Review: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 16GB DDR4-3000 (F4-3000C15Q-16GRR)

by Tarinder Sandhu on 29 August 2014, 19:30

Tags: G.SKILL

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaciej

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Testing Methodology

Comparison Memory

  G.Skill Ripjaws 4 3,000
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2,800
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2,800
Model F4-3000C15Q-16GRR
CMK16GX4MA2800C16
CMK16GX4MA2800C16
Capacity 16GB (4x4GB)
16GB (4x4GB)
16GB (4x4GB)
Speed 3,000MHz
2,800MHz
2,133MHz
Timings 15-15-15-35-2T
16-18-18-36-2T
16-18-18-36-2T
Voltage 1.35V
1.20V
1.20V
Price* £230
£250
NA
Cost per GB* £14.37
£15.62
NA
*Approximate, correct at time of writing

Test Platform

CPU Intel Core i7-5960X
Motherboard Asus X99-Deluxe (5501 BIOS)
Storage Device Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
Graphics Card EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (340.52 drivers)
Power Supply Corsair AX760i
Operating System Windows 8.1 64-bit

Benchmarks

HEXUS.PiFast Our number-crunching benchmark stresses a single core by calculating Pi to 10m places
CINEBENCH R15 Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses all cores
HandBrake 0.9.9.1 Free-to-use video encoder that stresses all CPU cores (64-bit)
AIDA64 v4.60.3124 Memory analysis tool supporting Haswell CPUs
3DMark DX11, Fire Strike default test
BioShock Infinite DX11, 1,920x1,080, ultra quality
Batman: Arkham Origins DX11, 1,920x1,080, enhanced quality
Total War: Rome II DX11, 1,920x1,080, ultra quality

Notes

Looking back at the Corsair Vengeance LPX 2,800MHz DDR4 review, inputting the required speeds isn't as simple as on the Z97/Haswell platform.

On the Asus X99-Deluxe motherboard the only method of achieving the correct timings and speeds is to use built-in XMP settings, as opposed to putting in a 100MHz base clock. Going via XMP requires a CPU strap and base clock of 125MHz, pushing the CPU speed out of the default specification.

We want to lock the CPU speed to a a certain frequency and then see what effect memory timings and frequency have on our benchmarks, rather than what effect the CPU imposes. The way to do this is to select a CPU speed - 3.8GHz in our case - and toggle the other parameters to fit.

3,000MHz DDR4 - G.Skill

3.8GHz CPU
3,000MHz-plus memory
BIOS setup for XMP

We need to increase the DRAM frequency a touch to fit into an all-core 3.8GHz CPU speed, with the G.Skill running at 3,042.2MHz.

2,800MHz DDR4 - Corsair

3.8GHz CPU
near-2,800MHz memory
BIOS setup for XMP

2,133MHz DDR4 - Corsair

3.8GHz CPU
2,133MHz memory
BIOS setup for default memory

Overclocking

We've chosen three arbitrary speeds and timings in order to evaluate the overclocking potential of the G.Skill modules. Voltage was kept at 1.35V.

 
3,100MHz
(15-15-15-36-2T)
3,1000MHz
(16-16-16-36-2T)
3,200MHz
(16-16-16-36-2T)
G.Skill Ripjaws 4 @ 1.35V

G.Skill is cutting it quite close in terms of headroom, though newer motherboard BIOSes may well improve memory overclocking potential.