IntroductionG.Skill, known for their high end and competitively priced memory kits, is set to conquer the hearts of the budget minded people out there with their latest PC3200 DDR1 kit. When you hear the name G.Skill you think of nice overclocking headroom at good timings, let’s see if this kit can continue the tradition.
On the test bench today the F1-3200PHU2-2GB NS, a mainstream memory kit consisting of 2x1GB modules, it’s rated at CL2.5-3-3-6 @ 200Mhz
After opening the package I was greeted by a pair of quite good looking sticks, they decided to upgrade the aesthetical aspect of their modules by wrapping them in flashy red heat spreaders. Although it does improve the looks, in my experience it hardly improves performance (and sometimes worsens it) – having good airflow inside your case is vital to obtain good overclocking results with your ram.
Removing the heat spreaders doesn’t make me much wiser; the chips are relabelled with a G.Skill logo and C64M8G7286F-5 text. These chips are stuck onto a Brainpower B6U808 PCB which is one of the better for 1Gb memory modules. Do keep in mind that removing the heat spreader will void your warranty and not quite worth the risk.
Zoomed inTest Setup and MethodologyBerry’s Test Setup |
CPU | A64 3700+ (San Diego Core, E4) |
Mainboard | DFI RDX200 CF-DR |
Video card | ATI X800XT PE |
Other | Silverstone TJ06 Maxtor 160GB SATA |
I will compare the performance of the G.Skill NS kit to that of the following Team Group modules reviewed
herePC3200 TXDR2048M400HC2DC 2-3-3-5 Infineon BE5
PC3200 TXDR2048M400HC25DC 2,5-4-4-8 Team labeled
PC4000 TXDR2048M500HC3DC 3-3-3-8 Micron based
PC4000 TXDR2048M500HC3DC 3-4-4-8 Samsung UCCC
I’ve split the performance tests in two groups, at PC3200 speeds with all modules and at maximum overclock/best timings among all PC3200 kits.
Let’s see how this mainstream kits fares against the competition ->