Corsair Launches 3GHz DDR3 Dominator Platinum Memory

A couple of weeks back, we spoke about Team Group and how it had become the first company to launch a 3 GHz DDR3 memory product. Corsair is now doing something similar.

The company has introduced the Dominator Platinum, featuring a new PCB (printed circuit board), internal cooling layers and external copper thermal pads meant to hold aluminum fins with DHX (dual-path heat exchange). Corsair couldn't exactly afford not to optimize heat dissipation, since the 3 GHz speed, achieved through use of new 4 Gb chips, generates a lot of heat. There will be both dual-channel and quad-channel kits whenever the company finally starts shipping them. Overclockers will have a filled day with them. And here is where the catch comes in: overclockers are the only ones with any sort of reason to buy these things.

If you're a normal customer, you won't need to do more than gawk at the high speed and move on. Sure, the heatspreader looks nice, but isn't really likely to capture interest for more than a minute or two, not to mention that it won't exactly be visible from inside the desktop case. This is one thing that memory makers won't tell you: after a certain point, clock speeds and nice-looking cooling aren't really all that relevant. System performance doesn't actually benefit much from frequencies higher than 1,333 MHz. Sure, benchmark scores will go through the roof when hardcore modules are installed, but real-world performance won't go up by any relevant amount.

As was the case with Team Group's aforementioned product release, this 3 GHz memory is a stepping stone in the company's preparation for the DDR4 standard, and Micron is ahead of them both, having already introduced such a module. That said, sales of Corsair's 3 GHz DDR3 will begin this summer, but no capacity or price details have been provided.

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