After having been in
business for over 25 years and supplying memory to large OEM's like
Dell and HP for 15 years, Centon is now setting its sight
on the enthusiast market. Being in business for so long should give the company's
potential customers a little peace of mind. You don't
have to worry about sub-par standards or Centon Electronics going belly up
over night!
It seems like enthusiast-calibre memory requires a catchy name. Corsair has TwinX,
Kingston HyperX and Crucial Ballistix. Centon's GEMiNi is as creative as
the rest... the only thing it's missing is a 'X' at the end
of its name.
Instead of focusing
on top speed to grabs news headlines, Centon has created a
TCCD-based module with low memory timings - something enthusiasts actually know will help
them overclock better.
With a
stock speed of 200 MHz,
the Centon C2X512PC3200LL GEMiNi DDR memory is rated to run in dual-channel operation while
using 2-2-2-5 memory timings. Each PC3200 module is 512MB in size and
wrapped in blue aluminum heatspreaders. During testing with high voltages, the memory
did get quite hot and the heatspreaders did a great job moving heat away from
the DRAM modules.
In terms
of performance, the Centon
GEMiNi memory scored just as well as
Corsair's TwinX1024-3200XL PRO, which is some of the best stuff on the market. With 2-2-2-5
timings, Centon's low latency memory was able to hit a very respectable 246 MHz when overclocked.
With looser 3-3-3-9 timings, the memory was able to do 302 MHz. Not bad for
a rookie company!
With a retail price of $370 CDN ($299 US) the Centon GEMiNi
memory is a little more expensive
than competitive models, but it definitely performs. Centon is currently doing a massive
overhaul of its website and right now you cannot buy the GEMiNi dual-channelkit directly.
The individual C2X512PC3200LL DIMMs are available, and we're told that
if customers order two sticks, Centon will test them for dual-channel
compatibility.
With a
lifetime warranty and a toll free 1-800 technical support
line should you need it, Centon seems to be off to
a good start. Hopefully the company can get its GEMiNi dual-channel kits out to
the public soon, and move full force into enthusiast memory products!
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