The first report comes from EE Times where their “observers of the electronics and computer industries” – aka nameless sources – have said that Apple has “thrown out” their contract with Samsung for microprocessor manufacturing and is teaming up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. for the immediate future. Apple’s next-generation A7 processor has also been rumored to have been taped out by this company already – that’s a few steps behind actual production!

Meanwhile Digitimes – a group we must remind you has been as reliable as unreliable with their sources in the past, but do have some top-level contacts that end up revealing valuable information rather often – suggest that Samsung is currently unable to fill even their own requirements for memory products. With their Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets pumping out sales like no tomorrow, this report suggests that they’ll be looking for help!

Samsung’s own supply of memory products is already falling short of demand, including that for its Galaxy-series smartphones and tablets, industry sources have claimed.

Also interesting is the added suggestion that Samsung isn’t using these purchased parts for their own Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. Instead, this source suggests, Samsung is keeping its own production reserved for its own mobile products while the rest is shipped out to non-Samsung devices.

They noted that Samsung reportedly is buying more chips from Japanese firms while continuing to use its in-house produced chips for its Galaxy-series mobile devices. This is reportedly happening when Samsung has actually implemented a strategy to tightly control its chip output, the observers pointed out.

That’s a rather sizable claim to be making, and unless Samsung comes forth to say it’s true, we suggest you down a bit of salt while you think about it. If Samsung was indeed reserving its whole DRAM and NAND flash memory production for its own mobile products, notebooks, PCs, and the like, they’d have to integrate their whole business and depend solely on those mobile products to win. Samsung is simply too massive to do such a thing without some big-time decision-making being made.

This is the second of what we must assume will be several previews of the upcoming album, one that’s quite a few years in the making. As the team’s last “proper” album was released in 2005, this will be the first time we’ve heard a non-soundtrack set of tracks from Daft Punk in 8 years. The newest promo you’ll see here shows what may be the cover of the album as well.

The first of two promo videos was also shown during an episode of Saturday Night Live. This is also the first time these fabulous electro-power-team will be releasing an album with Columbia Records.

Sony Music owns the Columbia Records and, according to Pitchfork, they’ve registered a collection of track lengths in the order of a 13-track album that’s more than likely set to be the Daft Punk album in full. These tracks are anywhere from 3:48 to 9:04 in length, with most of the tracks hitting at least the 4-minute mark.

You’ll be able to grab this album on the 21st of May, 2013, and pre-orders are available right this minute. This beast will be available on CD, vinyl record, and in digital format from your favorite music sale sources across the planet.

Ram has announced that it will be building the industry’s only light-duty diesel-powered pickup. Diesel engines in trucks in the United States are limited to heavy duty vehicles designed for towing and other needs. The 2014 Ram 1500 will have an optional 3.0-liter EcoDiesel engine mated to an eight-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission.

RAM promises that the engine will offer best in class fuel efficiency, best in class torque, and impressive overall capability. The V-6 engine is a turbodiesel and promises to produce 60% less emissions than was produced by diesel-powered trains of 25 years ago. The engine will be manufactured by VM Motori, the company who has provided the Chrysler Group with diesel engines since 1992.

The available EcoDiesel engine marks the first time that an American truck manufacturer has offered diesel power in a light-duty half-ton pickup. Ram didn’t offer horsepower or torque specifications for the new engine at this time. You can bet it will have a huge amount of torque and an impressive towing capacity, hallmarks of a power in the truck market.

[via Ram Trucks]

Kingston says that the 2800 MHz kits are designed to perform flawlessly on Asus and Gigabyte mainboards. The kits are designed specifically to work with new third-generation Core i7 and Core i5 processors. The RAM is built using and 22 nm architecture offering performance gains for enthusiasts and overclockers.

An 8 GB 2666 MHz kit with a pair of 4 GB modules will launch soon at unspecified pricing. A 2400 MHz kit with a pair of 4 GB modules is available for $89.99. A 16 GB kit of a pair of 8 GB modules operating at 2133 MHz is available for $219.99. An 8 GB, 2133 MHz kit sells for $74.99 with a pair of 4 GB modules. Kingston also offers a 1600 MHz 16 GB kit with a pair of 8 GB modules for $129.99.

Hardware

Our Powerbox review unit had the latest and definitely greatest in gaming hardware, complete with an Intel Core i7-3820 CPU running at 3.6Ghz, a monster NVIDIA GTX 690 GPU (with an MSRP of about a thousand dollars all by itself), and an Asrock EXTREME4-M Micro-ATX x79 motherboard. But that’s all details (and all configurable, by the way): the stars of the show are the memory and storage. In addition to a massive 1.5 terabyte storage drive made up of two Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drives in a RAID 0 configuration, there’s an 240GB OCZ Revodrive 3X2 SSD that sits in one of the PCI-E bays to hold the Windows partition.

But the pride and joy of the Powerbox is its RAMDisk, a permanently active 20GB partition that sits on the machine’s 32GB of DDR3 memory leaving 6GB for system use. (4GB each is dedicated to the PCI-E and hybrid drive caches.) Ours came in four 8GB Corsair DIMMs. The Windows pagefile, TEMP directory and IE and Chrome browsers sit on the RAMDisk by default for maximum performance. The read speeds for the RAMDisk is an amazing 8GB per second, at least theoretically.

All of this is wrapped up in a Lian Li case customized with externally mounted fans (plus another three inside, with two dedicated to the liquid-cooled CPU) to accommodate all of this high-end hardware, plus a 750 watt Thermaltake modular power supply. The case and motherboard combo allows for double USB 3.0 connections on the front and  two more around back, another six USB 2.0 ports, two eSATA and one Firewire port, SPDIF and 5.1 audio right off the motherboard, and two PS/2 ports for you old school types.

Altogether our configuration of the Powerbox came to a cringe-inducing $4,463, with basic configurations starting at $2,999 with a 10GB RAMDisk, 260GB PCI-ESSD and a GTX 680. Yes, you could certainly build it yourself for less, but this is for gamers who want the bang in an all-in one package. For those of you who are builders, be aware that due to the design of the Lian-Li case and the size of the components, modification will not be easy – you’ve got to remove the PSU and most of the intricately arranged cabling in order to access any of the components.

Software

The Powerbox comes with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, and not much else. However, there’s some considerable modifications done in order to maximize performance. In addition to the browser, pagefile and cache moves mentioned above, the box comes pre-loaded with a full version of Primo Ramdisk Ultimate Edition, for switching the RAMDisk from Direct-IO to SCSI mode and back again, among other things. You’ll also get a free copy of SuperSpeed Disk Cache, the two utilities totaling a value of $200. In addition to the basic tools that come along with the drivers, you get AsRock’s XFastUSB tool for dynamic monitoring and boosting of the motherboard’s USB 3.0 ports. Some inoffensive software like Chrome, Flash player and Paint.net is pre-loaded.

It must be said that the RAMRod’s non-standard storage and memory usage created some stability issues. Older drivers for the GTX 690 graphics card may have contributed to this, since they (mostly) went away after I installed new ones. Even so, there were more hang-ups and freezes than we like to see on a modern system.

Performance

This is what you came to see. What’s the point in spending thousands of dollars on a gaming PC if it doesn’t beat all comers, right? Well, the basic performance of the RAMRod Powerbox doesn’t disappoint. In our standard Geekbench test, the Powerbox beat everything except the new HP z420 workstation, and that’s running off of a newer-generation Xeon octo-core processor, so we’re inclined to be generous.

The really impressive scores here are for storage. We’ve included the new Anvil benchmark for the hybrid storage drive in the gallery below, but the star of the show is the 20GB RAMDisk. In the benchmark the RAMDisk read consistently above 4GB per second, with write speeds nearing the 3GB mark. Also note the Input-Output Per Second score of 1.1 million read, and over 700,000 write – according to DV Nation, no other gaming system can match it, and we’re not arguing.

The PCI-E system drive is impressively fast in its own right, with reads consistently going over 1GB per second and breaking 4GB on the 128K file test. Write speeds were somewhat poorer, but the input/output score was an impressive 665,744 . If you’re swimming in numbers right now, consider that the average Ultrabook with a standard SATA SSD gets about one tenth the scores of this system drive. You can see the 3DMark and PCMark scores, along with a few other benchmarks, in the gallery below.

But what did this do for games? Needless to say, the combination of some of the best components money can buy led to buttery smooth framerates on just about every game we tried. On a 1920×1200 monitor with every setting and switch set to its highest, plus V-sync enabled, the framerate never dropped below 60. With V-Sync off, we got eye-popping framerate scores of an average of 114 in the original Crysis, 124 in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, 131 in Batman: Arkham City, and 111 in Grand Theft Auto IV. We’re not the most demanding of gamers here at SlashGear, but suffice it to say, the Powerbox in this configuration can produce graphics better and faster than most people’s eyes can actually see, and with this level of hardware this is likely to remain the case for at least two or three years.

A note on some of the more physical aspects of the Powerbox: it’s loud. Very loud, and surprisingly so for a system of this size. But then you need to take into account the externally mounted fans and the high temperatures inside such a compressed build – there’s not a whole lot that can be done about it, even with the addition of Intel’s first-party liquid cooling. Those of you who plan to do your own upgrades beyond the graphics card and storage drives should do your homework beforehand.

Value

Make no mistake, this is a fantastically expensive gaming machine. Were I going to order it for myself, I’d opt for the full-sized tower with an Antec case, just because it’s easier to work with and probably quieter. That said, if you’ve got the money and the inclination (and if you’ve got a significant other, some impressive negotiation skills) then more power to you. Those who need a machine that’s semi-portable will be happier with what DV Nation calls the “SFF” Lian Li version, but be careful when moving it, as it still weighs in at about 30 pounds.

Wrap Up

Got a few thousand dollars you’re not doing anything with? Want the fastest storage that money can buy, convincingly disguised as a Windows gaming machine? Does the sound of case fans and GPU coolers lull you to sleep at night? Then DV Nation’s RAMRod Powerbox might just be your dream machine. It’s not cheap, it’s not subtle, and it’s certainly not for everyone, but as boutique gaming machines go, it’s hard to compete with. You can order one at their website.

This news once again proves the power of Apple in the global market, Samsung’s stock price falling regardless of if the Apple purchase of chips from any alternate company does end up being completely legitimate and true. As Apple’s force in the market continues its drive into the future, even a tip such as this can topple companies across the globe, with Samsung this week seeing its biggest daily fall in nearly four years. Currently Samsung is the world’s largest DRAM maker, Rueter’s reporting that they’ve had a tumble down 6.2 percent to a 9-week low of 1.23 million won – that being essentially equal to $1,000 USD.

Samsung has provided DRAM for several of Apple’s largest selling mobile devices in recent history, this move a very possible tip towards the a future in which Apple is completely Samsung independent. No word yet on whether this DRAM purchase will affect how the next-generation iPhone 5 or iPad of 2013 will be running, with neither Samsung nor Apple available for comment on the situation as of yet. Stay tuned!

[via Rueters]

Appleton is attributed with building semiconductor company Micron into one of the world’s largest makers of DRAM memory chips. He has a long history with the company, starting out as a production worker and eventually working his way up. He became an advocate for fair trade against Japanese rivals, which dominated the memory chip market back in the 80s by selling chips below cost, a practice known as dumping.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Appleton, Micron Chairman and CEO, passed away this morning in a small plane accident in Boise. He was 51. Our hearts go out to his wife, Dalynn, his children and his family during this tragic time. Steve’s passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large,” read a statement issued by Micron’s board.

Appleton had survived a plane crash back in 2004, where he sustained head injuries, a punctured lung, ruptured disk, and broken bones. However, he had not revealed the severity of his crash until 2006.

[via VentureBeat]

It’s a buyers market right now if you’re looking into RAM upgrades. IHS iSupply uses a “DRAM Inventory Index” to measure the inventory value at the end of a quarter against the sales for the quarter. The index is used to determine the DRAM inventory held by memory suppliers by recording the number of weeks of inventory the market has. At the end of the third quarter of 2011 inventory stood at 12.8 weeks, a 31% increase from 9.8 weeks in the second quarter. This is also extremely higher than the quarterly average of 9.2 weeks. For buyers of RAM this means you can upgrade for cheaper since suppliers are suffering and are forced to lower prices.

Of course there are reasons for this horrendous oversupply. One culprit affecting the market is newer applications, such as tablets. Tablets use lower densities of DRAM and are stunting sales growth of traditional laptops. For those in the market to upgrade your desktop PC or laptop, however, this may come as good news.

[via Allthingsd]

Luckily for Hynix and Micron the US court that was hearing the case has ruled against Rambus. The jury hearing the case has ruled that Hynix and Micron did not conspire to prevent the Rambus tech from gaining a foothold in the market. Samsung was initially in the case, but dropped out when it agreed to pay Rambus $900 million through 2015.

I bet someone at Samsung is kicking themselves right now. Hynix and Micron both denied any claims of conspiracy and said that technical issues and other factors kept Rambus out of the market. I wonder if Samsung will try and get out of paying all the money it promised after the ruling was handed down.

[via Google AFP]

All of the kits support the Intel XMP 1.3 profiles that allow the user to tune the RAM for performance. The Dominator kits come in 32GB and 16GB capacities and they have two different kits per capacity. There is a 32GB kit running at 1866MHz with latencies of 9-10-9-27. The other 32GB kit runs at 1600MHz with latencies of 10-10-10-27.

The 16GB kit runs at 2133MHz with latencies of 9-11-10-27. The second 16GB kit runs at 1866MHz with 9-10-9-27 latencies. Corsair also has Vengeance with 32GB, 10-11-10-30 1866 MHz kit, and a 32GB 1600 MHz kit at 10-10-10-27. The 16GB kits are both at 1600MHz with 9-9-9-24 and come in green or black. Vengeance kits also come in 8GB capacities.

The RAM kit is the 32GB 1866MHz Dominator. The kit includes four screened 8GB DDR3 modules that have the Corsair DHX+ heatsinks attacked. The RAM operates at 1.5V and is designed to run at 1866MHz. The timings on the RAM are 9-10-9-27.

Corsair has tested the kit with the upcoming quad channel and current dual channel platforms. The 32GB kit will land this month at a price that will curl your toes. This much RAM will set you back $999, but man will your rig be fast.

There have been two separate instances since the iPhone 4S launch that suggest the device would not be getting the hoped for boost in RAM. The first comes from an interview with Epic Games creative director Donald Mustard. In discussing the company’s development of Infinity Blade 2 for the next-gen device, Mustard let it slip that the iPhone 4S sports 512MB of RAM.

“I’m still shocked that, with the iPhone 4S, I’m literally running around with a 1080p video camera in my pocket, with an eight megapixel camera, 64GB of hard drive space and an A5 chip with 512MB of memory. This is a really powerful computer, right?”

Since top-tier game developers were seeded early iPhone 4S hardware for game development and optimization, Mustard is likely privy to the specs.

The second instance comes from a Chinese blog, AppVV, where a poster claims to have already obtained an iPhone 4S. In the discussion thread, the poster confirms that the device is still 512MB.

[via MacRumors]

The 1.25V memory will be offered in 16GB RDIMMs and each 16GB module will consume 3.7W per hour and provide an operating bandwidth of 1.333Mbps. That is a 15% power savings compared to the green 1.35V 16GB RDIMMs that use 30nm-class 4Gb chips. Samsung plans for mass production of the new 1.25V modules in multiple densities.

The RAM will be offered in 4GB, 8GB, and the 16GB modules. The modules will enter mass production after being qualified with OEMs. The memory should help large data centers save more money on power use and might reduce heat output from the servers too.

According to Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is no longer placing orders for MacBook Airs with 2GB of RAM. His industry checks suggest that all new 11.6- and 13.3-inch models will now sport 4G of RAM. Kuo also says that the MacBook Airs will now be bumped up from its 64GB SSD standard to 128GB and 256GB models.

Additionally, Kuo points out the specific Intel Sandy Bridge models to be used for the new MacBook Airs as the Core i5-2467M (1.6GHz), i7-2637M (1.7GHz), and i7-2677M (1.8GHz), which each consume only 17-watts of power. He also confirms the return of backlit keyboards for the new MacBook Airs.

[via Apple insider]

Kingston posted global revenue of $6.5 billion in 2010, which is as $2.4 billion increase from 2009. Kingston attributes that massive growth in 2010 to an increase in the average selling price and an increase in shipment volume. Kingston is one of the largest makers of all sorts of memory products from flash storage of RAM from computers like the new HyperX T1 kit it introduced this month.

Kingston said that the rise in average sales price started in Q1 2010 and continues throughout the year. A lot of the increased profit was thanks to enterprise customers with growth in the Kingston OEM and Flash business divisions.

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The company has announced a new 16GB RAM kit that will fit the latest notebooks out of Cupertino. The catch (and it is a big, fat, hairy, glaring catch) is that the RAM update costs $1,599.99. Yeah, nearly $1600, that is no typo. You could buy yourself a second notebook for that price.

The RAM is DDR3 SO-DIMM and the 16GB kit is with a pair of 8GB modules. The data rate is DDR3-1333 and the latencies on the RAM are CAS 9-9-9-24. OWC notes that the RAM meets Apple/Intel specifications. At that price, the kit should be delivered by a unicorn wrapped in rainbows.

The RAM is specifically designed for the Intel X58 systems and supports the new Core i7-990X CPU. The RAM has black heat sinks to complement mainboards with black components on board. The typical Kingston RAM kit has blue heat sinks. Kingston is offering the RAM in kits of three or six modules. Kit capacities range up to 24GB.

Kingston is offering the HyperX T1 Black in 1600MHz DDR3 flavor in 24GB, 12GB, and 6GB configurations. “Our new HyperX T1 Black triple-channel kits give enthusiasts the opportunity to combine performance and style into their PC build,” said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager, Kingston. “These high-capacity kits are ideal for the X58 products on the market, especially the new GIGABYTE G1-Killer gaming motherboards.” Check out the video below to see the RAM in action. The 24GB kit is $379, the 12GB kit sells for $190, and the 6GB kit is $104.

OCZ announced not long ago that it would be leaving the memory market that helped get the firm where it is today. Exiting markets is nothing new to OCZ, the company has also been in the laptop business, which it left, and has stopped making peripherals like mice and keyboards too.

The reason that OCZ is leaving the memory market is to focus its efforts on SSDs. OCZ has quietly built up a large and impressive array of SSD offering and has some crazy fast wares. The market for enthusiast RAM is crowded and the move will let OCZ focus on the SSD market, which is still popular and growing robustly. OCZ has noted that it will continue to support all owners of its RAM products moving forward so if you just bought some OCZ parts don’t worry.

Via PC Perspective

The new kits are DDR3-1600 CL7 offerings specifically for the LGA1366 and LGA1156 platforms. The new RAM will be offered in a 4GB kit of dual 2GB PC3-12800 DIMMs with latencies of 7-9-7-24 needing 1.65V. It will also come in a kit with 6GB of RAM using three 2GB DIMMs of PC3-12800 with the same 7-9-7-24 latencies needing 1.65V. Pricing on the RAM is unknown at this time.

“Our Radioactive Series has been very well received and we thought it only natural that we increase the number of kit choices offered to our customers. 2010 has been an incredible year for Mushkin. Our Callisto deluxe Series SSDs and Volta and Joule Power Supply Series have been great successes for us. We’re poised to continue this growth trend well into 2011, and have great things to offer for the upcoming year. We have very good partners around the world and with their efforts, all of these things have been made possible.” – Wade Shiflett, Mushkin, Inc. marketing director.

Take a look through this very exciting (aka blurry) gallery and tell us if you think it’s the real deal, legit, on the level, no doubt or what? Then take a trip down memory lane and check out all the news about the Nexus S and Gingerbread we’ve got. – Thanks Liaw for the tip!

[via XDA Developers]

The new heat sinks are called Redline Ridgeback. The heat sink on the RAM is designed for ultimate cooling with a design that uses countersunk screws to secure the heat sink for more even pressure on the RAM chips and better cooling. The heat sinks also use a special high quality thermal transfer pad to move heat from the chips to the aluminum heat sink.

Atop the heat sink is a ridged array of fins that expand the surface area of the heat sink to enhance the ability to dissipate heat. The new RAM heat sinks will be used in two RAM kits. One of the kits is the 4GB PC3-12800 Redline Ridgeback kit with timings of 6-8-6-24 at 1.65V. The other kit is a 6GB offering with the same timings and voltage. Pricing for the 4GB kit is $118.99 and pricing on the 6GB kit is $178.99.

Inside you’ll find new software by the name of ExTouch, this dedicated to helping improve Windows 7 touch input by giving you a dedicated App launcher. Feel free to visit Onkyo for additional information if you read Japanese. Looks kinda sassy!

[Via AkihabaraNews]

The RAM runs at 1600MHz right out of the box and meets all JEDEC standards to work with DDR3 using systems. The RAM runs at 1600MHz with CL9 CAS latencies and needs 1.5V to operate. Teh RAM uses Fly-by topology for more efficient commands, addresses, control signals, and clock signals.

The kits will be offered in single, dual, and triple channel setups. The RAM will be offered in a DDR3 2GB non ECC kit, a 2GB SO-DIMM non ECC kit, a 4GB dual channel kit that has no ECC, and a 6GB triple channel kit as well. Pricing is unknown at this time.

The new fan is covered in a hue that Henry Ford and Johnny Cash would have approved of – black. The new fan color will go along with the many black cases on the market and provide more of a stealth look for gamers. It has dual 60mm fans and the black color is anodized on the aluminum metal the fan housing is made from.

The dual 60mm fans have blue LEDs that glow when the fans are powered. The cooling fans are also quiet producing only 25dBA of sound. The black cooling fan ships as a standalone product and can be purchased for $23.

Mushkin will be adding more kits to the new Radioactive series at a future date. The currently available kits include the 6GB PC3-16000 1.65V kit with timings of 8-10-8-27 using three 2GB modules. A 6GB kit with three 2GB modules in PC3-12800 1.65V 6-8-6-24 flavor is also offered.

The last of the kits in the line right now is a 4GB kit with a pair of 2GB modules operating at PC3-12800 6-8-6-24 timings and using 1.65V. One cool feature of these kits is that those who buy at Newegg.com will also get a free copy of Fallout: New Vegas.

That heat shield is a custom design that has copper inserts that cross all the DRAM chips and still offer up a slim profile that is covered by an anodized aluminum shield. The design of the heat sink offers a 5% improvement in heat dissipation over pure aluminum heat sinks. That 5% can make a difference to the hard core overclocker or gamer looking for all the performance that they can muster.

The new RAM kits launch today and will be offered in dual-channel 4GB and 8GB kits operating at 2000MHz. The kits are aimed at users of Intel P55 platforms. Patriot says that more kits will be incoming including triple-channel kits for the X58 platform. Both the 4GB and 8GB kits have the same latencies of 9-10-9-27.

The modules are also offered in 2GB and 4GB kits running at 1333MHz CL9. The 4GB kits include a pair of the 2GB modules. Patriot figures there are the perfect memory upgrades for users of the new 21.5″ and 27″ iMac computers using the Core i3, i5, or i7 CPUs.

All four different RAM part numbers are available right now for purchase via Patriot. The company is mum on the official pricing at this time. You should expect Apple specific RAM to a bit more than comparable RAM for PCs.

Samsung is shipping configurations of 8GB reached with 1G x 64 configuration. The first machine on the market to use the new RAM chips is the 17-inch Dell Precision M6500 mobile workstation. The workstation has 32GB of the Samsung RAM with four 8GB SoDIMMs.

Samsung says that the new RAM is also greener than using older RAM in the workstations as well. The 8GB DDR3 memory needs 53% less power than a pair of 4GB DDR3 modules. The need for less power in a notebook generally equates to less heat produced and longer battery life.

The three new RAM kits that OCZ is talking up all meet the specs for the new JEDEC DDR3L standards to allow RAM to run cooler when used for intensive tasks like gaming. The kits include the OCZ Platinum ELV solutions that operate at 1.35V. That operating voltage puts the RAM well below the maximum threshold for newer Intel CPUs.

The new ULV kits are available in Reaper and Gold series that operate at 1.5V, still below the 1.65V max for the new Intel platforms. The Platinum ELV series will come in 6GB and 4GB kits. The Reaper and Gold kits will be offered in 12GB and 8GB configurations.

The RAM hit frequencies of 3078.2 MHz with timings of CL8-11-8-31, 1T and 3059.4 MHz at CL7-11-8-31, 1T. The geek who overclocked the nuts off the RAM to break the records is named Matthias Zronek. The world records were validated using the CPU-Z validation database.

The hardware in the test computer used for the record setting runs was a Gigabit P55-A-UD7 motherboard, an Intel Core i7-870 CPU, and two Dominator GT CMGTX6 RAM modules. Corsair notes that the modular design of the RAM allowed Zronek to attach a Besi Memory-Freezer directly to the RAM heat sinks enabling benchmark temperatures as low as -90C using liquid nitrogen.

The company says that the SATADIMM offers the high performance and high availability of a SSD, but uses the same form factor as a stick of DDR3 RAM and slips into the same exact DIMM slot as a normal RAM stick. The SSD promises performance similar to that of a standard SSD with 30,000 IOPS and intelligent write management techniques.

The SATADIMM is offered in 50GB, 100GB, and 200GB capacities. The SSD gets all the power it needs from the 1.5V supply of the DIMM slot and transfers data using a standard SATA cable to the SATA port on the mainboard.

The big feature of the HyperX H2O RAM kits is the special heat sinks that have ports for liquid cooling built-in. The liquid cooled RAM allows the enthusiast to cool the RAM making it more stable at higher operating frequencies.

Kingston offers a few kits in the line including a 4GB kit running at 2000MHz wit 9-11-9 latencies. A 6GB kit with three 2GB modules is offered with the same latencies and 2000MHz frequency. The highest performing of the kits is a 4GB kit with 2133MHz speed with the same 9-11-9 latencies.

Mac specialty shop OWC has announced memory upgrades specifically for the new iMac computers. Buyers can get 2GB of PC10600 1333MHz SO-DIMM RAM for $59.99. If that isn’t enough RAM for you a 4GB kit of the same stuff with a pair of 2GB modules will set you back $117.99.

If you want that 4GB of RAM in a single module, you can get it for $144.99. OWC also has kits with 8GB via a pair of those 4GB modules for $279.99 and a 16GB kit with four of the 4GB modules for $549.99.

The mainboard in question has dual Intel Xeon LGA1366 CPU sockets and 12 DDR3 memory slots. The RAM kit has DIMMS that are designed to operate at 1900MHz CL8 with 1.65V. The DIMMs all use the G.Skill Ripjaws series heatsinks.

G.Skill says that overclockers and enthusiasts will also be able to overclock the RAM up to 2000MHz. The kit will be available for purchase in August at an unspecified price. With 48GB of RAM, the kit will be expensive for sure.

The company is now offering 4GB memory modules for users who need lots of RAM with only a few available memory slots. The new high capacity RAM modules operate at up to 2133MHz making them fast and offering good performance.

The new modules are being offered in several product lines including the Flex EX, Reaper HPC, and Platinum series. The Platinum series is an entry-level line with the other two series being aimed at overclockers and high-end PC users. The kits will be offered in 8GB dual channel or 12GB triple-channel kits at up to 2133MHz.

The Sector 7 kits will be offered in 6GB, 12GB, and 24GB tri-channel kits in speeds from 1600MHz to 2000MHz. Patriot uses pre-sorted IC’s that are tested and validated to perform optimally on the X58 platform.

The RAM modules use an extruded aircraft-grade aluminum heat spreader to dissipate heat produced from overclocking. Each of the modules is also hand tested for compatibility and quality. Patriot backs the kits with a lifetime warranty.

ISuppli has found that Kingston was the top memory maker in 2009. According to iSuppli, the company had 40.3% of the memory market for DRAM modules last year. According to iSuppli, Kingston raked in $2.85 billion on memory alone.

The second place company in memory was A-Data with 7.4% of the market. The top five included Ramaxel, Smart Modular, and Crucial. Enthusiast favorite Corsair was number eight on the top ten list with 3.5% of the market.

Corsair has been able to take that RAM kit, cram it inside a PC running the new AMD Phenom II X6 Black Edition CPU with a Corsair Hydro Series H50 CPU cooler and an Asus Crosshair IV formula mainboard and set a record for frequency for dual channel memory. The test was independently validated as well.

The frequency that Corsair was able to hit was 2287.6MHz. “The new Phenom II X6 CPUs offer a quantum leap in overclockability for the AMD platform,” stated Jim Carlton, VP of Marketing at Corsair. “The combination of the new CPU core and Corsair’s most aggressively sorted DIMMs results in some truly amazing memory performance.”

Corsair has announced a new GTX4 RAM kit that operates at 2533MHz and is available now in limited quantities. The RAM operates with timings of 9-11-10-30 at 1.65V. To achieve the performance the memory offers the memory modules are hand screened and graded for performance.

I have often wondered how the process for selecting these modules happens and Corsair has offered a behind the scenes look at how the GTX4 modules are chosen. You can see exactly how the components for this RAM are chosen here.

At the time the kit was able to run at 2250MHz. Patriot is back with a new Viper II Sector 5 offering that it claims to be the world’s fastest DDR3 memory with a clock speed of 2500MHz. The RAM kit is for Intel P55 platform boards and has timings of 9-11-9-27.

Patriot uses hand-selected modules with aluminum heat spreaders to hit the high frequencies. Three kits will be offered in the series with the 2500MHz kit at the top. A 2400MHz kit will be offered with the same timings along with the 2133MHz with 9-9-9-27 timings. All of the kits include a pair of 2GB modules.