Date: February 23rd, 2003
Article by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product was donated by: Crucial
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CORPORATE PROFILE

Crucial Technology is a division of Micron Semiconductor Products, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Micron Technology, Inc. Located in Boise, Idaho, Micron manufactures dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips and assembles them into memory modules for the global computer industry. Currently, Micron is the only DRAM manufacturer in the US and one of the three largest in the world. Micron is one of the top suppliers of memory to the major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including Compaq, Gateway, micronpc.com, HP, and IBM. In response to growing demand for high-quality memory upgrades among end users who wanted the best possible performance from their systems, Micron launched Crucial Technology in November 1996. For the first time, end users were given the opportunity to buy direct from the manufacturer the same memory modules bought by the world's major OEMs for original installation in their systems. Crucial remains the only memory upgrade supplier selling to consumers that is part of a major DRAM manufacturer.

PRODUCT INTRODUCTION

Being one of the most crucial "pardon the pun" components in your computer, good ram is needed for system stability, optimal performance and successful overclocking adventures. Throughout my computer building and testing experience, a slow, poor quality stick of ram can sap away motherboard and cpu speed and render you computer more or less untweakable. Today I will be looking at Crucial's pc2700 DDR333 ram and putting it through its paces. Crucial memory has been touted as being one of the best ram manufacturers in the world with great memory and customer service. Let's see if they live up to their name.....

PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

-Module Size: 256MB
-Package: 184-pin DIMM
-Feature: DDR PC2700
-Configuration: 32Meg x 64
-DIMM Type: Unbuffered
-Error Checking: Non-parity
-Speed: 6ns
-Voltage: 2.5V
-SDRAM Timings:CL=2.5
-167 MHz Clock, 333 MHz data rate
-Bidirectional data strobe (DQS) transmitted/ received with data, i.e., source-synchronous data capture (x16 has two - one per byte)
-Internal, pipelined double-data-rate (DDR) architecture; two data accesses per clock cycle
-Differential clock inputs (CK and CK#)
-Commands entered on each positive CK edge
-DQS edge-aligned with data for READs; center-aligned with data for WRITEs
-DLL to align DQ and DQS transitions with CK
-Four internal banks for concurrent operation
-Data mask (DM) for masking write data (x16 has two - one per byte)
-Programmable burst lengths: 2, 4, or 8
-Concurrent Auto Precharge option supported
-Auto Refresh and Self Refresh Modes
-FBGA package available
-2.5V I/O (SSTL_2 compatible)
-tRAS lockout ( tRAP = tRCD)
-Backwards compatible with DDR200 and DDR266