Yesterday, I received my Christmas gift to myself, a stick of (get ready for some specs, bitches) 1GB OCZ DDR400 (PC3200) CL2-3-2-5 Platinum Edition RAM with a copper heat spreader. Of course, I already had 2 sticks of 256MB GEiL DDR400 CL2-3-3-6 Ultra RAM in a dual-channel configuration on my Asus A7N8X Deluxe v2.0 mobo. I was skeptical about putting three sticks of differing RAM in my mobo and it working. The rule is usually that it’s not a good idea to fill all your RAM banks, even with high-quality memory. Such setups can cause the system to not POST or crash or lock on memory-intensive apps. So I popped the new 1GB stick of RAM into the free slot and left the case in a work position in the likely case I needed to swap some sticks around. However, it posted fine and I proceeded to set the optimal timings of 2-3-3-6, which was as low as the GEiL sticks could handle. It booted into Windows fine and then handled 6 hours of Dungeon Siege multiplayer hosting like a champ. Later on, still dazzled that all three sticks were working together, I booted into Memtest86+ and ran most of the tests. It handled those flawlessly as well. I’m not sure if this is true or not, but on POST, it says that the two GEiL sticks are still running in Dual-Channel. However, it still performs on par with nVidia 333Mhz dual-channel systems in Sandra memory benchmarks. So there were no performance improvements in benchmarks, but you can really see it in the quality of gaming. Now I can max out texture settings in games and have no memory hitching. And games also can be minimized without memory swapping and exit instantly. I can also leave any number of explorer or browser windows open while playing games. It’s nice. I give this OCZ stick of RAM a big thumbs up.
I also got a Saitek Eclipse keyboard for Christmas, but I really could have used some of the other items on my list more (like a UPS, X-fi sound card, etc.). It’s good for gaming in the dark, but that’s about it. I wouldn’t recommend it for use just based on the badass factor of it glowing blue. The glowing actually makes it harder to read in decent or better lighting. I don’t think it’s angled enough and that makes it harder to read in the light or dark, because yes…I hunt and peck when I type. But I may prop it up more to fix the angle. Sometimes the wrist rest rattles, too. The keys feel nice, though. They’re about 33% softer than the ones on my previous MS keyboard. So, I’d only recommend it if you like to use your computer in the dark. Just don’t tell me what you’re doing in the dark if it’s not gaming. 😕
Also, Betty Crocker Warm Delights are the shiznit.
