| 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws 2000MHz DDR3 Memory Kit |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Memory | |
| Written by Steven Iglesias-Hearst | |
| Wednesday, 24 November 2010 | |
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Page 1 of 9 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws 2000MHz CL9 DDR3 Memory Kit ReviewThe maximum speed officially supported by an Intel Core i3/i5 CPU is 1333MHz, and most will know too well that that even lower priced Intel H55/P55 Motherboards can support a 200 BCLK. If you like to dabble in the dark art of overclocking there are a few good reasons to choose a 2000MHz (PC3-16000) RAM kit. Firstly you have the options of lower voltage and tighter timings at lower speeds, and next you have the added benefit of higher memory bandwidth at the top speed. Last but not least though is the overclocking headroom, sure you could try to push your 1600MHz kit to 2000MHz but there are not too many kits that will do that, and you will certainly have to pay a premium. G.Skill have a broad range of DDR3 RAM from basic to extreme, today Benchmark Reviews will be testing the G.Skill Ripjaws 2000MHz CL9 Dual Channel 1.55v 8GB Kit (PN: F3-16000CL9D-8GBRM) priced at $209.99 for your reading pleasure. The Ripjaws 2000MHz kit from G.Skill runs at its rated speed with CL9-10-9-28 timings @ 1.55v. During testing we were able to lower these timings and the voltage but along with this was the sacrifice of speed, unfortunately it wasn't possible to tighten the timings or lower the voltage at the rated speed, also going past the rated speed meant increasing voltage at the same time.
The G.Skill Ripjaws 2000MHz CL9 8GB RAM kit is designed specifically for i3/i5/i7 CPU's based on the Intel P55 chipset, as tests have proved the P55 platform is not just for mainstream users. 4GB is generally considered enough or even too much for most but there are certain scenarios where you may find yourself needing more. Windows 7 benefits greatly from the additional RAM although it is not on par with the sort of performance increase you would get from an SSD, the more RAM you have the less Windows 7 needs to hit up the swap file on your HDD. Have you ever tried using XP mode on Windows 7, or any other VM? Well this is another feature that will eat RAM and hurt performance if you don't have enough. Dealing with large images in Photoshop, encoding videos, and 3D creation are all prime examples that benefit from more RAM in your system.
Manufacturer: G.Skill International Enterprise. Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by G.Skill.
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Comments
It's a good time to buy.
Thanks for another good look at a product.
Also, there is a no baseline comparison to a control, or regular DDR3 1333 9-9-9-24, kit.
This product would be a good value if the product allowed one to push their system beyond the level of performance that one could achieve by spending that money elsewhere, such as a faster CPU or a more robust cooling solution.
That being said, I am an advocate of G.SKILL memory and I appreciate the time you've spent benching and sharing the results of your findings with others.
It's hard to show the true performance enhancement of a high speed RAM kit while keeping the CPU at its stock speed, the higher spped of your RAM gives you freedom to overclock your CPU without worrying about RAM instability. You will see a much better performance increase as you increase your CPU speed.
Also if you check NewEgg.com again you will see that this kit is now $189.99 and in stock. At time of writing the review it was $209.99 and out of stock.
Regards and thanks for the comments