X-bit labs

CeBIT 2008 Coverage: Part 1

Category: Editorial

by Anton Shilov

[ 03/09/2008 | 06:06 AM ]

This year CeBIT trade-show kicked off a little earlier than usual and it is really cold in Hannover, Germany. But it should not be chilly in large pavilions of Deutsche Messe, where thousands of this season’s hottest IT products are exhibited. We managed to picture the first AMD’s 45nm wafer candidates, Nvidia GeForce 9800 GX2, Freon cooling system from Thermaltake and many other interesting devices and products.

Table of contents:

• Faster, Higher, Stronger: 2133GHz with CAS8 from Corsair Memory
  
• Second Impact: Power Color Develops Own Dual-Chip Graphics Card
  
• Through Thorns to the… Cities: AMD Demos 45nm Wafers, Servers on Shanghai Processors.
  
• Personal Computers for Everyone: GeCube Competes with Asus Eee PC
  
• Cold As Ice: Thermaltake Demos Stock Freon Cooling System
  
• Two Is Always Better Than One: EVGA Demonstrates Nvidia GeForce 9800 GX2
  

Faster, Higher, Stronger: 2133GHz with CAS8 from Corsair Memory

Corsair Memory, on of the world’s largest makers of memory modules, demonstrated what they call to be the world’s fastest memory modules on the Earth: the modules that can run at 2133MHz with CAS 8 timings.

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Despite of the fact that memory module makers have to make hard choices when it comes to performance products (e.g., capacity vs. clock-speeds vs. latency settings), they still tend to focus on extreme frequencies, simply due to the fact that this attracts a lot of attention from enthusiasts.

This year Corsair decided to showcase its Dominator DDR3 memory modules capable of running at rather unprecedented clock-speed and timings: 2133MHz with 8-8-8 latency settings. Just several days before CeBIT took off, Kingston Memory managed to demonstrate 2.13GHz memory modules, but at that time latencies were set at 9-9-9. Obviously, there will hardly be any substantial performance difference between real-world performance of Corsair’s and Kingston’s ultra high-end memory, but formally Corsair now has the DDR3 speed crown.

It is interesting to note that both companies used Nvidia nForce 790i SLI-based mainboards to run DDR3 modules at 2.13GHz, but not Intel X48-based platforms. Theoretically, this may mean that at this time Intel X48 is not as good overclocker as Nvidia’s new-generation core-logic. However, it should be pointed out that Nvidia’s nForce 790i SLI still needs further development: from time to time demo system at Corsair’s booth at CeBIT crushed, an indicator that the platform still needs to pass thorough testing before going on the market.

Nvidia nForce 790i SLI-based system running Corsair Dominator memory modules at 2133GHz

Thanks to efforts of companies like Elpida Memory and Micron Technology, both DDR2 and DDR3 clock-speeds are hardly limited by chips themselves, but rather by design of memory modules as well as capabilities of memory controllers. Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp. are doing their best provide platforms that have incredible overclocking capabilities and those chipsets are definitely appreciated by enthusiasts. But what is not completely clear now is the future if ultra high-speed memory modules and custom platforms. Intel’s code-named Nehalem processors will have built-in triple-channel DDR3 memory controller. It is not obvious that the memory controller will be good for overclocking, while it is natural that third-party chipset developers will not be able to help to improve it.