G.Skill 6GB PC3-12800 Triple Channel DDR3 Kit Review

Overclocking Results

For our overclocking tests we are interested in two main elements, how well the memory scales with additional voltage and how versatile it is at overclocking with different timings. As mentioned in the methodology, our overclocking efforts will primarily focus on four basic timings configurations (7-7-7 / 8-8-8 / 9-9-9 / 10-10-10) and three different voltage settings (1.55V / 1.65V / 1.75V). The CPU frequency will be kept as close as possible to the stock 3.2Ghz, while the Uncore and QPI Link will be kept near 3200Mhz and 6400Mhz respectively, multipliers permitting. The QPI/DRAM voltage was kept at a relatively high 1.45V throughout our tests, in order to ensure (as best as possible) that the integrated memory controller would not bottleneck our memory overclocks. The IMC is without a doubt the determining factor in achieving high memory clocks, and every single Core i7 processor will have different headroom when it comes to memory clocks it can achieve.

With the pleasantries out of the way, let's get to the fun stuff.


As you can see by this chart, this particular memory kit was really not responsive to voltage increases. Assuming our sample is indicative of all F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ kits, is it clear that G.Skill have selected ICs that are specifically designed for low-voltage applications and have a narrow sweet spot in the 1.65-1.75V range. Generally speaking, the voltage increases did not yield the overclocking improvements that we had expected.

Nevertheless, at first glance these results are quite good for a first generation triple-channel DDR3 memory kit, especially one as affordable as this one. With the default 9-9-9 timings, we were able to achieve a very respectable 164Mhz increase, boosting the frequency from DDR3-1600 to DDR3-1764. When we loosened the timings to CL 10, these modules really took off and we achieved oh so close to the DDR3-1900 mark with a healthy 1.75V. We found the CL 7 and CL 8 overclocking to be a little weak, but this is to be expected from a value product.

Since this is the first triple-channel DDR3 memory kit that we have reviewed, we didn't really have any preconceived expectations regarding what kind of overclocking results we would achieve, especially given the anonymous origins of the ICs. With this in mind, we were quite satisfied with the results, especially since this is a mainstream budget-friendly kit. Although voltage doesn't really come into play as much as we would like, the modules did a exhibit a good deal of headroom at higher latencies, and as you will see below we managed to post some impressive benchmarking numbers.


Since we like to provide our readers with ample proof of our overclocking achievements, feel free to peruse the four screenshots below:

Highest Stable Overclocks
7-7-7 click for full size...	8-8-8 click for full size...
9-9-9 click for full size...	10-10-10 click for full size...

While we have established that this memory kit can operate at a broad range of settings and timings, is this relevant nowadays? Does the Core i7 platform benefit from low latencies or high memory bandwidth? That is what we will be examining next in our benchmarking section.