Memory

G.Skill SNIPER Series 1600MHz CL9 8GB Review

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March 31, 2011 9 Min Read
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It’s time to lock ‘n load. G.Skill have a new memory series with ultra low voltage 1.25v aimed at gamers seeking the best. F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2.


Product on Review: G.Skill SNIPER F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2
Manufacturer and Sponsor: G.Skill
Street Price: £85 inc. VAT (At time of review


It was just a few weeks ago that G. Skill announced their new Sniper DDR3 series, this new series is designed for a range of platforms and chipsets. G. Skill have already had overwhelming success with their Ripjaws product line, which expanded this year to include RipjawsX. Whilst the RipjawsX might be considered more of an enthusiast series, this latest release from G. Skill will entertain the gamer.

Although the Sniper series is designed for Intel platforms, it is also compatible with AMD platforms too. G. Skill have done extensive testing to ensure full compatibility for both parties covering a wide range of chipsets from AM3 right through to X58. The Sniper series is available in 2 colour options, pitch-black and metallic arm green.

The kit we are looking at today is designed specifically for the P55 and P67 chipsets from Intel. We will be continuing our journey through 1600MHz DDR3 memory kits on the Sandy Bridge platform with the Sniper series. Being dual channel, G. Skill have sent across an 8GB kit (2x4GB) rated at 1600MHz CL9 with an incredibly low voltage of 1.25v. It’s time to lock n’ load.


G.Skill’s take on Sniper:
The New Sniper series is designed in ultra low voltage, especially 1.25V. This kit 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. Gaming takes a lot of memory consuming processes, therefore, the big capacity memory kit is necessary. G.Skill Sniper series not only fulfil your needs, but also maximize your gaming experience with the range from 4GBx2 to 4GBx6.

CAS Latency
– 9-9-9-24
Capacity
– 8GB (4GB x2)
Speed
– DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800)
Test Voltage
– 1.25 Volts
Error Checking
– Non-ECC
Type
– 240-pin DIMM
Warranty
– Lifetime

Closer Look


The Sniper kit is presented to us in a moulded plastic pack that is easily opened without the need of a knife or scissors which I am glad to see – rather than destroying the packaging we can open it without hassle.

G Skill are keen to emphasise that this particular Sniper kit has extremely low voltage. We’ve seen plenty of kits that are 1.5v but until now, never 1.25v. This is exceptionally low and should aid overclocking headroom, plus reduce stress on the memory controller. As you can tell from the name Sniper, this kit is targeting gamers and thus the packaging reflects this.


G Skill Sniper packaging


Slipping the DIMMs out of their packet we can see where this kit gets its name from. The heatspreaders have been given the appearance of rifles. The grooves and indentations give it that military look. I have to admit, they do look quite aggressive.

The CAS label identifier gives us the model name, rated frequency – 1600MHz, capacity – 8GB, CAS timings – 9-9-9-24, voltage – 1.25v, serial number and manufacturing year/month.


Rifle-styled heatspreaders for the gamer in you



CAS label showing technical specifications


Taking a look down the profile of the Sniper DIMMs, compared to other G Skill kits such as the RipjawsX the Sniper’s aren’t going to present much compatibility issues. The heatspreaders extend above the actual modules underneath a mere 1.2cm.


The profile of the heatspreaders. They extend a further 1.2cm above modules


Testing Methodologies & Overclocking


CPU Intel Core i5 2500K (3.3GHz)
Motherboard ASUS P8P67
Memory
8GB G.Skill Sniper 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
4GB Kingston HyperX Special Edition 1600MHz 9-9-9-27
4GB G.Skill RipjawsX 1600MHz 7-8-7-24
4GB OCZ Reaper 1600MHz 8-8-8-26
CPU Cooler Alpenfohn Matterhorn
Graphics ZOTAC GTX 460
PSU OCZ Fatal1ty 750W

For the purpose of testing I will be using the G Skill Sniper kit and all subsequent Sandy Bridge memory on the ASUS P8P67 motherboard, using the Intel 2500K. Our database is now growing for Sandy Bridge memory reviews, so over time there will be more memory to compare against. But for now, we will be testing versus OCZ Reaper, G.Skill RipjawsX and recently reviewed Kingston HyperX Special Edition’s.


Sniper kit installed on the ASUS P8P67 / testbench


Overclocking

With BCLK being fixed on the Sandy Bridge platform this has now altered the way we can overclock. Overclocking power with Sandy Bridge is concentrated on the CPU rather than memory. We do not have the flexibility we once had by changing the BCLK in order to move the frequencies in small increments, instead we have only set margins to move in because of the divider that is set. So available we have 1066MHz / 1600MHz / 1866MHz / 2133MHz / 2400MHz. In essence we have little room to experiment with, but lets see what we can do.

So to begin with I overclocked the kit. With the intention of pushing the memory frequency up to the first milestone – 1866MHz. It’s always a good idea to loosen the CAS timings when overclocking so that nothing affects moving up to the specified frequency. So I slackened the timings to 10-10-10-28. Immediately I ran into problems, so I increased the voltage from 1.25v to 1.6v incase this was hindering the frequency increase. Sadly, although the Sniper kit did boot into Windows and some of the benchmarks did run. It wasn’t stable and 3DMark 11 and SANDRA revealed instability. All of our previously tested Sandy Bridge kits managed to move up from 1600MHz to 1866MHz without any problem of stability.

The next objective was to modify the CAS timings at the stock memory frequency of 1600MHz. The idea here is to get the timings as tight as possible and the lowest ratings that I could settle on were 8-9-8-25 @ 1.5v. So I was able to move the kit down to CL8, with a slight modification to the voltage.

With the performance modifications being established I was then able to begin benchmarking. So the Sniper kit will be tested in CL8 and at CL9 (stock) ratings, sadly due to the stumbling block with overclocking we won’t be able to test the kit with an uprated frequency setting. The results are on the proceeding pages. To summarise here are the settings we will be testing on the G Skill Sniper’s:

Stock: 1600MHz 9-9-9-24 @ 1.25v
Tight: 1600MHz 8-9-8-25 @ 1.5v

Synthetic: AIDA64

AIDA64 is the successor to Everest ULTIMATE. This application not only details every component within a system but it also incorporates a comprehensive memory benchmarking tool that will ascertain bandwidth and latency figures.

STOCK 1600MHz 9-9-9-24 @ 1.25v


TIGHT – CL8 1600MHz 8-9-8-25 @ 1.5v

Synthetic: SiSoftware SANDRA 2011

SANDRA isn’t always a benchmark that is included in hardware reviews but I believe it shouldn’t be ignored. SANDRA provides a vigorous package that tests your system in a rather large array of benchmarks. There are many aspects of benchmark that can be executed. We will be considering – CPU and memory tests.





Synthetic: 3DMark 11

3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world’s most popular benchmark. Designed to measure your PC’s gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.




Gaming: Metro 2033, Dirt 2, UT3, Black Ops

It’s important for us to perform a number of game benchmarks as well as the synthetic tests because the G Skill Sniper’s will surely feature in many gaming systems, because this kit is specifically targeted at gamers. So here we have a selection of popular gaming titles, critically acclaimed and action-packed.







Conclusion


Those who once had their doubts about moving to Sandy Bridge due to the recognised flaw reported at the end of January have in the past month had their fears soothed thanks to the new B3 stepping motherboards now available in all stores world-wide. For many – not just motherboard manufacturers the past few months would have seen major disruptions in sales and the like, hopefully now things are starting to pick back up. G.Skill have been wise to launch their new Snipers series immediately after B3 stepping motherboards became available to the consumer.


So how well does the Sniper DDR3 kit perform on the Sandy Bridge platform? Well, the stock CL9 performance is pleasing. Against its foes it stands out as a solid performer across the board. We put the 1600MHz Sniper kit under review today against a selection of other popular Sandy Bridge RAM from Kingston, G.Skill and OCZ. Whilst the difference in results between each kit within the games benchmarking tests could be deemed nominal, synthetic tests revealed that the Sniper kit was a serious contender and not to be underestimated.

The only concern I have with this kit was the instability at getting it moved up from 1600MHz to 1866MHz. With such a low voltage I was hoping that this would give enough headroom for us to possibly consider 2133MHz, but even 1866MHz seemed to have its issues sadly. Overclocking isn’t the ‘be-all-and-end-all’ though. Many gamers (or even enthusiast) won’t even be modifying their RAM anyway and we have to remember that this particular series is marketed at this target group. I can confidently say that stock performance and CL8 modification, this kit offers gamers a reliable, solid solution.

Priced at £85 inc. VAT the Sniper DDR3 kit for the P67 chipset is a superb buy. It’ll be one of the lowest priced 8GB CL9 kits currently available, at gamers finger-tips. I can well understand that many are stuck in a dilemma – decided whether to go with a 4GB or 8GB kit but thanks to the pricing here 8GB is a much more affordable option to go with.

Pros
+ Good overall performance
+ Affordable 8GB kit
+ Aggressive styling
+ Extremely low voltage
+ Short heatspreaders

Cons
– Overclock unstable


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