G.Skill TridentZ 3200MHz DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) Review

Performance Benchmarks

Cinebench

Despite only utilizing a dual channel configuration, the memory kit scored extremely well at 3200MHz and remained within touching distance of various quad channel alternatives.

The hefty overclock gave the TridentZ a clear advantage in Cinebench 15 and became the first sample to exceed 1450. This is a substantial boost compared to the stock results.

AIDA64

At first glance, the statistics here look quite worrying. However, this is the first memory kit for review which uses two DIMMs instead of four. While it can be difficult to compare with other memory kits, there should be more dual channel reviews in the near future and this will give a better indication of the TridentZ’s relative performance.

The manual overclock has a dramatic effect in read speeds and enhances the other key attributes by an impressive margin.

In terms of stock latency, the TridentZ achieves a marvelous figure of 60 nano seconds, which is the best result recorded so far.

The overclock reduces this figure to 58 and illustrates the memory’s impeccable latency in both stock and overclocked scenarios.

SiSoft Sandra

Here we can see a similar pattern to AIDA64, although, for a dual channel kit, the memory’s bandwidth is excellent.

The TridentZ managed slightly better figures once the overclock had been manually applied.

WPrime

During WPrime, the memory kit almost calculated Pi in under four seconds and performed admirably. Please note, all of these are within a margin of error so it’s difficult to gauge the actual effect of memory speed and capacity in a completely accurate manner.

The TridentZ’s 3320MHz overclock reduced the compute time to 4.032 seconds. Once again, this might simply be variation between two benchmark runs, but I’m pretty certain the improved times are a result of a 120MHZ frequency change.

3DMark Fire Strike

Memory bandwidth only has a small impact during 3D tasks, as the majority of performance is determined by the GPU. Unsurprisingly, the top two results are the latest memory tests and illustrate how these enhanced numbers come from optimizations in NVIDIA’s latest driver. Nevertheless, the TridentZ attains a great Physics score in 3DMark.

On the other hand, the memory once overclocked easily pulls ahead and I’m astonished by the large boost going from stock to 3320MHz. This is certainly a massive feat and way beyond what I expected.