Ares vs Ripjaws X

[Tradesman]

Didn't see GSkill today but dropped them a note to take a look.

Essenbe

Think you'll be pleased, the Snipers are my favorites.

[Britton30]

Maybe that's the difference for one thing anyway, overclockibility (new word). I have a 2x4GB Sniper 1866 and had it up to 2000 on an AMD board. ASrock Fatal1ty 990FX Pro<<<Same in in for RMA and I'll experiment more when it re-returns.

[Tradesman]

Good minds think similar, my P67 w/ the Snipers is a Fatal1ty Performance, 2133 at 9-11-10-29 1T 1.56

[essenbe]

Good minds think similar, my P67 w/ the Snipers is a Fatal1ty Performance, 2133 at 9-11-10-29 1T 1.56

When I get mine and get it set up, I'll have to get you to tell me how to set that up. BTW, someone told me a while back about G skill case badges. How do you get them? I have about 4 sets of G Skill ram right now and another in the mail and have never received one. I didn't know you guys had them. Just curious.

[Tradesman]

They discontinued putting them in the packages a while back (fairly long ago actually). Let me check and I'll PM you in a little bit, might have some around.

[Wildman95gst]

If the Tman can't dig any up, you can check under "General Discussion" "case badges" 5th post from the btm

[essenbe]

Thanks Wildman95gst.

[Britton30]

Thanks from me too Wildman95gst!

[Wildman95gst]

Glad to help

[GSKILL TECH]

If specifications are identical, the memory will roughly perform the same. There may be slight differences in IC chip or PCB, so that is what causes some to perform better than others. Typically Ripjaws series will be good overclockers. All kits should be stable, so there isn't really a kit more stable than another. With that, you just need to make sure you purchase a memory kit that your CPU can support.

Memory performance is greatly dependent on the CPU. The better the CPU, the better the memory performance. Most memory kits can work with just about any CPU, but the maximum performance is different.

For example, DDR3-2133 CL7, an i5-2500K or i7-2600K would provide high bandwidth. But ~DDR3-2200 is nearing the max the CPU can support. Using the same memory with the latest X79, it will be capable of more such as DDR3-2400 CL8, and bandwidth would be even greater. Now if using AMD Phenom II 965, the same memory can work, and the max can be around DDR3-2133, but you will notice the overall bandwidth is much lower (compared to Intel). This is a main difference between Intel and AMD. It may appear* that the memory works better for Intel, or for a specific CPU, but that is not the case. All modules will roughly be the same, but actual performance varies depending on CPU.

This is why we get so many mixed reviews, as there are many misconceptions. For example, with an i3 CPU, WEI may score a memory as 6.8 out of 7.9. People become confused and claim they got a bad kit because some other guy with an i7 CPU scored a 7.6. There is no difference in memory, just the actual CPU. If you overclock the CPU, you will notice a significant increase in memory bandwidth as well. So modules with identical specifications will perform similarly, we do this so you don't have to worry much about compatibility, but the main key is to know what settings are necessary for your specific CPU to get the system operating at max performance.

When selecting memory, just go with the series memory that we state it was designed for. Eventually we make them all to be inter-compatible, but especially new products, just buy for the chipset we state for.

For example, only the new Ripjaws Z supports XMP 1.3, so if the kit needs it, it will contain it for the latest X79 chipset. Performance would be optimal since the memory was designed with that particular chipset. RipJaws, Ripjaws X, Sniper, they can all work as well, but they were simply designed on other platforms.

Hope that clarifies some things better.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Britton30]

Thanks Tech, that helps a lot in understanding. It does seem however that most all memory is touted to be compatible with various Intel platforms, and will also work with AMD. Not just G.Skill does this. It seems AMD has been forgotten in the rush to support Intel.
As for WEI I consider that to be user-specific and not for comparing with another machine. I use MaxxPI to measure memory performance and sometimes in the cmd prompt, winsat mem.
I am still confused though. You state some CPUs yield higher bandwidth but performance is the same.

[Tradesman]

First in order, most any DRAM will work with AMD, and they haven't really been forgotten, problem (s) are many - and this is just my opinion and observations - along with a little info I've gotten from other DRAM manufacturers and mobo makers....think you first need to look at the big PC picture and where DRAM manufacturers want to go.....as CPUs improve in performance and ability to handle DRAM (more and faster), need to think of where to put your R&D dollars for new/better/faster designs. Since overall Intel is basically a couple of years ahead of AMD, I would be thinking/looking only at Intel. Currently the latest/greatest AMD CPU's, the FX-8150 and FX-8120 can handle 2 sticks of 1866 DRAM (1 DIMM per channel) at the time those CPUs were released there were already appr 70+ sets (of different manufacturers) of 1866 DRAM that had already been out for quite some time (think GSkill alone had like 15-20 sets). Further, at that point in time there were already about another 70+ sets that were even faster (2000, 2133, 2200, 2400, etc) and more coming, going up to 2800 or better. From an economic or business viewpoint, to go back and start designing slower sticks when you already have a good selection that works extremely well for AMD rigs doesn't make a lot of sense.

On to WEI, to be honest it's pretty worthless, the ratings it provides are to artificial to be of any real use, when limits are placed on the 'performance score' based on how many sticks you have, there's something wrong there, i.e. 5.9 is the best you can get with less than 4GB it's just too artificially limited.

CPUs yield higher bandwidth - A number of factors can be looked at here (not sure what specifically GSkill Tech was looking at) but in general here's a few, in taking as an example 4 sticks of 1866, first take an AMD FX-8150 - you may have to push it a bit to run 4 sticks, but the MC (Memory Controller isn't as strong as a typical Intel CPU so it won't carry the bandwidth of say a 2500K.... Take my rig with 1866, at 4.6 it dor 24000 MB, at 4.7 it goes to over 25000MB...same sticks at 4.7/2133 we are up to 27000 and at 4.8 over 28000 MBs, etc, etc. Now then if we take the same sticks and put them in a 1366 mobo with say a 920 or 960, bandwidth with jump because they will be running in Triple Channel, then jump to an X79 with say a 3930 or even a 3820 then we'd see another big jump in bandwidth since it would be running in quad channel mode.

Hope this helps, if more specifics required let me know

[GSKILL TECH]

Thanks Tech, that helps a lot in understanding. It does seem however that most all memory is touted to be compatible with various Intel platforms, and will also work with AMD. Not just G.Skill does this. It seems AMD has been forgotten in the rush to support Intel.
As for WEI I consider that to be user-specific and not for comparing with another machine. I use MaxxPI to measure memory performance and sometimes in the cmd prompt, winsat mem.
I am still confused though. You state some CPUs yield higher bandwidth but performance is the same.

Intel has been ahead with internal memory controller, so many products are geared towards them because they are the first to be able* to support it. We can not release DDR3-2400 for AMD if no AMD CPU can support it. It also becomes silly (lack of a better word), to release 'NEW AMD MEMORY DDR3-1866', when we already had some for Intel for months. It may be easier/clearer for people to buy "AMD memory" (and they actually have their own memory now haha), but since we are geared towards pushing limits, our product line is based on specification. In other words, buyers should purchase memory specification their CPU can support. Since this idea is somewhat flawed, as non-experienced builders/first time overclockers are up for the challenge, we are adjusting our ways to become more friendly to those users rather than only experienced builders. This is why we do our best to post as much information so if people do a quick search, they can find info or contact us to get info. Unfortunately, some people choose to do neither and sometimes think they are a master overclocker, so those kind of people end up being lost, mad, and therefore leave negative reviews because their system is unstable.

WEI is user-specific, but most treat it as a bandwidth test to compare machines.

Bandwidth is greater, but the DRAM specifications are the same. Using the same exact memory, bandwidth can be greater depending which CPU is used.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[Britton30]

Thanks again Tman and GSkillTech! I have had some people who are building a AMD system complain that the only RAM they can find "is for Intel" I've tried to explain that It will still work with AMD and that it has a XMP profile to make it run in Intel systems better with few adjustments. I see WEI as only to see if a hardware change has impacted my machine and realize a 7.9 on joe's machine doesn't translate to the same on mine.
I am very anxious to flip over to Intel.

[Tradesman]

Keep in touch and we'll help with whatever we can