A Closer Look

Removed from the protective sleeves, the G.Skill F3-2666C11Q-16GTXD kit makes quite the impression. Each DIMM stick has a lot of heft due to the cooling. One side has the DIMM sticker on its right end; it matches the sticker placed on the outside of the box. These labels go a long way in helping you put the kit back together if you, like me, happen to have a few kits strewn about. On the label are the part number, the primary timings of the stick, and some serial numbers stuff. There is also a holographic G.skill logo to prevent counterfeiting.


The side of the DIMM with the label is obscured by said label, but you get a very different look after flipping the stick over, since the other side has both stylized G.skill and TridentX logos.


If you look carefully, you can see that each stick is made with a high-end 8-layer PCB. They are proven to help memory clock higher than a 6-layer PCB. Opposite to that are the gold "GC" letters I've seen so often.


The end of the connector on the DIMM has the heatsink recess just far enough for it to fit into any 240-pin DDR3 slot properly. The top has a bunch of stretched-out spikes, and they are sharp, I might add. I literally poked myself hard enough to draw blood while trying to insert the DIMMs into my test board, but that makes sense, since the F3-2666C11Q-16GTXD kit is a TridentX kit, and such a name should carry some weight! If you look at the profile of the DIMM, you can see that it is shaped like a trident and tridents are pokey underwater weapons, are they not? Interesting. Tridents are weapons for water, and many overclocked systems are watercooled! Now the name REALLY makes sense. Although I don't see any signs of Poseidon...


The included fan is small and feels a bit cheap. It's made out of a simple single piece of metal that has been cut and folded into shape. The fans attach to the frame using four screws each, with a single 4-pin Molex-type plug coming out to provide the fan with power. Each fan is rated to pull 0.8W for a total of 1.6W combined, or so I assume. When power is supplied, the fans light up blue, which seems out of place with a red and black kit.