| G.Skill ECO 4GB DDR3 Memory Kit F310666CL7D |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Memory | |
| Written by Servando Silva | |
| Monday, 10 May 2010 | |
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G.Skill ECO DDR3 Memory Kit ReviewIn the industry of technology, brands offering similar products without innovating will not be easily adopted by the enthusiast market. If we talk about memory, then the mayor factors are frequency, latency and of course... price. Intel specifications for Core i3/i5/i7 products recommend using a maximum DRAM voltage of 1.65v. While most brands try to fit on Intel´s limits on the high side, G.Skill is trying something different. The G.Skill ECO F3 10666CL7D 4GB Dual Channel Kit is intended to run at 1333MHz with barely 1.35 volts benefiting both high-end enthusiasts who want better Overclocks and lower temps, or simply those who want to build an HTPC an every shaved watt can be the difference. Benchmark Reviews will test the G.Skill ECO kit to check if this kind of memory is able to do that difference (considering that frequency and latency are not a major factor on Intel chipsets anymore). G.Skill designed the ECO series for LGA1156 platforms. While they say they work the best on i5/i7 CPUs with P55 platforms, that´s probably because the H55/H57 chipsets came out just after this kit. The ECOs F3 10666CL7D are meant to run at 1333MHz with 7-7-7-21 2T timings with very low voltage. G.Skill also has the same kit at higher timings or the same kit at higher frequencies (1600MHz to be clear). Benchmark Reviews will test both modules to see how good they perform, how much they can Overclock for enthusiasts, and of course, there will be a time to prove if voltage reduction can really stand up with the ECO name. Considering the low voltages used on this kit, it could be an excellent choice for Overclockers. With their price being a little bit more expensive than 100 USD the ECO F310666CL7D is definitively an interesting choice for most of the people with a P55/H55/H57 platform. Let´s have a look at the blister:
The package contains two 2GB RAM modules with a grey heatsink and the ECO logo on both sides. G.Skill recommends using 1.35 volts but don´t worry, they added some SPDs to boot at 1.5 volts in case your motherboard doesn´t support low voltages, thus meaning that the memory won´t get damaged with common voltages ranges (1.5v-1.65v). About G. Skill
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Comments
Since you have some Elpida BBSE you should go and try rising up the tRCD as I did. I really loved the 1600MHz 6-7-6 configuration. Just to let you know, I´ve got a i5 750 paired with the P55 ASUS Maximus III Formula, and I´ll update my results as soon as I´ve a time (probably on the forum thread, but I´ll link it here). Right now, they´re working at 1.3v with stock settings without problems, but I wasn´t able to boot at 1.25v.
I´ve seen the Kingston Lo-Vo Edition and I think this kit is better. G.Skill memory will probably overclock better and they cost less as you´ve said. Kingston in the other hand, has a kit that can work with 1.25v but at expense of higher latencies.
At 1.28V with the settings 7-8-7-21 1t at 1333MHz the memory passes several hours of stress testing. (I didn't test any longer, it didn't fail)
I didn't manage to get it stable at a lower voltage, however the system did boot on 1.26V.
Tested on an ASUS P7H55D-M EVO - motherboard, with a core i3 530 running at default clock.
As you said, anything lower than that won´t be stable or barely boot windows. BTW, I used 7-7-7 timings.
I turned up the frequency to 1600, and the voltage to 1.56V to find the tightest settings. I could only get it to work at 7-8-7-21 1T Which at first disappointed me a little.
I then slowly decreased the voltage to find the minimum at this setting. Now this part really surprised me: the memory remained stable (even after several hours of stress testing) at only 1.34V
What is really amazing about that is that it is still below the voltage setting of the XMP for 1333MHz.
So in recap,
min (core i3 @2.9MHz): 1333 MHz @ 7-8-7-21 1t -->1.28V
max (core i3 @4.4Mhz): 1600 MHZ @ 7-8-7-21 1t --> 1.34V
And what´s the best you can do (MHz) at 6-7-6-21 1T? I can´t think your memory does the same at 1.35v than at 1.55v. There should be some kind of limitation. It could be your MB (not probable), your memory (it might be), or a bad CPU for Mem scaling.
I still haven´t tried max freq scaling with this motherboard since work is drowning me but I bet it will do better than the Mini-ITX I used for the review (it better do it).
Take care.
I also discovered 1600MHz 6-7-6-21 1T needs only 1.4v (multimeter) and not 1.5v. But the Mini-ITX used didn´t let me test that. This is still a great kit.
Take Care.