So is it really worth getting more MHz for more money? It’s true till you hit the sweet spot, which in the case of DDR3 memory happens to be 1600 MHz, after which you get diminishing returns.
This particular model is the Kingston HX318LS10IBK2/8 which happens to be rated for 1866 MHz CL10. It also supports two other JEDEC profiles – 1600 MHz CL9 and 1333 MHz CL8. For the uninitiated, it seems that having a greater Front Side Bus (FSB) frequency equals greater performance.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the whole story. You need to pay attention to the latency timings as well, which in this case is indicated by the number next to CL9.
So is it really worth getting more MHz for more money? It’s true till you hit the sweet spot, which in the case of DDR3 memory happens to be 1600 MHz, after which you get diminishing returns. However, this is the case for the average user. If your applications are more focused on memory bandwidth then more MHz is better. When we ran PCMark on the kit at 1600 MHz and 1866 MHz, the scores were only different by 2 points which is within the margin or error. But when a memory only benchmark like MaxxMem was run on the two kits, we noticed a sizeable jump in scores which amounted to 10.17 per cent. So choose your DIMM wisely.
Specifications
HX318LS10IBK2/8
Form factor: SODIMM
JEDEC Timings: DDR3-1866 CL10, DDR3-1600 CL9, DDR3-1333 CL8
Voltage: 1.35V
Height: 30mm
Heat spreader: None
Contact
Kingston Technology
Phone: 1860 233 4515
Email: sales_india@kingston.com,
Website: http://www.kingston.com/
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Mithun Mohandas
Mithun Mohandas is an Indian technology journalist with 10 years of experience covering consumer technology. He is currently employed at Digit in the capacity of a Managing Editor. Mithun has a background in Computer Engineering and was an active member of the IEEE during his college days. He has a penchant for digging deep into unravelling what makes a device tick. If there's a transistor in it, Mithun's probably going to rip it apart till he finds it. At Digit, he covers processors, graphics cards, storage media, displays and networking devices aside from anything developer related. As an avid PC gamer, he prefers RTS and FPS titles, and can be quite competitive in a race to the finish line. He only gets consoles for the exclusives. He can be seen playing Valorant, World of Tanks, HITMAN and the occasional Age of Empires or being the voice behind hundreds of Digit videos. View Full Profile
