Memory Performance Results

Test System

I've recently built a new system for memory testing, and I spent about 8 weeks playing with multiple Haswell CPUs and multiple Z87-based motherboards before settling on the configuration used for all testing. Due to memory overclocking in part being limited by CPU speeds, I've chosen to run all testing with my Intel Core i7-4770K running at default speeds, although I did enable ASUS's performance-optimized turbo profiling feature. All kits are tested by simply enabling XMP in the BIOS after clearing the CMOS fully. I also clear the CMOS when I swap kits to ensure that the numbers reported are identical to what end users can obtain using a similar configuration.


Getting the G.Skill TridentX 2933 MHz 8 GB kit booted up the first time wasn't exactly easy on all motherboards, but they booted right up with XMP enabled in the BIOS once I installed the kit into my ASUS MAXIMUS VI EXTREME. Timings looked fine in ASUS's MemTweakIt utility, but I found performance to be lacking in a big way. This isn't due to the sticks themselves but rather because of the board's settings for the 2933 MHz divider, as I saw similar behavior using other sticks. When I set the 2800 MHz memory divider manually in the BIOS, performance for the G.Skill TridentX 2933 MHz 8 GB kit increased quite a bit, but I used the G.Skill TridentX 2933 MHz 8 GB kit's XMP profile because we report "out-of-the-box" performance results.