Page 10 - Overclocking and Conclusion
At the beginning of this review, I have posed the question of whether the G.SKILL Sniper F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2 2x4GB is capable of running beyond its design limits if we gave it full voltage. But before we get started on overclocking, let's clear up one important issue first: the G.SKILL Sniper 1.25V is actually not designed for overclocking. It is designed for low voltage operation, so the user can save some electricity in the process (Although I highly doubt it makes much of a difference). However, if you gave it 1.65V, rest be assured you will not fry the ICs, as I have received confirmation from G.SKILL about this. With that in mind, I am going to waste no more of your precious time.
Fixing the voltage at 1.65V, I wanted to see how low the latencies can go on the G.SKILL Sniper DDR3-1600 2x4GB 1.25V kit. After hours upon hours of testing, I managed to confirm our particular example is Prime95 stable at 8-8-7-24 -- a result that is surprisingly commendable for something designed to operate at 9-9-9-24 stock. To see how far it can move beyond its DDR3-1600 specification, since we can't practically fine tune the frequency on Intel's Sandy Bridge platform, the only thing I am going to test today is if it is possible to bump it up a setting to DDR3-1866. How did that turn out? Well, our system boots, and runs a few benchmarks, but I won't consider it Prime95 stable at all.
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If Australia is not the only place in the world where weird things happen, where else in the world are things upside down? Well, we have Taiwan, because that is where the G.SKILL Sniper F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2 2x4GB came from, and we have Canada, because that is where my set is. And for that matter, it is also anywhere in the world where this DDR3-1600 1.25V dual channel kit sells. Although it is neither the fastest memory money can buy, nor does it operate at the lowest latencies, what marks the G.SKILL Sniper DDR3-1600 8GB 1.25V set from the competition is the fact it is the lowest voltage mass market RAM available at press time. Now the funny thing is, although it is not designed for overclocking, its latencies scale surprising well if you gave it 1.65V. Just look at our results posted in this review. In the end, the hallmark of this RAM is really about saving power while providing compromise-free performance and unique looks. Sure, you probably won't save more than a couple watts, but every bit counts, right? For around $100 at press time, the price premium is approximately $5 over a comparable Ripjaws-X kit from the company. The difference is certainly justified in my opinion -- especially considering I have a set installed in my server that runs 24/7. If you are looking for something that performs well, looks unique, and saves (some) power, look no further than the G.SKILL Sniper F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2 2x4GB.
G.SKILL provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH:Renewal Award
Since April 30, 2007, Number Ratings have been dropped for all CPUs, motherboards, RAM, SSD/HDDs, and graphics cards. This is to ensure the most appropriate ratings are reflected without the inherent limits of using numbers. Everything else will continue using the Number Rating System.
More information in our Review Focus.
Uncompromised performance. Unique looks. Maximum efficiency. This is what the G.SKILL Sniper F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2 2x4GB is all about.
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Page Index
1. Introduction and Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Installation, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 CPU
4. Benchmark: AIDA64 FPU
5. Benchmark: AIDA64 Memory
6. Benchmark: PCMark Vantage
7. Benchmark: 3DMark 11
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 7.0
9. Benchmark: SuperPI 1M, Cinebench R11.5
10. Overclocking and Conclusion
