Extreme Performance & Overclocking

Now we just figured to go one step further and check what more is possible with the 10th Anniversary series from Crucial, cause maybe there is more left in this memory than we might think. This will actually be done in two ways, either by overclocking the memory speed or by overclocking the Intel processor. Both should show an increase in performance, so we will check what the exact impact is for these Limited Edition memory sticks. This time we will be using SiSoftware Sandra to provide us the memory bandwidth raw power indication.

Memory Bandwidth (PC2-5300 667MHz - E6300 1.86GHz)

Memory Bandwidth (PC2-5300 667MHz - E6300 2.33GHz)

By just leaving the memory sticks at their default speed, but overclocking our Core 2 Duo E6300 processor to 2.33GHz we get a boost in bandwidth of around 1200MB/s. Quite some impressive bandwidth results these 10th Anniversary put down. This is already a great result, but we expect more from these now that saw that it is capable for doing 800MHz. So let's just increase the memory speed and redo our benchmark run once again.

Memory Bandwidth (PC2-6400 800MHz - E6300 1.86GHz)

Memory Bandwidth (PC2-6400 800MHz - E6300 2.80GHz)

Yeah these Crucial 10th Anniversary sticks keep amazing us with their top notch performance. Having increased the memory speed to 800MHz and also upped the Core 2 Duo E6300 to 2.8GHz the bandwidth boost is just unbelievable. Again we notice a significant gain of about 1200MB/s. These memory sticks just blew us away. Let's hope the 10th year will stay a bit longer as these Crucial 10th Anniversary kits come with high performance and look awesome.

Final Thoughts

The Crucial 10th Anniversary memory modules are definitely very impressive. Clearly the 10th Anniversary line is marketing itself to users that want more from their memory than other manufacturers provide. Case modders are the first to come to mind, but really anyone with a windowed case would be interested in the 10th Anniversary series modules. The Crucial 10th Anniversary 2GB Limited Edition dual channel pack is one heck of a bottleneck reducer and one of the fastest set of Crucial memory modules to pass through our hand and benchmark suites.

The Crucial 10th Anniversary 2GB kit is not the cheapest 2GB PC2-5300 kit you'll find, but it is certainly one of the highest in quality. At default clock speeds, a timing of 3-3-3-12 can be achieved which is amongst the lower timings you'll see on the market in this price range, and it doesn't do bad at overclocking either. Making it up to 800MHz fine providing you increase the timings with the clock speed. Of course if you are looking for 800MHz qualified memory, you're probably better off paying extra for a PC2-6400 kit to guarantee the ram isn't holding you back.

We were able to overclock these modules up to 900MHz, quite a major increase, which shows that there is some elbow room in these 10th Anniversary modules. It is likely that with reduced timings, like 5-5-5-12 or slower we would have been able to increase the clock rate to the memory modules, however there is no real point, as it is simply not possible to pump that much data through to the CPU over the FSB. You can rest easy that memory speed will not be the bottleneck in your system with these modules, as a matter of fact; they should be fast enough for any of the current processors around.

The Crucial 10th Anniversary PC2-5300 is a fantastic product and deserves the credit its receiving as the price is competitive and its performance is better than most. It's rated at PC2-5300 or DDR2-667; however the chips used are also capable of running at higher speeds such as DDR2-800. So this 2GB dual channel kit has proven to be one hell of performer with outstanding memory bandwidth. The bottom line is, the product is not hyped up in anyway, the ram deserves the recognition and awards it is receiving. So go on and celebrate with Crucial and pick those lovely 10th Anniversary Edition memory sticks!

Pros

• Cool Looks and Awesome Design
• Special Blue/Silver Heat Spreaders
• Extremely Stable and Reliable
• Outstanding Memory Latency
• Solid Overclocking Capabilities
• Excellent Functionality and Support
• Impressive Gaming Performance
• Limited Lifetime Warranty
• Competitive Price Tag

Cons

• N/A

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