2,000MHz Core i7 Memory is Everywhere!

Hitting 2,000MHz with Core i7 CPUs seems to be the big thing now and everyone has their own take on this new extreme end:

Corsair has its Dominator GT - the red haired little devils that are based on the new DHX+ technology are rated to the holy grail of 2,000MHz at just 7-8-7-20 needing only 1.65V of juice. Check them out in use, here.

OCZ's new Blade Series also sports the same 7-8-7-20 at 2,000MHz with 1.65V, although it uses a green PCB instead of black. The new Blade heatsink design takes a simpler but smart approach to black anodised aluminium - it's another direction than the less "shouty" or "funky" (whatever your tastes) Corsair GT.

A-Data, which have recently reinvented itself into an "enthusiast" brand (so I've been told in the hundreds of PRs I've had in the last few months) don't just have 2,000MHz parts but also 2,133MHz as well. The downside is that it's 9-9-9-24 and 10-10-10-30 and 2.05-2.15V, which are quite pathetic in comparison.

G.Skill doesn't launch a new series - instead applying its current range of Pi-Black heatspreaders to its 2,000MHz kit that runs at a slightly slower 8-8-8-21 at the voltage enhanced, 1.65V.

Geil also gets in on the action, with its "Ultra Triple Channel" 2,000MHz kits at a slightly slower 8-8-8-28 or 9-9-9-28 at 1.65V, however its website claims they are in limited supply and the memory "only" features standard heatspreaders so you don't get quite the pizazz for your purchase.

Kingston's T1 series yields another set of new heatspreaders - these are taller than anything Kingston has previously used, but just as blue, and they run at a slightly slower 9-9-9-x at just 1.65V, but are only available in 3GB kits not 6GB like above.

Other performance memory companies like Patriot and Crucial memory currently list non-i7 optimised kits at these super high speeds, but we expect it's only a matter of time before everyone follows suit in one way or another.

The downside to hitting 2,000MHz it pretty much impossible unless you have a Core i7 965 XE (I'll be happily proved wrong if anyone can demonstrate a 920 hitting it though, but we've not seen it yet), and the CPU memory controller (uncore) voltage needs to be jacked up to an eye watering 1.5-1.65V! So, it looks like extreme performance is still out of the realms of most people, leaving only those sponsored or with plenty of cash to burn.

So are these are great way to see the performance potential of a new platform, as everyone loves a bit of extreme overclocking after all, or just products for the very elitist few that bear even less association to the average enthusiast than the Core i7 platform already does? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.