G.Skill PI 2x2GB DDR3 PC3-12800 Review

When running the 32M benchmark of SPi, we are calculating Pi to 32 million digits and timing the process. Obviously more CPU power helps in this intense calculation, but the memory sub-system also plays an important role, as does the operating system. SPi 32M has been a favorite amongst benchmarks for these very reasons and is admittedly the favorite benchmark of this reviewer.

In the benchmark results above, we see the 4GB G.Skill Pi kit fall the slightest bit behind the 2GB kit at the same settings. Again, we are pretty much looking at the difference between 1T and 2T because there is nothing else that is different about the two setups. It appears the having more memory is not always necessarily better. We have also seen that going from 1T to 2T isn't that much of a penalty at all and that 2x2GB kits really do hold up well overall and show little to no downside in the higher density modules...except of course the inability to run at as tight timings as 2x1GB kits which does effect performance a little bit.

The WinRAR benchmark is simply timed until the test reaches 500MBs of data. Compressing data with WinRAR is all about the memory and the results should reflect this. WinRAR is very sensitive to frequency and timings of memory and one of the highest influenced programs out there when it comes to memory performance.

Like the testing in the 32M digit calculation of SuperPi, WinRAR definitely favors the 1T setting for the 2GB kit more than it does the extra space of the 4GB kit. Once we start overclocking, the time required to reach 500MB compressed just drops like a rock.

Moving from some of the more 'synthetic' benchmarks, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of a VOB to DivX encoding task. We will take a VOB rip of the movie Rounder’s, and convert it into DivX using the default 720P setting of DivX converter v6.

Just as we finish talking about how there is little to no difference between the two kits, in steps a daily task that shows a big advantage to larger amounts of memory. We can see that the 4GB setup takes almost 4 minutes less time to convert the movie and that is with identical settings over the 2GB setup. Here, we start to see the real benefits of running 4GB kits of memory in our daily systems. A lot of the time, benchmarks don't really measure the difference between a 2GB and 4GB system but here, that clearly isn't the case.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 is full x64 compliant and ready and able to use every single CPU cycle our processor has available. Since digital photography is as popular as roller skates were in the 70's, we are going to be timing how long it takes to convert 100 RAW images from a Canon 20D into half size JPG files of maximum quality.

The Photoshop RAW to JPG conversion test we have shows similar results to the rest of the benches we have looked at today, but keep in mind, this is simply converting RAW to JPG images. In heavy filtering or adjustments, the larger memory pool to work with will really let Photoshop stretch its legs. Working in the program is a lot smoother with 4GB of memory instead of just 2GB. Everything is snappier and there are far less hour glasses when working with many or large files.