging from $250 to $500, 2GB kits of DDR3 memory have been a hard sell, especially with 4GB of enthusiast grade DDR2 memory selling for less than half the price of the cheapest DDR3 parts. However, with Intel's X38 and the soon to be released X48 based boards hitting the market, those early adopters wanting to be at the cutting edge are having to bite the bullet and invest (heavily) into the newest memory technology.
So why should you care about DDR3? Up until now, that's been a very valid question, as the results of most DDR3 kits have been less than spectacular. However, as the clock speeds rise and latencies drop (along with much lower power consumption), DDR3 becomes much more appealing to those wanting top performance.
The Aeneon DDR3-1333 we'll cover today will fit firmly in the "yawner" category for many enthusiasts with its lack of XMP support, but with latencies of 8-8-8-15 @ 1.5V, the Aeneon XTune DDR3-1333 kit may be just the ticket to finally make the switch from a DDR2 to a DDR3 based system (like that awesome Asus P5E3-Deluxe WiFi board we covered a few weeks back).
The Aeneon XTune DDR3-1333 kit features a pair of 1GB modules, built upon a blue PCB and dressed in flat aluminum heatspreaders with the company logo on each side, and the "XTUNE" logo and sticker with kit particulars on opposite.
Boasting comparatively tight latencies of 8-8-8-15-2T at the JEDEC DDR3 specification voltage of 1.5V, will the Aeneon XTune DDR3-1333 kit offer much when it comes to overclocking headroom and flexibility, or will it be a simple case of what you see is what you get?
