Avexir Blitz Series 1.1 4GB 1600MHz Memory Review

Introduction

Avexir may not be the biggest name in the world of performance desktop memory but they have certainly been gaining in popularity and reputation over the past year, and rightly so. Today we are taking a look at a variety of DDR3 modules from Avexir that form part of their new Blitz Series 1.1. Instead of just sending us a traditional kit Avexir have sent us one module from each of the different designs they offer in the Blitz Series 1.1. Avexir offer the following styles:

• Original
• MPower (Styled for MSI MPower motherboards)
• Gaming Dragon (Styled for MSI Gaming Series motherboards)
• OC Formula (Styled for ASRock OC Formula motherboards)
• L337 Gold (Styled for ECS L337 Gaming Gold motherboards)
• L337 Red (Styled for ECS L337 Gaming Red motherboards)
• Ultra Durable Orange (Styled for Gigabyte Ultra Durable Orange motherboards)
• Ultra Durable Green (Styled for Gigabyte G1 Killer Series motherboards)

We received all of the styles except the Gaming Dragon one, as presumably this wasn’t ready at the time we received these kits. Avexir also offer a wide variety of SKUs in the Blitz Series 1.1, they are as follows:

We received the 4GB DDR3 1600MHz memory modules with 9-9-9-24 (CL9) timings and a 1.5 voltage. The Avexir Blitz Series 1.1 RAM came nicely packaged inside this luxury black presentation box.

The packaging lists the key features of the Avexir Blitz Series 1.1. As we can see Avexir is targeting both overclockers and gamers with the Blitz Series 1.1. Key features include:

• Intel XMP certification
• Attractive heat spreader design
• LED lighting effects
• Detachable heat spreaders
• 20z 8 layer copper PCB
• High quality components

A Closer Look

The first module we have is the Avexir Blitz Series 1.1 MPower design. This module features a yellow and black design to match up with MSI motherboards such as the MSI Z87 MPower and Z87 MPower MAX.

Next up is the L337 Gaming Gold design which is targeted towards the ECS Z87H3-A3X GANK Drone motherboard.

Then we have the Gigabyte Ultra Durable Orange branded Avexir Blitz Series 1.1 DIMMs. These are aimed at Gigabyte’s orange coloured Z87 motherboards such as the Z87X-OC and Z87X-OC Force.

There is also a red version of the L337 gaming style aimed at the red ECS Z87 motherboards like the GANK Machine Z87H3-A2X.

There’s a green Ultra Durable design for Gigabyte motherboards with a green colour scheme such as the G1 Sniper Z87 or even the G1 Sniper A88X if you’re not using an Intel motherboard.

Avexir also have an “Original” design which is not specifically targeted at any brand of motherboard. In their example system pictures below Avexir pair this up with the ASUS ROG series motherboards.

Finally we have the Z87 OC Formula branded modules for the ASRock Z87 OC Formula motherboard.

For those of you interested in the dimensions of the Avexir Blitz Series 1.1 memory modules you can see those below:

Below you can see some of Avexir’s suggested system builds for each of the modules.  As you can see the aesthetic element really excels with the Avexir Blitz Series 1.1 modules and combined with the top LED strips these modules are ideal for any enthusiast-grade system.

Test System and Procedure

Methods

In our RAM reviews we keep things relatively simple. We put the RAM kit that is being tested into our test system and we benchmark it at its primary XMP profile using AIDA64 and CPU-Z for validation. Once complete we then overclock the kit to see how far we can push it, then benchmark it again using the same combination of AIDA 64 and CPU-Z.

Test System (Pictured Below)

• Motherboard – Asus Maximus VI Formula Z87
• Processor – Intel Core i7 4770K at Stock With Turbo Enabled
• RAM – Varies By Review
• Graphics Card – Reference AMD HD 7950 (Non-Boost variant)
• CPU Cooler – Corsair H100i with Quiet Fan Profile and Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Paste
• Power Supply – Corsair HX1050W
• Main Storage Drive – Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD over SATA III interface
• Chassis – Lian Li T60 Test Bench
• Displays – Dell U2711 Ultra Sharp
• Operating System – Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

We would like to thank Asus, Intel, AMD, Corsair, Kingston, Lian Li, Dell, Noctua and all our other partners who supplied us with test equipment and hardware. Their generosity makes our testing possible and without them we wouldn’t be able to produce the reviews we do, so thank you!

Software Used

• AIDA 64 Engineer
• CPU-Z

Performance And Overclocking

As we’ve mentioned already the kit we used is a simple DDR3-1600 kit running at CL9 latencies. Enabling this was easily done with the XMP in the BIOS of our ASUS motherboard.

Performance is right around where it should be for a 1600MHz CL9 kit so we’ve no complaints here.

Overclocking was hugely impressive on these modules. We managed to go from 1600MHz all the way up to 2200MHz! That means these kits were capable of doing 1600, 1800, 1866, 2000, 2133 and 2200MHz frequencies! Unsurprisingly we had to slacken the timings a little to get to 2200MHz, from CL9 to CL10, but overall we had a really good result. The kit couldn’t quite make it to the next frequency which was 2400MHz even with timings slackened to CL11.

Performance was decent for the frequency of the memory though the copy performance seemed a little low.

As we can see the Avexir kit offered a huge gain in performance from overclocking and we can tell Avexir have engineered these kits for this task because they gave some fantastic results.

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Avexir haven’t disclosed to us any specific pricing so we’ve not been able get a confirmed MSRP just yet. However, Overclockers UK have an exclusive on the new Blitz Series 1.1 memory and they have the following pricing:

• 2 x 4GB 2133MHz – £89.99 ~ $120
• 2 x 8GB 2133MHz – £169.99 ~ $220
• 2 x 4GB 2400MHz – £99.95 ~ $130
• 2 x 8GB 2400MHz – £179.99 ~ $235
• 4 x 8GB 2400MHz  – £359.99 ~ $470
• 2 x 4GB 2800MHz – £179.99 ~ $235
• 2 x 4GB 3200MHz – £679.99 ~ $895

(Note: we have converted the UK price into dollars then deducted 20% to account for the effect of UK VAT)

Overview

Avexir’s Blitz Series 1.1 memory modules are clearly something unique. No other memory vendor on the market offers such a wide variety of designs and colours perfectly suited for a huge number of motherboards. Neither does any memory vendor on the market offer LED lighting on such a wide variety of memory module designs. Avexir have gone all out in terms of speeds and capacities, with 1600MHz to 3200MHz kits and 8 to 32GB capacities there is going to be something for everyone’s needs. You just cannot fault the Avexir Blitz Series 1.1 memory on its looks and variety of designs, styles, speeds and features. In terms of overclocking we’re equally as impressed. With a 1600MHz kit we were expecting maybe a modest jump to 1800MHz, or 1866MHz at a push. However, I was literally gobsmacked that we were able to get as high as 2200MHz with CL10 latencies. If these modules are anything to go by then the entire Avexir Blitz Series 1.1 will overclock very well.

Pros

• Avexir lifetime warranty
• Black PCBs
• Unique motherboard-specific designs
• Overclock like beasts!
• LED lighting effects

Cons

• Quite pricey, but you get what you pay for

“Avexir’s new Blitz 1.1 series of memory modules are a breath of fresh air for the desktop DRAM market. With high quality customised designs, LED lighting, beautiful aluminium heatspreaders, a lifetime warranty, massive overclocking potential and a huge variety of speeds and capacities on offer, Avexir have catered for everyone’s needs. If you have a matching motherboard or are looking to build a stunning system then Avexir’s Blitz Series 1.1 should be on your memory shortlist. “

Avexir Blitz Series 1.1 4GB 1600MHz Memory Review

Thank you to Avexir for providing this review sample.