Introduction

We all know that system memory is important, both in size and speed, and with modern platforms and DDR4, there are definite speeds and capacities for each platform that are most ideal, either for maximum speed or maximum performance. Yet with so many options out there and so many potential platforms and motherboards, finding the right memory for your needs can be a difficult task, and it really doesn't need to be. Although it might not seem like it at first glance, things like RGB LEDs and specific heatspreader designs are there to help ease that confusion, and some kits out there are actually specifically designed to run with specific motherboards, offering you the chance to build a custom "pre-built" PC that has all those compatibility issues already taken care of for you. Naturally, G.SKILL has such products on store shelves right now with their Sniper X series.

G.SKILL's Sniper X kits are built with hand-picked memory chips that are pre-screened for ultimate compatibility with specific motherboards and then mated with a matching PCB and heatsink design that coincides with several board designs from the major board OEMs, while offering not only maximum compatibility but also looking good.

G.SKILL sent me a set tuned for ASUS TUF boards, supporting a 3600 MHz base XMP profile with two 8 GB sticks bringing the total kit size to 16 GB, which is just the right amount of memory for most users using their PCs for gaming or other common daily compute tasks. Keeping in mind that maximum compatibility, these sticks have rather loose timings set at 19-19-19-39, which is a fair bit different from some of the other 3600 MHz kits G.SKILL has on offer and we had grace these pages, with 16-16-16-36 or 16-18-18-38 timings. These aren't the ultimate in low-latency DIMMs, but since memory performance increases only offer limited overall gains, does that even matter? Let's find out!

Specifications