G.Skill Ares 2'133 MHz CL9 Quad Channel 16 GB
Category : DDR3
Published by Christian Ney on 23.02.12
Earlier this month G.Skill announced their brand new Ares series. Meanwhile these modules are already available on the market, either as Dual Channel or as Quad Channel DDR3 kits and you can get them with a capacity of 8GB up to 32GB featuring a low profile design to work well with large CPU coolers. Furthermore the modules are designed to do their job at 2'133 MHz with CL9 timings.
On the following pages we will show you what the G.Skill Ares F3-2133C9Q-16GAB quad channel kit is capable of.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 5 - Results |
| Page 3 - Technical Details | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Preview
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 5 - Results |
| Page 3 - Technical Details | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Technical Details
| Manufacturer | G.Skill Ares F3-2133C9Q-16GAB Quad Channel |
| Type | DDR3 |
| Capacity | 16 GByte (4 x 4 GByte) |
| Frequency | PC3-17000 DDR3-2133 MHz |
| Timings | 9-11-10-28 2T |
| VDIMM | 1.65 Volt |
| Registred/Unbuffered | Unbuffered |
| ECC | No |
| Cooling | Low Profile Passive Heatspreader |
| Waranty | Lifetime warranty |
| On the manufacturer's website | [ ARES ] F3-2133C9Q-16GAB |
G.Skill's Ares Quad-Channel modules are being shipped in a simple blister package. You find two modules on each side and as a goodie you get a G.Skill sticker. On the barcode sticker you can find part number, serial number, revision date/code as well as the specs of the kit itself. If we take a closer look at the heatspreader, we can see that it has been well manufactured. Futhermore it comes with a nice blue design. The fact that these modules ship with a low profile form factor makes them compatible to all high end air coolers on the market.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 5 - Results |
| Page 3 - Technical Details | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Test Setup
| Motherboard | Gigabyte X79-UD7 |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-3930K |
| Graphic card | Asus Radeon HD 5550 |
| Memory | G.Skill Ares F3-2133C9Q-16GAB |
| HDD | OCZ Vertex 2 60 GB |
| PSU | Seasonic X-Series 750 Watts |
| OS | Memtest86+ v4.2 |
We were thinking a lot about how to test memory in a way that one can come up with a qualitative conclusion rather than a quantitative one. Our goal is to be able to comment on the memory kits quality. Furthermore, standard performance tests with memory do not have any significance at all. This is because almost the only thing you're measuring is the error in measurement.
What we do instead of performance tests are "scaling test". First we start with the standard voltage and increase the frequency until the system becomes unstable. To test the stability we use Memtest86+ v4.2.
Using this method one can do statements on the modules potential and on the quality of the chips used. Generally you can say the lower the voltage needed for high overclocking results the better the chips.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 5 - Results |
| Page 3 - Technical Details | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Results
SPD
Overclocking
First of all you can see, that increasing the voltage by 0.05 volt didn't give us much more frequency headroom. The G.Skill Ares performed very well for a 16GB memory kit, with the stock/default voltage we easily managed to get the kit running at no less than 2400 MHz which is the highest frequency the IMC (Integrated Memory Controller) of our processor is capable of. Therefore we cannot say if higher frequencies were possible because for that we would need a better CPU. On X79 LGA2011 and Sandy Bridge E processors it's easy to run the memory at 2133 MHz but not all chips are capable of operating at higher frequencies. So not only the memory is part of the equation, the CPU is too. Then one can say "wait, then it's no more a memory kit review but mostly a IMC performance test". Regarding the highest frequencies combined with loose timings this is true. This is why we tested different (tighter) timings too. Therefore it is interesting to see that even with tighter Timings these modules can do more than 2'000 MHz.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 5 - Results |
| Page 3 - Technical Details | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Conclusion
Regarding their Ares 2133 MHz CL9 modules, G.Skill succeeded in introducing a high-end quad channel memory kit, that supports high frequencies at still quite tight timings. Furhtermore there even is overclocking headroom. We also like the low profile heatspreader which increases compatibility with high end aircoolers. These days high performance memory modules with low profile heatspreaders is a market gap, because every memory manufacturer puts an even bigger heatspreader on their modules, although it isn't neccessary. Furhtermore the heatsprader has been well designed and manufactured. Last but not least there is the lifetime warranty these modules are being shipped with.As we can see from our graphs the G.Skill Ares F3-2133C9Q-16GAB modules performed nice when you give them lower latencies and it also was easy to work with these modules. This kit is rated to work at 2133 MHz with 9-11-10 timings and we found that it wasn't a problem for the kit to hit the 2400 MHz CPU limit but in this case we had to loosen the timings a bit to 11-11-11. But still 2400 MHz at 11-11-11 Quad Channel 16GB kit are quite expensive, about CHF 286.- (est. EUR 236.-) while those G.Skill Ares modules have a retail price of CHF 181.30 (est. EUR150.-) which is 60 percent cheaper. Of course the 2400 MHz CL11 kit may perform different with tigher timings and for sure clocks higher than 2400 MHz but when you are only aiming for 2400 MHz CL11 then the G.Skill Ares may be a reason to think about when you plan to save some money.
We generally recommend this memory kit to gamers as well as enthusiasts who want to get a 16GB memory kit which performs above average and was able to convince us.
Rating
The G.Skill Ares 16 Gigabyte quad channel memory kit gets very good five of out five stars.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 2 - Preview | Page 5 - Results |
| Page 3 - Technical Details | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Redaction : Christian Ney c.ney@ocaholic.ch
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