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Not too long ago, whilst sifting through quite a bit of the daily spam that makes its way into my inbox on a daily basis, I came across a rather interesting inquiry from a DRAM memory module manufacturer that I hadn’t heard a peep out of, rather I didn’t know of their existence. This memory manufacturer was, Shikatronics, a computer memory distribution and manufacturing corporation based out of Montreal, Canada. Shikatronics has been in business since 1989, and has recently expanded operations outward into the remainder of North America, and Latin America with plans for expansion into the European market as well. Shikatronics recently decided it wanted to get into the high performance gaming memory market, and with stiff competition from the likes of OCZ, Corsair, Kingston, and more, they’ll certainly need an impressive product and an excellent price point to be able to make more than a dent.

The memory modules that we’ll be looking at today fall under the “ShikaXram” branding scheme, and consist of a kit containing two 512MB modules, to make up the full 1GB offered. We decided to head for Shikatronics’ highest speed grade available, as well as the 1GB kit in order to give you, the consumer, and accurate comparison between the likes of Corsair and this new manufacturer, Shikatronics. Both of these two sets of memory modules run with the same voltage, as well as 3-4-4-8 timings. Both sets of modules also feature a lifetime warranty, certainly something you’re going to want to look into if you plan on running your current rig for years to come, since as we all know, cheap RAM can be more than a pain in the posterior region should it go bad.

Shikatronics hand picks RAM modules that are able to attain the high frequency operational speeds that are needed by the high performance crowd, and manufactures the ShikaXram series from these hand picked components. ShikaXram also features a custom designed PCB in order to increase frequency capabilities, as well as reduce noise and cross-talk for increased performance and reliability. As well as the hand picked chips, Shikatronics has also adopted a similar testing methodology to the likes of Corsair, testing each of their modules on a series of high performance AMD and Intel motherboards before the product is given the O.K. to enter into the retail market. Clearly, Shikatronics is taking the performance crowd seriously, but does their ShikaXram have enough juice to hold out against the likes of a powerhouse like Corsair?

When Shikatronics ships out their ShikaXram kits, they come in two small plastic encasings, wrapped up end to end with the clear plastic facing outward for RAM identification. We found this wrap to hold on quite well, considering at first we thought that this wrapper of sorts was only holding the modules together with a small amount of adhesive at one point. Were we ever wrong. We found that there was a good layering of adhesive surrounding the wrapper, enough to hold both sticks of RAM together in the harshest of shipping conditions. This wrapper of sorts is outfitted with the ShikaXram logo, as well the Shikatronics website address, and let us not forget the Lifetime Warranty advertisement.

Upon removal of the outer plastic casing, we found these modules to offer the same elegant appearance as that of OCZ’s Gold series RAM modules. Unlike OCZ, these Shikatronics modules do not feature any laser etched symbols into the copper surface, rather they are clean and smooth all the way around. This type of heatspreader implementation is very common, and is used widely throughout the industry. At one end of each module, you’ll find the standard sticker outlining the module speed rating, optimal timings, as well as our favorite line of text, “Warranty Void If Removed.” How I love those words, don’t you? Heh.

If we take a closer look at the RAM chips themselves, we find that these modules feature a double-sided build, with the typical eight chips per side. Running along the top of the chips, right between their top surface and the inner surface of the copper heatspreaders, we find a thin layer of thermal transfer material. Unlike the PRO series module from Corsair, Shikatronics does not thermally bond their heatspreaders to the ShikaXram, rather they utilize a more common implementation of thermal transfer tape to conduct heat between the chips and the outer copper surface. Whether or not these heatspreaders have a dominant effect on lifespan or overclocking performance can still be argued to this day, but it is nice to see such an inclusion to help keep the RAM chips running as coolly as possible, especially with the latest processors lines.

Finally, when we removed the memory modules from their shipping cases, we found a small warranty / installation guide included. This guide covers all of the basics steps required to replace, or add additional RAM to your computer system, as well as outlines Shikatronics’ general practice when it comes to their lifetime warranty. As long as you don’t run out of sinkers before heading on that fishing trip and decide to take along your RAM, or decide to see if you really can fry an egg on the copper heatspreader with a VDIMM over 3.0V, you should be covered should anything happen to go bad with the modules.