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Pence per Megabyte - 12.37
Torture Test at 200MHz – Passed
Torture Test Overclocked - Passed

Undoubtedly one of the great names in memory, Corsair has only actually been around since 1994. By offering products and support aimed at the enthusiast market, along with its new water-cooling products, Corsair has quickly gained an enviable reputation.

For the value category Corsair sent us some of its Value Select series modules. These are rated by Corsair to run at 200MHz at 2.6v though timings aren’t specified. The modules carry a lifetime warranty.

The memory chips used were “Value Select” branded and etched VS32MB-5 2B0419. No heat spreaders were employed on these modules.

First Impressions

It comes as quite a shock to the system to handle naked Corsair memory having grown so used to the now familiar Platinum or black heat spreaders. No such luxuries on offer here, what we have are plain, green PCBs with 16 TSOP wire bonded memory chips on each.

The modules are packaged individually in hinged, semi-rigid blister style packs which give satisfactory protection during transit.

Testing – 200MHz

Rank When Tested on a Prescott CPU at 200MHz: 8th from 18
Rank When Tested on a Northwood CPU at 200MHz: 10th from 18

If you’ve only used Corsair’s XMS series memory before, chances are you weren’t expecting to see results like these. We must remember however that Corsair’s Value Series modules are very much created to be cheap rather than fast and that makes an eighth place finish on our Prescott platform a very respectable result

Testing – Overclocking

Maximum Frequency - Overclocked using SPD settings: 225MHz
Maximum Frequency - Overclocked using manual settings (CL-4-4-8) low ambient of 18c: 225MHz
Maximum Frequency - Overclocked using manual settings (CL-4-4-8) high ambient of 28c: 215MHz

Rank - overclocked performance (high ambient): 17th from 18

There had to be an Achilles heel and Overclocking was it. At just 225MHz under ideal conditions this dropped to a strangely heat-sensitive 215MHz under higher ambient conditions. 2.8v was the best setting with things getting a little screwy at 2.9 and 2.7v.

Verdict

Overall Rank, all performance parameters included: 13th from 18

A placing of 13th from 18 is perhaps a little harsh as this rank is affected badly by the poor overclocking performance and the Value Select would have been nearer 9th or 10th but for this. If Overclocking doesn’t matter to you then these modules are a worthy choices, particularly at just 12.37p per Megabyte.

Corsair made it clear to me that these modules are manufactured for price and not speed, and that much is clear. Good rather than great performance is sweetened slightly by aggressive pricing making these modules still worth considering.

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