Mushkin Redline Ascent 6-7-6-18 Triple Channel 3 x 2GB CL6.0-DDR3-1600 MHz

Category : DDR3

Published by Marc Voser on 06.07.09

With the Redline Ascent 6-7-6-18 Triple Channel 3 x 2 GByte CL6.0-DDR3-1600 MHz Mushkin has a memory kit in its portfolio which doesn't only look good it should also perform very well. At 1'600 MHz the kit should be driven at 1.65 volts that very sharp 6-7-8-18 T1 are possible. On the following pages we will show you what is possible with this high-performance memory kit.








On the following pages we will show the strenghts and weaknesses of these high-performance modules.



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Technical details

Manufacturer	Mushkin
Chips Manufacturer	Elpida J1108BBSE TWN non-Hypers
Type	DDR3
Capacity	6 GByte (3 x 2 GByte)
Clock	DDR3-1600 MHz
Timings	6-7-6-18-T1
VDIMM	1.65V
PCB	6-Layer PCB
Registred/Unbuffered	Unbuffered
ECC	No
Cooling	RED Frostbyte Heatspreader
Warranty	10 Jahre Lifetime

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Package

The high-end triple-channel-kit arrives in a nice and noble aluminium case which we are already familiar with from Mushkin. The box is cushioned with foam and has space for four memory modules.







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Heatspreader

The red Frostbyte heatspreader sits well on the memory chips to delivery adequate cooling to the modules. Further you can also take the heatspreader off easily and what you'll find under the red cover are Elpida J1108BBSE chips which promise an enormeous potential.







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Test setup/Test results

Mainboard	Asus Rampage II Extreme Intel X58 Chipset
CPU	Intel Core i7 Extreme 975, 3.3 GHz
Graphics card	Nvidia GTX280
Memory	Mushkin Redline Ascent 6-7-6-18 Triple Channel CL6.0-DDR3-1600Mhz
Hard disk	Samsung F1 500 GB F1
PSU	Corsair 1000 Watt
Operating System	XP 32 bit

For our performance tests we use Everest Ultimate and SISoft Sandra as synthetic benchmarks. As a practical benchmark and stability test we chose SuperPi 32M.







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Overclocking

Referring to overclocking we only publish "Prime and SuperPI-32M-stable" values. We executed all the tests at 1.7 volts VDIMM. Therefore we reached a maximum clock speed of 2163.6 MHz with 8-9-7-22-T1 timings. It has been interesting to discover that the memory works best at a relatively low voltage of 1.7 volts VDIMM. If we set the voltage higher respectively above 1.75 volts the results started to get worse. Therefore we can remark that too high voltage with this memory kit is contra productive. On the other hand you can drive these modules also with very low voltages. At 1.6 Volts VDIMM for example we were already able to reach 1760 MHz with 6-7-8-18-T1 timings.

1982Mhz @ 7-8-7-20-T1

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Conclusion

With the Redline Ascent 6-7-8-18 3 x 2 GByte CL6.0-DDR3-1600 MHz Mushkin presents a triple channel memory kit for recent Core i7 platforms which is able to perform very well whilst using aggressive timings and having still a lot of overclocking potential.

To reach the given specifications the memory only needed 1.5 volts VDIMM and at 1.77 volts we were able to determine that the kit starts scaling negatively. In other words too much voltage is contra productive with these modules. Therefore the maximum clock speed reachable at 1.77 volts VDIMM is lower than with 1.7 volts VDIMM.

The redline memory kit can show its muscles when using low latencies. With CL6.0, respectively 6-7-8-18 T1 we were able to reach 1760 MHz clock speed. This very good value was also reached at only 1.6 volts VDIMM which is very low at this level of performance. Generally the memory reacts positively to different latencies. Therefore at CL9 we were ablo to reach a SuperPi 32M stable clock speed of 2163.6 MHz. Also in all the other tests the memory performed very well because of the low latencies.

With the Redline Ascent 6-7-8-18 triple channel kti 3 x 2 GByte CL6.0-DDR3-1600MHz Mushkin has a product in its portfolio which especially fit hardware-enthusiasts or overclockers needs. Further would weren't able to encounter compatibility issues with any of our mainboards.


The Mushktin Redline Ascent 6-7-6-18 Triple Channel 3 x 2 GByte CL6.0-DDR3-1600MHz Kit can be bought at Digitec.ch to a price of CHF 229.- (EUR 155.-).





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Author: m.voser@ocaholic.ch
Redacted by: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch