Specifications: As mentioned, we changed up the order of the review in order to accommodate a short discussion about the new PI heatspreader from G.Skill that is present on these modules. We preface by mentioning that we have handled dozens and dozens of memory modules over the years and have experience with near all of the heat sinks/heat spreaders that have come, gone, and stuck around. We just looked at the form of the PI heat spreaders but now let’s look at the function.  Upon receiving the G.Skill memory we quickly photographed the package so that we could get at the modules inside. More importantly, the PI heat spreaders that provide the cooling to the memory modules underneath.  It was immediately evident that the heat spreader was, none the less sharp looking, nothing more than an aluminum heatsink with a bit of decoration up top that does perform some purpose. At the heart of the cooling where the contact happens, we simply have a flat basic aluminum surface mating to an IC. There is nothing different about this heat sinks mount, or is there? Looking at the mounting adhesive, we see something quite different from G.Skill thermal adhesive in the past. Previous G.Skill modules are still clipped at the top and use a thermal pad much like the original heat spreaders were designed.
It is impressive to see a newer more effective thermal adhesive being used with the PI heat spreaders but what is more impressive are the specifications to the right. G.Skill has put together a very nice looking kit here with 7-7-7-18 timings putting the tRAS of 18 among the tightest of any 2x2GB kit we have seen at this frequency. G.Skill has confirmed compatibility with Intel chipsets going back as far as Intel P35 right up to the newest P45 as well as NVIDIA 780i/790i chipsets. We will be running this kit on the Asus P5E3-Premium running the Intel x48 chipset.
One thing worth mentioning here that should be listed on the G.Skill web site, but isn't, is the fact that these modules come with XMP profiles for DDR3-1600 7-7-7. This makes for fantastically easy overclocking of an Intel XMP compatible motherboard to get these modules running the specified timings and frequencies. Our previous kits of XMP memory has been very positive so hopefully we will be as fortunate with this kit and the XMP profiles. It is still kind of a shock that G.Skill makes no mention of the XMP compatibility on their web site with this kit.
Before we get into whether or not the G.Skill PC3-12800 2x2GB kit of memory performs stable at the XMP profile, we have to see how they physically fit. Normally this section is a non-issue we breeze over but with the decorative yet functional loops at the top of the heat spreaders, it also provides additional height from standard modules. Let's see if this affects things in the P5E3-Premium, as well as the rest of the hardware we will be using for testing.
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