Test System

Initial Setup

Installed into our memory test rig, shown in the first image above, the G.Skill Ripjaws Z F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH kit matches our ASUS P9X79 Deluxe board quite nicely. Module height has been kept to a minimum allowing the modules to fit under our Noctua NH-C14 heatsink quite easily, with a small bit of room to spare, as seen in the second image above. The third image above shows the G.Skill modules installed alongside a module from another memory OEM, and highlights how the module's height can affect whether or not aftermarket coolers can be installed, or if there will be clearance issues. While the G.Skill modules fit nicely with our Noctua cooler, and sit a good distance shorter than the Mushkin module in the picture above, the Mushkin modules required that we removed the lower fan, which will affect the cooling ability of the heatsink. On the X79 Express platform, cooling is critical to overclocking, and G.Skill has done a fantastic job ensuring the greatest level of compatibility for those that like to overclock and who use custom cooling solutions.


The DIMMs themselves measure a total of 40.29 mm in height, as you can see in the image above. They are still slightly larger than a bare DDR3 DIMM, but as far as high-end memory goes, the heat speaders are quite short.


Contained within the G.Skill Ripjaws Z F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH module's SPD ROM are two different profiles; the JEDEC 1600 MHz profile that is enabled no matter the platform the sticks are installed into, as well as the 2133 MHz XMP v1.3 profile. The above CPU-Z images show first the JEDEC profile, and then the XMP profile, as well as the matching CPU clocks. The ASUS P9X79 Deluxe board we use for memory testing applies a small automatic overclock to 3900 MHz on all cores for our Intel i7 3960X CPU, when XMP is enabled. This allows users to get the most out of their XMP-profiled memory, while at the same time helping to highlight the performance differences possible when using XMP-enabled DIMMs. It's also worth noting that ASUS and G.Skill have been working together for a long time, and nearly every memory speed offered on the ASUS P9X79 Deluxe has been tested with G.Skill modules of some type, even including the monster 64 GB/2400 MHz kits that G.Skill recently launched in the past week or so.