Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 2133MHz 16GB Memory Kit Review

After we had configured the memory to run at the correct stock speeds and timings, we proceeded to boot into Windows to check that the settings had stuck by taking a look at CPU-Z.

After we had confirmed our speeds, we continued to open AIDA64 so that we could take a look at the stock performance of this kit. This is a great way to start when benchmarking and attempting to overclock memory as it gives us a stable ground for comparison later on.

Taking a look at the stock performance levels, we can clearly see that a higher level of attention to detail has gone into the kits with read speeds of 20834MB/s, write of 18589MB/s and copy of 22540MBs at a latency of 36.2ns. Considering this is a 2133MHz kit, the bandwidth available is higher than that of the 2400MHz kits we’ve seen lately. As these kits are meticulously hand picked with each one being individually tested and selected for their performance, starting ground up with the ICs themselves, there is a good scope for this kit having a bit more in it, although how far this is to stretch is what we’re about to find out.

Like any other kit, we first of all overclock our 3770k to 4.5GHz to alleviate some of the bottleneck that is present on the memory controller and let the Platinum breath a bit more easily. Once this is done, the first job was to start jumping up through the preset dividers and with a slight slackening of the timings to 10-12-12-31, 2400MHz was easily achieved with no fuss. Unfortunately 2600MHz resulted in a no boot even with further slackening to the timings and a raise in voltage, indicating the 200MHz band where this kit was going to hit its limit. Raising the BCLK up bit by bit, the 2500MHz barrier quickly passed and eventually at 107.1MHz and a voltage of 1.55v, we hit the upper limit of what this kit could hold at a remarkable speed of 2580MHz in respect to its stock speeds.

Following one of the easiest overclocks I’ve experienced with a memory kit, and some in-between testing for stability, the final results appeared with read speeds of 24829MB/s, write of 22772MB/s and copy of 24825MB/s at a reduced latency of 30.4ns. We did attempt to reduce the timings down ever so slightly and whilst the system did boot, at the moment we got to the Windows login screen, we we bombarded with Windows memory errors showing the tighter timings were not stable.