256MB AZZO Brand Memory

Companies: AZZO, Corsair Micro
Products: AZZO 256MB PC133 222, Corsair 256MB PC133 222
Date Reviewed: February 15, 2001

AZZO Brand:

One of the more popular online stores that I'm sure everyone has run across some time or another is AZZO. They do cater to the overclocking crowd and carry many of the latest motherboards, CPUs, and other components. Blake over at AZZO asked me to try out their own brand of memory, which contain only the highest quality DRAMs (Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi and Micron) available in the marketplace today. The actual memory module that arrived was a 256MB PC133 CAS2 AZZO brand ram.

You can see from the big sticker that it is easy to identify the exact specs of the memory module. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the memory chips were indeed Micron Technologies brand, which is a very high quality manufacturer of DRAMs. 7ns on the chip (-7E), with the "E" denoting CAS2, just like the big sticker displays.

Corsair Brand:

Corsair Micro has been manufacturing high quality memory for quite some time now, producing all different speeds and sizes. To be fair against the AZZO brand, I used a 256MB Corsair PC133 CAS2 stick of memory. The Corsair module clearly shows PC133, but it takes a little bit more effort to decode the fine print, however you can pick out the 256-133C2 pretty easy.

Upon closer inspection, the DRAMs were also Micron Technologies brand (sorry if the pic is hard to see), also -7E meaning 7ns CAS2 rating.

These two memory modules aren't exactly the same with different stickers on them, you can actually tell they were manufactured from different places. However both physically look outstanding in their craftsmanship.

The Tests:

Real quick run down of the test system:

Wanting to take advantage of my first DIMM slot on my BE6-II, I had to take a hack-saw to my Alpha P3125 that was on my P3. After trimming one row of fins I had the clearance to use the first DIMM slot, however the CPU had to be pulled out whenever I wanted to insert or remove the memory. I tested the memory in the first DIMM slot since it yielded the most stable results. I also bumped up my VIO to 3.8 to gain extra stability at these high FSB speeds. Most motherboards on the market today that are geared for overclocking allow for VIO adjustment, which can really help out when trying to push your system to the max.

In the results I am giving the maximum speed the system ran stable (shown by a complete row of check marks), past this number either the system would crash when loading windows, or wouldn't complete the POST boot.

AZZO Benchmarks
	Post	Sisoft Sandra Memory Test	Quake III Arena	3DMark 2000	SPEC viewperf
145MHz 222
157MHz 333

Corsair Benchmarks
	Post	Sisoft Sandra Memory Test	Quake III Arena	3DMark 2000	SPEC viewperf
150MHz 222
157MHz 333

Conclusions:

These two memory modules performed almost neck and neck, with the Corsair running slightly faster with the memory settings at 222. They both came so close to running at 160MHz @ 333, but just couldn't quite do it. You will notice that except for a couple companies (Kingmax is the only one I can think of off of the top of my mind), nobody sells 256MB PC150 RAM. However, if you buy quality RAM, then chances are you will have excellent overclocking results with them, even past 150MHz. The actual maximum speed a stick of memory will run will vary on an individual basis, but as you can see the yields are already quite good, and I'm sure they will only get better.

I would recommend either of these brands of memory, both have a limited lifetime warranty, and both use very high quality DRAMs. However if you are thinking of upgrading your system, then you can go to AZZO and pick up an OC combo that includes their AZZO brand memory and save yourself a few buck by buying it all together (and pretested for that matter).

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