Article: Kingston® KVR533D2N4K2/1G Dual Channel Kit Value RAM (Affordable Overclocker's RAM?)
Many thanks to Kingston®, and Intel® for providing the processor.
VI. Overclocking
While this not targetted for overclocking, and the price is clearly emphasizing "value", I proceeded to check whether the module still offers some untap capability and headroom for overclocking. The result is very interesting. When overclocking RAM, there are two ways to do it: one is the usual FSB increase, increasing FSB will push RAM frequency and another way is tightening the RAM timings.
The graph above summarizes and puts everything in proper perspective. When running on stock voltage and stock timing, the memory modules hit 640MHz beyond stock speed. That is 107MHz above stock speed of the rated speed! Bumping the memory voltage to 1.9v hits its wall at 667MHz, that is the next memory speed bump for DDR2. This is good news if you have a motherboard that has very little option for memory voltage. However, with 2.2v running on its vein, the memory reach 707MHz, a 147Mz free increase is a nice great welcome addition of performance.
As for tightening the timing, from CL4 to CL3, the memory reach 560MHz only before hitting the wall. Pumping the voltage to the next available settings of 1.9v helps this memory reach 580MHz. After 2.2v has been set, the memory flex its muscles and shows it can break the 667MHz barrier and zoomed at 680MHz. The Kingston* ValueRAM indeed proved its worth at this part of the test.
