Channel reports spike in Corsair memory problems

For the most part, memory is one of the most mundane components in a modern PC. Word is reaching KitGuru of a spike in issues with Corsair. How are the problems manifesting themselves and what will be the effect? KitGuru scans the forums for answers.

Go back far enough, to the year before its success, and Corsair was just another wannabe memory company. At CeBIT, they had a small booth space on the American stand and 3 guys standing around answering questions (most of which were along the lines of “So what is Corsair?”).

Roll the clock forward around 24 months and the Corsair stand was massive and well manned.

What happened in between was a huge increase in popularity for dual channel memory access, the idea that a system could hit 2 memory modules at the same time.

In response, Corsair launched/branded/marketed the hell out of the concept of TwinX – paired memory sticks that would give you great performance with ultra-low-latency.

It was a winning formula and Corsair has hardly looked back since. Until last week.

For some reason, there appeared to be a huge spike in problems reported with systems using Corsair memory. In the two years and 4,300 articles since KitGuru launched, we don't recall any stories surfacing which called Corsair's quality/stability in to question – so this latest rumble is significant.

You can have a read through yourself by checking Google. Our sources are slightly different though. Speaking with channel suppliers, you get a good handle on the rate of return or number of RMA requests. We know at least one local system builder that has stopped shipping any system with Corsair memory in the specification until it receives a response to the question, “So why is this happening?”

If you had to bet, then the fact that high-end memory maker Elpida has experienced problems and now we're hearing about memory issues in the market, could be worth a punt.

KitGuru says: Ahead of the launch of Intel's latest technology, it's a bad time for Corsair to encounter such a problem with its reputation. Let's hope the engineers that be can work a solution and communicate it effectively to the market. We'll report back anything we hear from Corsair.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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