Corsair Blog

As with our prior Dominator® GT DDR3 specialty memory, our new CMGTX6 modules are hand screened to reach incredible frequencies. The drop from 2GB to 1GB memory modules allows for even higher memory frequencies. Along with reducing the memory size, cooling the processor to sub-zero temperatures can also aid in reaching higher operating frequencies. Combining the sub-zero temperatures with the new Dominator GT CMGTX6 modules allow for some very high memory clocks.

The motherboard being used was a Gigabyte™ GA-P55A-UD4P which has been tested previously with high memory clocks. To cool the processor down, a liquid nitrogen pot was mounted on the Intel® Core™ i7-860 CPU. Although liquid nitrogen gets extremely cold (-192°C), some processors cannot run at such extreme temperatures. This particular Core i7-860 could not run below temperatures of -95°C . This is known as a cold bug, meaning the processor stops functioning properly.

The final memory frequency was finally reached at 2976MHz, just 24MHz short of 3GHz. Keeping the processor temperature below -80°C played a key role in reaching this frequency. It allowed the memory controller to be cooled enough to reach a high overclock, while not too cold to cause the processor to stop functioning. The memory timings were also slightly loosened to 10-12-11-31-1T in order to allow this higher frequency. Although this was a 351MHz overclock, even higher speeds may well be possible.

CPUz Validation

System Components:

• Intel Core i7-860
• Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 Memory — CMGTX6
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 480
• Corsair Professional Series™ Gold AX1200 PSU — CMPSU-1200AX
• Corsair Nova Series™ V64 SSD — CSSD-V64GB2-BRKT
• Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P

The new Dominator GT GTX6 DDR3 memory overclocked very well on the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P, nearly reaching a memory frequency of 3GHz! Unfortunately due to the base clock wall at 249MHz a higher frequency was not achievable. With a different processor or motherboard the base clock limit might allow an even higher overclock!