G.Skill 2x1GB DDR3 PC3-12800 Review

Conclusion:

It goes without saying that the jury is still out on whether or not DDR3 is needed by everyone or anyone. The performance gains are there in the benchmarks shown today and the impressive bandwidth will certainly assist those using programs that rely heavily on the memory pushing large amounts of data. Unfortunately not everyone requires this much bandwidth and the price tag on DDR3 still plays a heavy role in purchasing decisions. DDR2 prices still haven't started to rise and until that happens, with the combination of DDR3 price drops, we won't see wide spread adaptation of DDR3.

With that said, there is nothing in the world of DDR2 that can touch what DDR3 can do. This particular sample of the G.Skill HZ's was incredibly impressive and showed that they really are higher rated memory disguised by a PC3-12800 sticker. Of course, not all kits of this memory are going to clock like ours did but believe it or not, some will clock better. The only down side if it is one is the fact that not even the current king of DDR3 memory clocking, the Asus Maximus Extreme, could even keep up with these modules at 8-7-6 timings. It was abundantly clear that the motherboard was holding this memory back from higher stable overclocks. In some limited benchmarking, this memory ran much higher frequencies and very low voltage. Be sure to keep an eye on the discussion thread as there are sure to be some impressive results from this memory in future benchmarking sessions.

With all this praise does come one negative, the heat sinks. They are very esthetically pleasing and the style of them is quite modern and elegant, but, they appear to be technologically behind the rest of the pack. Whether this actually effects performance is very tough to determine but one can't help but wonder if the thermal pad wouldn't be better replaced with a newer more effective solution. As it stands though, that is about the only flaw we could find in the G.Skill F3-12800CL7D-2GBHZ and Hardware Canucks proudly stamps the "Dam Good" award for the first time on a kit of DDR3 memory.

Pros:

• Incredible overclocking headroom
• Can run specification with no hassle or secondary adjustments
• Impressive overclocking at all three 6-6-5, 7-6-5, and 8-7-6 timing sets
• Relatively well priced compared to other DDR3 kits
• Standard size heat sinks means no installation issues for any setup

Cons:

• The only draw backs are the heat sinks and thermal interface material
• Availability is limited in Canada to NCIX.com and stock is not on hand at this point in time but that will change very shortly...moving this out of the "Cons" section

We like to hear feedback here at Hardware Canucks so feel free to bring up any questions or comments in the Discussion thread for the G.Skill 2x1GB PC3-12800 CL7 kit. Don't forget to keep your eyes on the discussion thread in our forums as future benchmark results with the G.Skill HZ's will be posted there as well.


Review by: Jody Bailey