A-Data, relatively new company, has been around for 7 years. Starting with twenty employees, A-Data has grown into Asia’s biggest Ram provider. They have recently been popping up in the US market. Their commitment to the US market is proven by their opening of the Miami, FL branch of A-Data on July 17th 2008. With Microsoft getting the bugs worked out of Vista and ram prices dropping unbelievably low you couldn’t ask for a better time to invest in more ram for your computer. Ram is one of those things that you can’t have too much, but you can have too little. We have the chance to take a closer look at A-Data’s G (Gaming) branded DDR2 memory. Specifically their DDR2-800G 2GBx2 with a Latency of 5-5-5-12. Check out how it performed
Review Sample Provided by: A-Data
Review by: Garfi3ld
Pictures by: Garfi3ld
Specifications
Suitable for: Desktop PCs Module Type: 240Pin Unbuffered-DIMM Non ECC Capacity available: 2GB Dual Channel Kit (1GB x2); 4GB Dual Channel Kit (2GB x2) IC Configuration: 128M x8 Transmission Bandwidth: 8500MB/Sec?PC2-8500? Cas Latency Timing: 5-5-5-12 Working Voltage: 1.9V~2.1V Lifetime warranty
Packaging
A good portion of the time ram comes in bubble packaging so it was a pleasant surprise to have A-Data’s G Series come in a box. Even more interesting was the flashy flame window and the metallic flames on the front of the packaging. It’s defiantly something that will catch your eye in the store. The rest of the front of the packaging has the A-Data logo, a 4GB sticker, and their Gaming Series logo.
The back of the packaging has two paragraphs explaining why A-Data is your best choice and Quality. I will spare you the boring details and point out a few logos on the back that I think are very important. This ram has a Lifetime Warranty, if you have ever had a stick of ram die on you it is comforting to know they stand behind their product. There is also a RoHS logo, this is important because it means the ram adheres to RoHS standards. RoHS standards restrict the use of Lead, Mercury and other hazardous materials. Jumping inside you will find the Ram inside of a thin plastic tray. Enough to keep the ram safe, but it can be difficult to take the ram out of the tray.
Our Test Rig
Intel® Desktop Board DG965WH Intel Q6600 Quad core CPU 2 gigs of A-Data G Series Ram Stock CPU Cooler Coolink Chipchilla Northbridge heatsink EVGA 7800GT Video Card Antec Twelve Hundred Case Antec Quadro 850 Watt Power Supply Lite-On DVD Burner Running Vista Ultimate and XP
Performance
In order to properly test A-Data’s G Series ram I ran the Memory Bandwidth test on SiSoftware’s Sandra software. To give an accurate representation of performance I put it up against a comparable pair of ram from Mushkin (Mushkin model number996587 DDR2 800). In fact the Mushkin ram is what almost all of our computers are running because of its performance and overclockability, making this a perfect match.
As you can see overall the A-Data performed better than the Mushkin Ram in all of the standard tests. The only tests that had different outcomes were the Efficiency tests and the Vista Memory performance tests. The results showed a small performance increase in every bandwidth comparison. The gap on most isn’t a large number, but to even outperform the Mushkin ram at all is very impressive.
Overall
When it comes to buying important PC Components I always focus on companies I can trust. A-Data may be a new name here in the states, but they are a huge brand in Asia. I know they will be around to honor there warranty if I ever need to use it although considering the performance we saw during testing I doubt that it will be an issue. Because they are trying to get their name out you might find that A-Data’s ram prices are on the low side. Because of that the G Series ram that we tested is a great value! The only real problem I have come across is the limited availability of the G-Series at this time. I wasn’t able to find it for sale on any of the stores I normally feel comfortable shopping at.
