Conclusions

It is up to you whether or not I have made my case for the benefits of using four gigs of memory as opposed to two gigs. As far as actual FPS, we're not talking about a huge increase. Even though some of the load times were significant, we're still looking at seconds rather than minutes. And keep in mind, upgrading to four gigs involves not only buying the memory, but also a 64-bit operating system.

But I will say that the first time I stuck a 4GB kit into my system, I knew that I would have a hard time going back to 2GB. Maybe it isn't reflected in hard numbers, but a 4GB rig just feels better than a 2GB. And keep in mind, there will be a day in the near future when 4GB will be the standard.

The Corsair XMS3 DHX DDR3-1600 4GB kit definitely met all of my expectations. It looks great. The DHX heatspreaders kept the memory barely warm, even when overclocked. The memory that I used for comparison was quite hot when I removed it from the rig.

And as the Corsair memory I have owned in the past, the TW3X4G1600C9DHXNV's performance was excellent. I achieved tighter timings than spec'd across the board. It overclocked like a champ, attaining 218mHz higher than the memory was verified at, with tighter timings at the max overclock than was spec'd at DDR3-1600, and with lower Vdimm.

I didn't test the memory on another motherboard, as this particular model is optimized for the nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset. Corsair builds other models of this memory for use in other motherboards.

The Corsair TW3X4G1600C9DHXNV 4GB Dual Channel kit sells for around $350. That may be out of reach for many, but if you are looking for a high quality, great performing DDR3 4GB kit, you need look no further than Corsair. ThinkComputers awards the Corsair TW3X4G1600C9DHXNV 4GB Kit a 10 out of 10 score.

Pros:

- The DHX heatspreaders look great and work well
- Tighter timings than spec'd at all speeds
- Overclocks very well, at tight timings and low Vdimm

Cons:

- Price may be out of reach for many buyers

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