PMI DDR533: A New Name in High-Performance Memory

Final Words

It is very clear that PMI has borrowed from the competition with their DDR533 Gold. PMI4200 Gold appears in almost every way to be a copy of OCZ memory. This applies to packaging, memory names, and even little things like the package insert and lifetime warranty wording. A close look at the PCB's indicates PMI is also likely using the same PCB OCZ is using for DDR533 memory. If copying is the sincerest form of flattery, as the old saying goes, then OCZ should be very flattered. For a new high-end memory company, however, copying a high-end memory supplier like Corsair, OCZ, or Mushkin is not necessarily a bad thing. Buyers are familiar with things that are already working, and PMI is showing a willingness to chart new territory with their introduction of DDR566, which is currently the fastest memory that we have seen.

PMI4200 Gold is honestly rated and performs with complete stability at its rated speed and timings. It also performs very well at DDR400 with 2-3-3-6 timings at 2.7V. This is not faint praise for a new name in performance memory. If performance of the PMI DDR533 that we tested is typical of the PMI memory line, then you should have no problem achieving the rated performance of PMI memory modules.

However, any memory that calls itself Turbo with the computer enthusiast as the target must be compared to the best available. Compared to similar memory from OCZ, Corsair, and Mushkin, we found that PMI does not have quite the headroom or timing margin flexibility exhibited by the best of the competition. This could be nothing more than how PMI chooses to rate their memory, since PMI's ratings are a little more aggressive than the competition. In this case, PMI533 performs like many of the very best DDR500 modules that we have tested.

Another way to say the same thing is that PMI binning, or speed grading during chip testing, is not quite up to the standards of the best of the competition. PMI is definitely on the right track and the memory is a solid performer, but most enthusiasts would prefer a little more headroom.

PMI memory proved solid and reliable in all our benchmarks, and certainly PMI has entered the high-end memory market with a bang. While it is not quite the equal in performance timings or headroom with the best from Mushkin, OCZ, and Corsair, it is a very competitive product in the high-end memory market. The early pricing that we have seen also indicates PMI plans to price their "Turbo Memory" aggressively. A great price could turn average high-end performance into an outstanding value.