Final Words & Conclusion
The Verdict
The memory kit that G.Skill offers here is impressive. Not once did we stumble into any stability issues or anything. With the right motherboard, and the ASUS motherboards mentioned really help out, you can achieve 2000 MHz C7 very easily and within seconds without the need for manual tweaking and complex overclocking. Do yourself a favor though, make sure your processor has unlocked multipliers, as 2000 MHz memory screams for an overclock on the processor as well. Since you are pretty tied to the baseclock at 250 MHz and unlocked multiplier will obviously do wonders for you.
That said, at 40 EUR per GB memory like shown today is targeted at such a much smaller audience then normal, extreme overclockers, tweakers, PC build show-offs and performance enthusiasts. In other words, a large chunk of the Guru3D audience.
Now I need to spew out the following : memory like this makes does not make much value wise. The performance gain you'll achieve in-between say DDR3 1333 MHz and this 2000 MHz kit is freakishly small, especially with an overclocked system the differential is trivial. The money you invest in faster memory would be wiser to spend on a faster processor or in a higher memory volume (say purchase 8GB).
But you know what, that's just not the point. The guys and girls that purchase memories like shown today already have a delightful motherboard, the fastest AMD six-core processor and fastest graphics card on the planet that money can buy-- and they want to top it off with some really fast AMD ready memory. And if you are that person, yeah then this is the memory you could be looking for.
Overclocking the memory -- we didn't really mention it in the article, but let me address a paragraph on it right here. There certainly is room left for some extra performance, Expect to gain another 10% out of the memory, we reached 2200 MHz CAS8 at 1.65 volts without any major issues. However at one point that system baseclock will become a limitation and you simply run out of memory dividers to play around with. So really, anywhere 2000 and 2200 MHz is your maximum achievable with this memory if you can reach a high enough baseclock. The performance increase however will be small.
Now if you plan to purchase this memory, obviously we must point you to a AMD Phenom II X6 processor, preferably the 1090T processor with unlocked multiplier for reasons mentioned earlier on. Pick out a proper motherboard, make good use of the XMP profile and to get the memory working spiffy hot 'n sweaty. If that is not the case, then you'll have to select and configure everything manually in the BIOS yourself, no biggy for the enthusiast end-user anyway.
The bottom line: G.Skill's DDR3-2000 CAS7 Flare memory is intended for a very small audience, but if you are a hardware tweaker, aficionado or overclocker you might as well be a match for this kind of memory. The results are shy to find, but the memory itself will definitely not disappoint.
With the right equipment, this memory is a breeze to setup. As you have seen, we are closing in at 12GB/sec read transfer rates in memory -- considering this is dual-channel on an AMD platform, that fact is startling. It however will only relate to a marginally faster performing PC.
Again, this is memory intended for a very small audience, to the rest of you I'll say you are better off investing in more memory rather than faster memory at a platform shown today, however we like to really recommend this memory as a tweakers essential as that is exactly who this kit is targeted at. You'll find the kit as tested today for roughly 175 USD / EUR in the shops and though that's not cheap, here's one advantage to keep in mind -- you'll receive a Lifetime limited warranty on this memory.
And reaching 2000 MHz on the memory on an AMD platform this easily -- that's an achievement all by itself.
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