For enthusiasts with a need for speed, G.Skill unleashed a new DDR4 memory kit recently that ratchets up two 8GB modules to 4333 MHz out of the box. The new 16GB kit will soon take the top spot in the company’s Trident Z series and will come with the traditional brushed metal heat spreader with red accent.
The new 16 GB (2 x 8GB sticks) Trident Z memory kit was validated on Intel’s Z270 platform using an Asus ROG Maximus IX Apex motherboard and an overclocked Intel Core i5-7600K. (The processor was clocked at 4200.20 MHz on a x40.0 multiplier and 104.98 MHz bus speed.) The DDR4 kit is running with CAS latencies of 19-19-19-39 and is needs 1.40 volts.
Not content to sit on its laurels, G.Skill is reportedly also working on cranking speeds up even further with a prototype DDR4 kit running at 4400 MHz and a “proof of concept” test of a 16 GB kit running at 4500 MHz. The DDR4-4500 kit is being stress tested while specifications are still under development and it will be “some time” before it is ready for market. G.Skill did manage to at least run Windows and some benchmarks at those RAM clock speeds though using the same Z270 platform listed above (with the Core i5 7600K clocked at 4360.36 MHz on a 108.98 MHz bus and x40.0 multiplier). The benchmark runs reported up to 65 GB/s write speeds, 55 GB/s read speeds, and 52 GB/s copy speeds specifically. DDR4 has come a long way in the speed department to where it is today and apparently still has room to grow.
Unfortunately, as is the case with most announcements of this nature, no official pricing and availability was mentioned. Looking around online, I would expect the 16GB DDR4-4333 kit to come in somewhere around $280 and be available within the next month or so.
I would love to see what a kit this fast would do for Ryzen as far as alleviating the CCX-to-CCX bottleneck over the Infinity Fabric assuming the Ryzen memory controller can handle those speeds! Also, faster memory has helped AMD’s APUs in the past, so these extremely fast kits that are coming out should pair well with AMD's upcoming Raven Ridge though they will need to come down in price a lot to actually meet the budget of a good budget gaming build (right now with the kits in the $250+ range it would be better to just put the premium into a graphics card – though that kind of defeats the purpose of using the APU heh).
Some reviewers have tested
Some reviewers have tested how ryzen scales with memory speed (or better said fabric frequency) and it looks like the gains seem to reach an asymptote at the 3600 mark.
K, so I might be an idiot
K, so I might be an idiot here, but outside of benchmarks, in the real world, what is the benefit of fast ram exactly? I’m not being facetious, I seriously have no idea how (unlike my entire life) fast ram is better than lots of ram, what are the real world benefits and disadvantages at this point, I know the historical reasons but at this point surely any major non ramdisk work would be bottlenecked
by the cpu…. no?
Faster ram can help
Faster ram can help performance in what seems like CPU limited areas. This is more evident in games like Skyrim, Fallout, Oblivion. Because it’s useful in CPU limited areas but less so in GPU limited areas, not only is game choice important, the segment of the game tested is important as well. In addition, it seems that faster ram affects minimum frame rates a bit more than average frame rates.
How about just 3733 C15 like
How about just 3733 C15 like they promised almost a year ago?