4GB DDR3 Memory Roundup - Part 1

Value

Corsair's DHX cooling goes from strength to strength and is still very capable at keeping its memory cool, plus, it's essentially silent unlike the RamOrb. But with respect to the G.Skill GT1s, the RamOrb is simply there to improve the performance of the DIMMs by keeping them quite considerably cooler - it's the same idea as Corsair's Dominator Airflow or Patriot's Vortex, except a part of the actual heatsink instead of being separate.

It's also worth noting that while we did complain about the little fans, it's not as painful than the three 40mm Corsair Dominator Airflow fans. Both G.Skill heatspreaders are capable cooling solutions of around ~40˚C that is only 2˚C hotter than Corsair's DHX, and ~5˚C cooler than the low profile Ballistix heatspreaders.

If we look at the Asus Maximus II Formula review that lists the latest results from a dozen motherboards running DDR2 800MHz at a super low CAS-3, the performance difference is obvious:

• Paint.NET has a couple of seconds shaved off it,
  
• In AutoMKV we see low 700s in DDR3 versus high 700s with DDR2
  
• In large file compression its 85-100s in DDR3 versus 100-120 with DDR2
  
• In small file compression its 82-95s in DDR3 versus 90-105s with DDR2
  
• In Crysis 49-51 FPS versus 43-47 FPS

The downside is that in World in Conflict there's no difference and the CPU speeds are slightly higher (~3GHz versus 2.85GHz) in this article versus the motherboard ones, so we've got to take that into account too. Performance DDR2 kits like the £117 for the OCZ FlexII PC2-9200 (1,150MHz) 4GB kit will give better performance than DDR2-800 at CAS-3, but for £5 more it's hard not to want to jump on DDR3 if you're also upgrading the motherboard as well.

For £123 the Corsair DHX memory is incredible value considering what we've been able to do with it. It's not only nosed at the underbelly of the much more expensive G.Skill GT1s on the nForce 790i Ultra SLI board, but it's also easily matched the lower latency G.Skill Pi memory too. On the Asus Rampage board it exceeded both the G.Skill DIMMs with its maximum overclock, and while we couldn't get it down to CAS-6 low latency like both the G.Skill kits, the performance difference was negligible.

The G.Skill GT1s should be the cheapest 4GB 1,800MHz kit available, although we do warn our readers that the price quoted here was worked out something like this:

G.Skill: What price do OCZ charge in the UK?
BT: Uhh, about £225
G.Skill: Right, put us down for £220 then!

Well, while that's a great policy to remain super competitive on price, we'll wait to see if this actually materialises into the price we pay for them. On the whole, G.Skill memory is generally good value in the UK and very good in the States where the company is more proficient at selling to more etailers directly. In the UK, Memoryc.com (based in Ireland) is G.Skill's only direct contact. If you are looking for an extreme performance 1,800MHz 4GB kit for your nForce 790i Ultra SLI board then your choice is narrowed between the OCZ Reaper HPC at £225, the G.Skill GT1s or a pair of Corsair Dominator TW3X4G1800C8DF at upwards of £285.

The GT1s didn't give us any edge with a quad-core, but with a dual-core E8500 we found they'd hit a nice 2,000MHz at 9-9-9-24 @ 2.0V, 10MHz more than the G.Skill Pis but only 20MHz more than the Corsair:


~£220ish for 4GB of 2,000MHz DDR3? There's worse ways to spend your money if you're after some overclocking glory, but having said that £123 for 1,980MHz DDR3 - give me a "hell yes" even if it's not record setting potential.

If you are record setting, whether you want these or the OCZs since both have a lifetime warranty, it comes down to personal preference. The 1,800MHz G.Skill GT1s are slightly faster at 8-8-8-21 versus OCZ's 8-8-8-27, but the OCZ has EVP up to 1.95V and a far better community for overclocking support.

This leaves us with the G.Skill C7 Pis - against directly competing products like the Corsair TWIN3X4096-1600C7DHX at £201 or the OCZ Reaper HPC DDR3 C7 PC3-12800 at £188 the G.Skill Pi kit is well priced at £190, yet have better rated latencies of 7-7-7-18 versus 7-7-7-20 and 7-7-7-24 respectively. That's not to say the Corsair and OCZ will do 7-7-7-18, in fact, we expect they'll do a fair bit lower like the G.Skill Pis at a push.

However, this performance is also available on the £70 cheaper CAS9 Corsair kit - so why pay more? Unless the DIMMs are really being tuned to the limits the performance difference is nothing - save your money! Unfortunately the G.Skill PC3-12800 C7 Pi finds itself in an awkward middle ground - too expensive compared to the Corsair and the GT1s are only £30-odd more for greater overhead, and £30 is nothing when you've just splashed several hundred on an nForce 790i Ultra SLI and other extreme cooling equipment with the idea of clocking the nuts off it all.

Final Thoughts

The G.Skill F3-12800Cl7D-4GBPI is a solid product with great performance potential and overclocking that's good value compared to the competition. We like the Pi heatspreaders and the lifetime warranty offered by G.Skill, although on the whole it's not an extra special product.

If you're interested in the super high end and want 2x2GB of memory - keep an eye out of the G.Skill F3-14400CL8D-4GBGT1 "GT1s" because they should be among the best there is. The price should be very competitive, the cooling is actually no noisier than Corsair's Dominator with fans overhead but the RamOrbs will certainly cause at least some of you reading to turn your noses up - it'll be a field splitter.

Our recommended product has to be the Corsair TW3X4G1600C9DHX though. With virtually the same performance potential of memory twice the price, the best passively cooled memory solution out there, a lifetime warranty and a superb support forum, it's the DDR3 product that bridges the gap between itself and DDR2. If you're upgrading to DDR3, on any board - get some of these modules and have some fun.

G.Skill F3-12800Cl7D-4GBPI

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

G.Skill F3-14400CL8D-4GBGT1

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• 9/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

Corsair TW3X4G1600C9DHX

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• 10/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• 9/10

What do these scores mean?