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G.SKILL Sniper DDR3 1600MHz CL9 8GB Low Voltage Kit
Introduction:
G.SKILL, established in 1989, is one of the most popular memory manufacturers in the world. Their main aim is to provide superior memory products with excellent after-sales services to keep pace with ever growing needs of enthusiasts. All of their memory products need to pass rigorous tests and strict quality control procedures to make their way to the consumers. In addition to that hand tested in G.SKILL labs to ensure the highest product quality.
G.SKILL is currently providing high quality desktop memory, notebook memory and solid state drives.
Today, we’ll be having a detailed look at G.SKILL’s latest offering, Sniper Memory Series. Memory kits with unique gun styled heat spreader; best in-class stability and reliability are specifically designed for PC gamers and modding enthusiasts.
The new Sniper memory is available with a couple of different variations. Here is a table which shows all the variant of Sniper memory series.
The main feature of the Sniper series is the high capacity kits with ultra-low voltage i.e. as low as 1.25v for 8GB/12GB/16GB/24GB kits. These kits can save up to 10% electric power which will simultaneously allow gamers to enjoy smooth gaming without any overheat problems and meet energy efficiency requirements. They are compatible with almost every DDR3 enabled platform.
The kit we have today is an 8GB Dual Channel 1600MHz kit with CL9 timings. It is rated to do optimal operation at an amazingly low 1.25v. Such low voltage not only saves energy but it also increases the overclocking headroom. You can easily max out the memory by increasing the voltage all the way to 1.65v if you are that of an energy saver.
Packaging and the Memory:
G.SKILL Sniper memory comes in a simple plastic clam shell. Front of the packaging shows both the sticks and compatibility of this particular kit is also mentioned on upper part. The freakily low 1.25v is also mentioned on the top.
Back of the packing praises the memory kit. It also carries the contact info of G.SKILL and specifications of the memory kit.
This G.SKILL Sniper kit comes with black gun styles heat spreader. These heatspreaders are smaller as compared to many high end rams and G.SKILL’s own RipjawsX series hence these will cause no clearance issue with heatsinks or what-so-ever.
One side of the each stick carries a small sticker which states model number, speed, voltage and other specifications of the kit. Apart from this, there is a G.SKILL Sniper themed black and red sticker.
Other side only contains the black and red G.SKILL Sniper sticker. Either side if the stick carries gun shaped engraving. It gives the kit a very unique look.
This dual channel kit has a total capacity of 8GB with 4GB on each stick. It’s rated to run 1600MHz CL9-9-9-24 with only 1.25v.
G.SKILL Sniper kit comes with 6-layered matte black PCB. This black PCB with golden contact points really enhances the looks of the memory kit.
Even though a DDR3 kit with 1.25v wouldn’t need a heatsink but G.SKILL rigged this kit up with a very stylish looking and effective heatsink. Either side if the stick carries gun-shape engraved heatsink. It gives the kit a very unique look.
Specifications:
Test Setup:
Overclocking and Testing:
Like every other DDR3 memory, this kit runs at JEDEC standard (1333MHz, CL9) by default. To achieve its rated speeds, you need to enable XMP profile from BIOS. Enabling the XMP profile will take the memory to its rated speeds of 1600MHz CL9-9-9-24 with 1.25v. This kind of low voltage with 8GB memory and 1600MHz is really impressive.
Here is a shot of CPUz showing XMP, part number and other info of this memory kit.
I’ll overclock this memory far ahead of its XMP profile speeds but before we look at how well this memory kit overclocks let’s have a quick look at some facts about memory overclocking and my overclocking procedure:
I selected P55 chipset to test overclocking capability this memory kit instead of Sandy Bridge (P67/H67) because with P67 you can’t overclock the memory in the traditional manner. You can only adjust multiplier ratio which will change the memory speed to preset levels (i.e. 800MHz, 1066MHz, 1333MHz, 1600MHz, 1855MHz, 2133MHz and 2200MHz) but with P55 you can freely adjust the memory speed to whatever you like. Memory overclocking is a very difficult task. There are a lot of things you have to keep in mind to get the most out of it. There are many settings and you need to find the best possible combination. Increasing memory speed will not give you enough boost until you fine tune your timings too and other way around. Timings play a vital role in your memory performance. Then voltage comes into play, you can’t keep on increasing memory voltage especially with X58 and P55 chipset as memory controller (IMC) is located on your processor and too much voltage can damage it. To achieve higher memory clocks increasing memory voltage only will not help, you’ll need to increase IMC voltage as well. Overall, it’s a very complicated and time consuming process.
- As most of you know that memory is linked with base clock. We need to change base clock in order to change memory speed (in P55 and X58 ) hence it changes overall speed of processor but we’ll try to keep processor clock near 4.0GHz by changing multiplier when needed.
- Memory stability will be tested with MemTest, it’s a small but very handy tool to test stability of memory.
- I’ll test the memory modules in Dual Channel mode.
Below is a graph showing the overclocked speeds and timings of this Sniper memory kit:
G.SKILL Sniper kit proved to be really good at overclocking considering it’s an 8GB kit as most of you know that overclocking is difficult with higher density kits. 1950MHz clock speed on stock timings with voltage bumped up to 1.65v is pretty impressive.
With 9-11-9-27 timings, it crossed 2100MHz mark, that again, is very impressive for an 8GB kit.
Let’s move on to some performance testing now, we’ll test our overclocked memory with a couple of different software.
-Lavalys Everest:
Lavalys created and developed market leading computer diagnostics, hardware monitoring, network audit, and benchmarking software solutions based on our proven, award-winning EVEREST technology.
We used Lavalys Everest Memory Benchmark tool to test read, write and copy speeds. Furthermore we also tested Latency.
Read
Write
Copy
Latency
-MaxxMEM Preview:
It tests your computer’s raw memory performance, combining copy, read, write and latency tests into one global score. It contains the same Memory benchmark routine as MaxxPI does. So your reached results will be comparable to Memory/Latency benchmarks done by MaxxPI.
Memory Score
Latency Score
Total MaxxMem Score
Final Words:
This new Sniper series from G.SKILL is really impressive both in terms of performance and looks. It looks very industrial and tough with the innovative gun-shaped heatsink.
Priced a little above 100USD, this 8GB kit with stunningly low 1.25v gives amazing price-performance ratio for system builders and gamers. This kit can also be ideal for small home based severs due to its high capacity and low voltage, this ultra-low voltage can save upto 10% electric power. It’ll not only reduce your power consumption but it’ll also produce considerably low heat which is very beneficial for hardcore gaming rigs as well as home servers.
With voltage bumped upto usual 1.65v mark, this kit turns into a mini beast. It reaches really good clocks considering its high capacity.
This new Sniper kit is surely worth buying but WAIT! You might end up in jail for having a Sniper (I kid, I kid :P).
-Pros:
• High Capacity
• Great Looks
• Ultra-low Voltage
• Low Price
• Lifetime Warranty
-Cons:
• None
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