Verdict: Cheap as chips DDR2
The last time we looked at some Kingston memory modules we described them as 'fast, good-looking and pricey'. If we were to sum up these DDR2 modules in a similar fashion we would say 'fast, generic-looking and cheap'.
The reason these particular models are cheap and generic-looking is because they belong to the ValueRAM category. This is Kingston's way of telling you that they won't overclock as well as HyperX modules, and that they don't have fancy blue heatspreaders. But as we've said before, and will repeat here for posterity, heatspreaders don't help overclocking in any meaningful way - they just look good.
As the 15-digit name cryptically hints at, these modules are rated to run at 533MHz (PC4300) with 4 - 4 - 4 - 10 latency timings. At these settings the Kingston performs well, although we've yet to see DDR2 show any substantial performance boost over DDR.
However, DDR2 overclocks well, as it runs at half the core frequency of DDR, but transfers data four times per clock cycle. We overclocked the Kingston to 640MHz (in reality 160MHz), which boosted performance significantly.
As the Kingston is so overclockable, and cheaper than the Buffalo, Crucial and Corsair modules, these are the DIMMs to buy if you must have DDR2.
