Test Setup & Overclocking
As this memory is made specifically with Sandybridge in mind, we will be using one of the latest Z68 motherboards on the market from Gigabyte. We will be testing the memory at its rated speed of 2133Mhz as well as seeing how far is overclocks, and running the tests again to see what increase if any has been achieved.
We will also be comparing the memory to another set from Kingston that is rated at the same reference speed of 2133MHz.
Test System:
Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
Intel Core i5 2500k
4GB G.Skill RipjawsX 2133MHz
AMD Radeon 6850
Noctua NH-C14
Thermaltake ToughPower Cable Management 1200W
Comparison products:
Kingston HyperX Genesis 2133MHz
Software used:
AIDA64
CPU-Z
MaxxMEM2
SiSoft Sandra
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
By entering the BIOS and enabling the BCLK settings, we were able to increase the memory from it’s stock 2133MHz to 2240MHz whilst using the same voltage and timings. By pushing the voltage and loosening the timings we believe this memory could be pushed further, but the increase in speed would not justify any more performance due to the timings not being as tight.
That RAM looks awesome! Great review too mate, I should be able to manage an article or two later. 😎
Yeah nice kit and it is priced well too £50 from what i can find. 😉
That is some super fast RAM and it just looks the part aswell!
Great review! Attractive price indeed! I really enjoy seeing pics in tech reviews, because I probably will never see such tech firsthand. Your pics were awesome!
Andy did you try to lower the timings? Instead of bumping the speed up.
a sweet bit of kit there. real mean looking ram, nice review.
I did and it was unstable.
Damn 🙁
Ok.. this is a newbie question about overclocking: What sort of damage can you do to your memory kits if overclocking isn't done properly?
Your computer won't boot or it will just crash. It would not permantly damage the ram but they are mostly covered by lifetime warranty anyway.
i havnt heard of an OCing case where RAM has died.unstable RAM will just cause BSOD's and freezing.like eternalchaos said, the majority of branded memory has a lifetime warranty.use memtest to test memory stability 🙂
Thanks Eternalchaos! Lifetime warranties are great! 🙂
Thank Lucas! Good tip about memtest… and it's free 🙂
These look like they are going to perform extremely well in a variety of mobos for Sandy Bridge.The quality and performance is there as usually with GSkill. too bad about not being able to tighten the timings a bit, but good to know about the OC capability.
For SB they recommend as low volts as possible.These speeds are great, but some lower voltage stuff like g-skill Eco may suit SB better
oh for sure with the lower volts Eco for SB those are very nice with good timings and I think 1.35 volts. getting some G.SKILL F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM 8-8-8-24 2@4GB in a few days .ordered them for an i7 870 rig .The price grab was to hard to pass up.RAM pricing has been pretty good lately and should continue.[h=1]<span style="font-size: 12px;"></span>[/h]