Verdict: An affordable and highly overclockable PC2-6400 kit

In the world of performance DDR2 memory, the PC2-8000 and PC2-8500 kits are the most glamorous, thanks to their high guaranteed speeds. However, while PC2-6400 is only rated to run at 800MHz, it's often much cheaper and still capable of speeds of more than 1GHz.

The PDC22G6400 LLK is a PC2-6400 kit, so it's guaranteed to run at up to 800MHz at decent latency timings of 4 - 4 - 4 - 12. However, as we discovered in this Labs test, lower latency timings provide almost no extra performance to real-world applications in a Core 2 system, which is why the PDC22G6400 LLK failed to shine in any of our tests in the Core 2 test rig. It performed better in our Athlon 64 test system, which is more sensitive to latency timings, although the lower-latency Mushkin XP2-6400 is faster.

By increasing its voltage from 2.1V to 2.25V, we overclocked the PDC22G6400 LLK to 950MHz at its default latency timings and, by increasing the latency timings to 6 - 6 - 6 - 18, we overclocked it to 1.12GHz. Unfortunately, when we increased the voltage above 2.25V neither of our test PCs would POST.

The PDC22G6400 LLK offers solid performance and good overclocking potential for less than £200. Memory prices often fluctuate, but at its current price, this kit is great value for both Core 2 and Athlon 64 systems.

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