G.Skill Ripjaws Z 2133 MHz DDR3 CL9 16 GB Kit

[eidairaman1]

I just run the ram for the advertised timings, and I was mentioning the Speed of the GSkill Kit, and I know GSkill has a kit with 8 and 7 timings, 6 seems the newest.

The timing screenshots were on top of the results compare page.



The 1600 MHz Mushkin does NOT have loose timings. CAS 6 is loose? The only tighter you can get with any sticks rated for 1.65v is 6-6-6-24/6-7-6-24, and those sticks are out of stock/discontinued. G.Skill currently has a 6-8-6-24 1.5v kit too.

Anyway, those are screenshots of each modules' SPD info, and as such those timings are the timings the sticks are rated for. I have no control over stock settings, and the Mushkin kits are kits I bought out-of-pocket myself, and as such, will not be reviewed, and are run at stock settings. I am not paid to do these reviews, so if I have to pay for parts to complete a review, those parts are used under my own terms. Technically, doing this review cost me $150 for the two kits, and TPU nothing.

Looking at max overclocked performance for each kit can take considerable amounts of time for testing. As it is, I tested no less than 10 boards with the G.Skill kit. As I encountered no unexpected issues, none of that is really mentioned, as most of the boards are not the platform this ram is intended for, but I know users would ask about functionality elsewhere, so I investigated.

 

[cadaveca]

I just run the ram for the advertised timings, and I was mentioning the Speed of the GSkill Kit, and I know GSkill has a kit with 8 and 7 timings, 6 seems the newest.

Ah. well, you know, timings have some impact, but not a large impact, on INtel memroy controllers. Timings are more important on AMD, as the controller itself isn't as efficient at using all of the available bandwidth the bus and DIMMs provide.

For quad kits, you'll find many OEMs are using the same timings. G.Skill does have a few faster MHz kits, and one kit with 9-11-9 timings @ 2133 MHz, but I am not currently aware of other quad kits tighter than that @ 2133 MHz. This NOT G.Skill's best quad kit.

 

[eidairaman1]

Ah. well, you know, timings have some impact, but not a large impact, on INtel memroy controllers. Timings are more important on AMD, as the controller itself isn't as efficient at using all of the available bandwidth the bus and DIMMs provide.

For quad kits, you'll find many OEMs are using the same timings. G.Skill does have a few faster MHz kits, and one kit with 9-11-9 timings @ 2133 MHz, but I am not currently aware of other quad kits tighter than that @ 2133 MHz. This NOT G.Skill's best quad kit.

Ive compared pricing it seems logical to go with 2 dual channel kits considering unless the new kits have a memory controller on module like FBDIMMs or RIMMs.

 

[cadaveca]

Ive compared pricing it seems logical to go with 2 dual channel kits considering unless the new kits have a memory controller on module like FBDIMMs or RIMMs.

Secondary timings can differ on X79 vs older platforms, which use a differnt type of "XMP" profiling than previous sticks(XMP v1.2 for older stuff like SB, while X79 uses XMP v1.3, which also includes VCSSA votlage settings, instead of the VTT setting on XMP v1.2). For example, many Elpida Hyper-based or BBSE based kits need 1.8v vDIMM or more to reach what they did on other platforms(seems that X79 might provide less current). If you are going to use X79, I cannot recommend buying two dual kits. My Mushkin kits work fine, of course, but not all kits will.

So, if you are careful with what kit you buy, or know how to manually set timings, it should be fine, but if you do have issues, do not expect it to be a situation where you can RMA because the ram doesn't work as advertized. If you want plug and play, you need a kit advertized to be compatible with the platform.

 

[eidairaman1]

I know this may sound insane but I was thinkin about kits for all machines, just not 1 platform but, 2011, 1366, 1156, 1155. AM3, AM3+, FM1. I dont look at ram for its XMPs honestly as i set timings manually for all machines. Most boards will revert to lowest JEDEC supported just to power up the machine after clearing CMOS (BIOS/UEFI)

 

[cadaveca]

I know this may sound insane but I was thinkin about kits for all machines, just not 1 platform but, 2011, 1366, 1156, 1155. AM3, AM3+, FM1. I dont look at ram for its XMPs honestly as i set timings manually for all machines. Most boards will revert to lowest JEDEC supported just to power up the machine after clearing CMOS (BIOS/UEFI)

The issue with using sticks not certified for a platform revolves around timing and voltage settings that don't always allow user interaction on some motherboards. For example, ASUS boards, now, have some of the highest-level of memory timings options right now, including drive strengths, secondary timings, tertiary timings, as well as offsets and such.

Gigabyte, on the other hand, has just a few options available in comparison, and not all the options are as flexible, or offer the same number of settings for individual timings.

In the end, memory is a passive device. As such, if you can configure it properly, it should work on all platforms, for sure. Limitations on each platform may affect the maximum speed, but as you said, the JEDEC standards ensure that RAM should boot in any product.

However, my own personal experience has shown that JEDEC values don't always work. The most obvious example of that recently is the numerous problems AMD Phenom II users ran into with DDR3 ram from nearly every OEM...thankfully, today, we have ram that IS certified for all platforms, including AMD, but even that is a fairly recent change.


Anyway, anything sold with speed and timings that deviate from the JEDEC spec may not work at advertized speed and timings. I know YOU know this, but I do have to make sure that I am not making recommendations, having people buy stuff, and then run into issues.


This kit in particular, does work on all current platforms, and on boards from a mryiad of OEMs, but not to it's rated speed, except on SKT 2011. 1866 Mhz 9-10-9-26 @ 1.5v worked great on every other platform, however.

 

[eidairaman1]

i cant remember exactly what kit of 1600 Gskill with 8 Timings but it did have XMP on it, I just set the timings and voltage manually in the AsRock 970 Extreme 4 board without any troubles, that is my bros build i did in september

 

[cadaveca]

Yeah, there are always going to be kits that DO work. The lower the speed of the kit, the better those chances are. It's always best to check the QVL list of a board, and if you find the ram there, there shouldn't be much issue...if it isn't, you might have some luck, you might not. It's not going to be often there are problems, but it WILL happen with some configurations.

Intel now offers warranty for overvolting/overclocking, for a small fee. With this fee, use of XMP profiles can be covered under warranty now too...cool stuff. use of XMP-rated DIMMs is not somehing that INtel realyl supports, nor AMD. It doesn't mean that XMP may be a problem...quite the opposite. It mearely means you have a clear road of who to approach for support when issues do happen.

 

[eidairaman1]

I dont think XMP does have any affect other than a primary sales pitch to make overclocking easier on noobs.

 

[cadaveca]

I dont think XMP does have any affect other than a primary sales pitch to make overclocking easier on noobs.

And that's it, exactly. The issue, of course, is that the rated timings for a lot of sticks are under XMP settings only. There's actually far more to timings than just even the primary 4, and if secondaries are not automatically changed when changing memory divider(up to the BIOS), there are many kits that even with "manual" settings, will refuse to even work unless you set secondaries manually, or use XMP to do it for you.


Then there's the issue of doing it manually, and not having those options in BIOS, or the options not working. I cannot count the times I heard people with issues with 1GB DDR2 DIMMs, because of a lack of TRFC adjustments. Or issues I've run into with testing boards with BIOSes not working right.

 

[PaulieG]

And that's it, exactly. The issue, of course, is that the rated timings for a lot of sticks are under XMP settings only. There's actually far more to timings than just even the primary 4, and if secondaries are not automatically changed when changing memory divider(up to the BIOS), there are many kits that even with "manual" settings, will refuse to even work unless you set secondaries manually, or use XMP to do it for you.


Then there's the issue of doing it manually, and not having those options in BIOS, or the options not working. I cannot count the times I heard people with issues with 1GB DDR2 DIMMs, because of a lack of TRFC adjustments. Or issues I've run into with testing boards with BIOSes not working right.

This is key. 99% of the time when people struggle with switching their favorite ram to a new platform, it is all about secondary timings. Sadly, there are not many people who know how to tweak the secondaries. It's kind of a lost art, unfortunately.

 

[eidairaman1]

Ya my sig rig has the primary and secondary timing sets, i leave the secondary timing sets alone as i dont have to touch them. JEDEC normally has a default set for the secondary timings, only primary is what changes.

And that's it, exactly. The issue, of course, is that the rated timings for a lot of sticks are under XMP settings only. There's actually far more to timings than just even the primary 4, and if secondaries are not automatically changed when changing memory divider(up to the BIOS), there are many kits that even with "manual" settings, will refuse to even work unless you set secondaries manually, or use XMP to do it for you.


Then there's the issue of doing it manually, and not having those options in BIOS, or the options not working. I cannot count the times I heard people with issues with 1GB DDR2 DIMMs, because of a lack of TRFC adjustments. Or issues I've run into with testing boards with BIOSes not working right.

 

[cadaveca]

JEDEC normally has a default set for the secondary timings, only primary is what changes.

That's where the issue is, of course. Many boards for products that support only 1333 MHz natively(1156/1366/AM3) do not adjust secondary timings over the 1333 MHz settings.


Other products that only support 1600 MHz(1155,2011), only adjust up to 1600 MHz, and not every AM3+ board, that supports 1866 MHz, adjusts over 1600 MHz.


Some BIOSes on some boards, it's dependant on what the highest JEDEC SPD table sets, whether the set gets 1600 MHz or higher secondary timings.


And of course, if the DIMM goes outside of JEDEC specs for what it wants, you're SOL, and hence my warnings. It doesn't apply to all situations, but it's a real problem.

 

[eidairaman1]

970 Extreme 4 from AsRock has 1600 Preset

That's where the issue is, of course. Many boards for products that support only 1333 MHz natively(1156/1366/AM3) do not adjust secondary timings over the 1333 MHz settings.


Other products that only support 1600 MHz(1155,2011), only adjust up to 1600 MHz, and not every AM3+ board, that supports 1866 MHz, adjusts over 1600 MHz.


Some BIOSes on some boards, it's dependant on what the highest JEDEC SPD table sets, whether the set gets 1600 MHz or higher secondary timings.


And of course, if the DIMM goes outside of JEDEC specs for what it wants, you're SOL, and hence my warnings. It doesn't apply to all situations, but it's a real problem.

 

[cadaveca]

970 Extreme 4 from AsRock has 1600 Preset

I'm sure it does, but as AsRock doesn't supply me with board samples, I have no idea how "up to snuff" their products are. All 9-series chipset products should support up to 1866 MHz with FX chips, so naturally the BIOS must be able to support those speeds as well. The question remains, however, what happens above 1866 MHz. I have reviewed products that couldn't even support that supposedly "native" 1866 MHz that they should, too, so anything I recommend has to be generalized to suit all situations.

 

[eidairaman1]

I'm sure it does, but as AsRock doesn't supply me with board samples, I have no idea how "up to snuff" their products are. All 9-series chipset products should support up to 1866 MHz with FX chips, so naturally the BIOS must be able to support those speeds as well. The question remains, however, what happens above 1866 MHz. I have reviewed products that couldn't even support that supposedly "native" 1866 MHz that they should, too, so anything I recommend has to be generalized to suit all situations.

AsRock has came along way and directly competes with ASUS, I might add the products seem to look better and they certainly work.

 

[damric]

As you may know if you seen my FX-4100 review, I recently picked up some G.Skill 2x4 GB RipjawsX 2133CL9 kit with the blue heat spreaders.

They sent me sticks with GREEN PCB!

Their techs said it depends on the batch they get, and it isn't in their control.

At least I was only out of pocket about $20.

 

[extide]

I have this ram in my x79 setup, just running at XMP settings though.

Something interesting I noticed is that my sticks have XMP 1 and XMP 2 profiles, yours only have XMP 1.

I am going to see if I can get it to run 2400 10-12-11, as you did. I havent really tried overclocking these sticks at all but they do seem very flexible. I wonder if mine use those same hynix chips. What would I look for to identify them ?

 

[eidairaman1]

As you may know if you seen my FX-4100 review, I recently picked up some G.Skill 2x4 GB RipjawsX 2133CL9 kit with the blue heat spreaders.

They sent me sticks with GREEN PCB!

Their techs said it depends on the batch they get, and it isn't in their control.

At least I was only out of pocket about $20.

I would of sent them back

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I just got this set (below) because I didn't think I could run 2133, but on a hunch that it's all the same stuff, just blue, I tried 2133 @9-11-10-28 2T and it runs just fine. Was hoping I'd get 9-10-10 given their 1866 @8-9-9 pedigree but they were a bit shy of that. Maybe if I upped the volts but it's hard to justify going over 1.65v 24/7. Is there a recommended vccio? I've just been running 1.1v.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231539

As you may know if you seen my FX-4100 review, I recently picked up some G.Skill 2x4 GB RipjawsX 2133CL9 kit with the blue heat spreaders.

They sent me sticks with GREEN PCB!

Their techs said it depends on the batch they get, and it isn't in their control.

At least I was only out of pocket about $20.

I don't really get why they don't just make them all black. Is black dye really more expensive than green dye?

 

[cadaveca]

I have this ram in my x79 setup, just running at XMP settings though.

Something interesting I noticed is that my sticks have XMP 1 and XMP 2 profiles, yours only have XMP 1.

I am going to see if I can get it to run 2400 10-12-11, as you did. I havent really tried overclocking these sticks at all but they do seem very flexible. I wonder if mine use those same hynix chips. What would I look for to identify them ?

Look t the number of sodler balls that connect the chip to the PCB, looking from the connector end. 4 rows on each side, typcially, = Hynix. Others have 3.


XMP 1 and XMP 2 profiles are there for both Intel platforms. The XMP v1.3 profile(X79 and Z77) should be profile #1, and XMP v1.2(P67 and Z68) should be profile #2. You should see a slight difference in secondary timings.


The reason mine are different from yours is because I got mine before they were in retail. G.Skill did notify me that the retail version may differ, but I thought perhaps that was the packaging/heatsink, to be honest, and I mentioned such in my review.

If you check the other G.SKill kit review I posted this week and this, you'll see that both sets were made in the month the review was written (the most recent aren't even a month out of the factory!), and this is the case for any product I test, and as such ,retail version may differ slightly, but I do try to indicate this in the review if the differences are really noticible.

 

[extide]

Look t the number of sodler balls that connect the chip to the PCB, looking from the connector end. 4 rows on each side, typcially, = Hynix. Others have 3.


XMP 1 and XMP 2 profiles are there for both Intel platforms. The XMP v1.3 profile(X79 and Z77) should be profile #1, and XMP v1.2(P67 and Z68) should be profile #2. You should see a slight difference in secondary timings.


The reason mine are different from yours is because I got mine before they were in retail. G.Skill did notify me that the retail version may differ, but I thought perhaps that was the packaging/heatsink, to be honest, and I mentioned such in my review.

If you check the other G.SKill kit review I posted this week and this, you'll see that both sets were made in the month the review was written (the most recent aren't even a month out of the factory!), and this is the case for any product I test, and as such ,retail version may differ slightly, but I do try to indicate this in the review if the differences are really noticible.

No luck running at 2400. I am actually using XMP 2, it has ever so slightly tighter timings. I can make a screenshot at some point of the SPD screen in the bios.

FWIW, my retail packaging was identical to yours, just the SPD programming difference

I will need to have a look at them to see if they are 3 or 4 ball.