G.Skill Flare F3-16000CL7D DDR3 AMD Memory Kit Review

Memory by leeghoofd @ 2010-09-07

The launch of AMD´s hexacore Thuban CPU was combined with their new 890FX chipset. The old RAM wall was history. All over the net we saw screenshots of benchmark-stable rigs with ram speeds way over what was imaginable a few weeks before... Let us pop in Gskill´s latest AMD X6 compatible high speed ram: the 4Gb Flare 2000 CL7 kit. Can these do better than our Corsair Hyper GTX2 kit ?

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Getting personal

Introduction

The launch of AMD's hexacore Thuban CPU was combined with AMD's new 890FX chipset. The old RAM wall was history. All over the net we saw screenshots of benchstable rigs with ram speeds way over what was imaginable a few weeks before... In our 1090T CPU review we broke the old 1920ish wall easily, but weren't able to breach 2000mhz. At first glance we imagined the press sample CPU wasn't cutting it. Could we have been wrong there ? Was it maybe our Corsair kit that has found its limitation? Let's pop in Gskills latest AMD X6 compatible high speed ram ; The 4Gb Flare 2000 CL7 kit. Can these do better than our Hyper GTX2 kit ?

About the company
G. SKILL", established in 1989 by enthusiasts, is a leading memory module Manufacturer based in Taipei, Taiwan.
With traditional strengths, G.Skill has built an excellent reputation by meeting market demand and fostering business competitiveness both locally and internationally with their dedications to provide competitive prices, On-Time Delivery, Assured Quality, Customer-Oriented Services and Diversity of Products.


Most of us still recall the DDR2 PC8000HZ kit. 1000Mhz at 4-4-4-5 timings, a feast for overclockers. G.Skill has closely worked together with Asus to warrant maximum performance and compatibility. This is one of the reasons that G.Skill puts up the big sticker on their cardboard box.

Madshrimps (c)

Even though the Asus Crosshair IV Formula isn't mentioned, be assured, it mega compatible too

Madshrimps (c)

G.SKill also included a nice ram cooler, easily clipped on (no screws), only setback is that it needs to be hooked to the PSU via a 4 pin Molex, rather than to the motherboard.

Madshrimps (c)

Some shots of these fab looking sticks, black and red, a combo that always works. Also G.Skill clearly has got the correct timings and voltages marked on the stickers. An end-user friendly service that some brands sometimes tend to forget.

Madshrimps (c)
Madshrimps (c)

Opening the dimms is done by loosening the 2 screws (protected by void warranty stickers), then slowly twisitng the the heatsinks off. It was pretty resistant at first but finally loosened. The chips made perfect contact with the thermal tape

Madshrimps (c)

No surprise that G.Skill uses Powerchip IC's on these. Though there's not much technical data to see on the IC's. Just on some IC's we spotted a handwritten 6. Probably a result of the binning of IC's, to warrant the specs

Madshrimps (c)


Let's move onto the result page ->
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Comment from Teemto @ 2010/09/07
Finally. Been waiting on that review for ages
One more negative point though. Availability.
G.Skill site quotes a couple of shops in Belgium and the Netherlands.
But that info seems very outdated. So basically no go in those 2 countries.
G.SKill rep gave me 2 shops in France and one in Germany which have em.

I'll definately order one of these kits next month. This months budget has already been blown

 

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