A-data 2GB DDR2-800 Extreme Edition memory - Page 3 - Photos #1

Why Gigabytes of memory?

Windows 98, who didn't use that OS? What amount of memory did your PC have? Right, likely 128 MB.

Over the years we progressed and noticed that applications have gotten more and more memory intensive. With Windows XP we moved towards 512 MB as standard to prevent the OS from swapping to the HD, and as explained on the previous page with the latest games we see that the certain games really like 1 GB. All this has happened over just a couple of years my friends.

Then Microsoft launched Windows Vista, the biggest memory hog in the world. 1 GB is just be the average recommended specification. They actually recommend 2 GB. See... 2GB isn't that special anymore.

The AData Vitesta (did they try and mimic Vista with that tag?) memory we'll be testing today is two bars of 1 GB (in dual channel mode you gain the best memory bandwidth). The modules are tagged under SKU number ADQVD1A16 and have some pretty audacious 4-4-4-12 timings (for DDR2 memory) at 800 MHz. For two GB of memory these are really nice timings. Especially with a ~60 USD pricetag. It's EPP memory, meaning that the mainboards that support it (EPP), can read out pre-set configuration from the memory for optimal timings. Do it like I do though, set it manually, please.

Let's have a peek at the modules.

Photo's

First let's have a good look at the modules tested today, the 2 GB kit from AData - ADQVD1A16 .

The clear blister packaging lets you get a good view of the modules with very bright red heatspreaders.

Details of the modules and timings can be read from a small sticker. You can spot SKU number and generic info on there. The little holographic sticker on each module is to make life of counterfeiters harder. In some countries people are making low-quality fake memory modules, it's actually a big market.

When you flip around the module, info like latencies are displayed. What I'm always missing on these stickers is recommended voltages. I don't know why it is so hard for manufacturers to understand the importance of that to include. Here we can see that heatspreader a tad more up-close and personal. The idea is that heat is moved away from the actual memory module and thus this increases potential oveclocking.

As you can see, alive and kicking it hard in our test system. Some worthwhile to know, AData offers a lifetime warranty with all its memory modules. A very promising and a nice looking product, now seated into the test system. Right, let's take her for a spin.