You can be forgiven for thinking 'Who the hell is Mushkin?' because it’s not exactly a household name. However, in the overclocking and enthusiast world, Mushkin has quite the reputation and is regarded as being the one to go for when building a powerhouse gaming system.
The Mushkin product range starts with the kit we’re looking at for this group, the Redline. Moving up through the range, there’s the Radioactive, Blackline, Eco2, Stealth, Silverline and Proline. Each has its own set of specifications and is targeted at a certain type of user, but the general theme of high performance branches across all models.
This Redline kit consists of a pair of 8GB PC3-19200, 2400MHz sticks, with the product code 997122R and costing around £101. The latency is a pretty tight 10-12-12-28, with a voltage of 1.65V. The sticks have a bright red heatspreader, using the aptly named Mushkin Ridgeback Heatink, a toothed top that’s attached separately from the front and rear panels but does an excellent job of dispelling heat away from the chips. With the Ridgeback heatsink, though, the height of the RAM sticks hits 45mm, just slightly taller than the Corsair Vengeance but smaller than the TridentX.
Overclocking on the Mushkin Redline went considerably better than our previous attempts. We managed to get a stable 2540MHz at 1.66V, which isn’t too bad. The SiSoft Sandra benchmark scores were also very good, with 32GB/s while in its default state and hitting a whopping 38GB/s when overclocked. This means the Mushkin is the overclocked leader but is tied with the TridentX at default speeds.
These are excellent scores and we imagine that with a better motherboard in place, one that’s designed for overclocking, the numbers and clock speeds could easily be improved. To keep in line with the other reviews, the Mushkin Redline kit will happily play any modern game or other memory intensive program without any problems.
Considering the cost, currently the second highest by a pound, the Mushkin Redline kit is pretty good value. You get some great performance from these two sticks, and although they’re a little taller in height compared to the likes of the Kingston ValueRAM, HyperX Savage or Crucial Ballistix, there’s not that much in it.
Overall, we were quite impressed with the Mushkin Redline 16GB kit. It’s certainly a kit that enthusiasts and system builders would consider for their next setup. For gamers, it goes without saying. If you’re willing to spend a little more for performance on other elements of your system, then you shouldn’t compromise on memory either.