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G.SKILL Hits 4500MHz With All-New Trident Z DDR4-4333MHz 16GB Memory Kit (betanews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the speeding-ticket dept.

BrianFagioli quotes a report from BetaNews: G.SKILL is a respected RAM maker, and the company is constantly pushing the envelope. Today, it announced a new DDR4-4333MHz 16GB Memory Kit (2x8GB) -- the first ever. While that alone is very cool, the company is bragging about what it accomplished with it -- an overclock that hit 4500MHz using an Intel Core i5-7600K processor paired with an ASUS ROG Maximus IX Apex motherboard. Pricing and availability for this kit is unknown at this time. With that said, it will probably be quite expensive. What we do know, however, its that the insane overclock to 4500MHz is for real. This was achieved using timings of CL19-19-19-39 in dual channel, which resulted in read/write of 55/65GB/s and copy speed of 52GB/s.

72 comments

  1. Holy crap, betanews is still around? by AbRASiON · · Score: 3, Informative

    I had no idea.
    Also that's some criminally fast memory, shame they are only 8GB sticks and shame it's about 70% more expensive than it was 7 months ago.

    I'm literally not upgrading anything due to this, I can take 20% but this has become ridiculous. Count me out of the upgrade game.

    1. Re:Holy crap, betanews is still around? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot has a submission linking to "BetaNews" almost every day.

      It was linked to twice on March 31, and three times on March 25!

      I wish the editors would give us some variety. "BetaNews" stories are usually doodoo, in my opinion. If an article of theirs isn't just taking a big quote from some other source, then it's a quasi-advertisement like this seems to be. Just look at this "article". It only has 6 paragraphs, and one is just a quote from this "G.SKILL" company. There's very little content in this article.

    2. Re: Holy crap, betanews is still around? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only Luddites won't upgrade. Only addy ad adders will watch the ads and then buy this shit so they can run their appy app apps, Apps!

    3. Re:Holy crap, betanews is still around? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As soon as the new owners took over they were using tons of links to hothardware,com

    4. Re: Holy crap, betanews is still around? by F34nor · · Score: 2

      Once you hit a level where your hardware does what you need the upgrade race becomes dumb. E.g. in two years lets say you'll have 120Hz binocular 4K goggles, what then?
       

    5. Re:Holy crap, betanews is still around? by MeanE · · Score: 1

      You are not kidding! I had no idea. I am in Canada so the problem is also compounded by our decreasing dollar. The 64GB of memory I purchased a year ago is over double the price it was.

    6. Re: Holy crap, betanews is still around? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Preferably goggles with asynchronous image updates and eye tracking (so that you could degrade peripheral vision regions while improving the center-of-view regions).

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  2. AMD? by Pikoro · · Score: 1

    Why does this have an AMD tag on it. It's an i5.

    --
    "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
    1. Re:AMD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Literally the first line of the article
      "Now that AMD has embraced DDR4 with Ryzen and AM4"

    2. Re:AMD? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Probably because high-clocked DDR4 is relevant for Ryzen owners?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:AMD? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Hopes?
      As for AMD benefiting from faster RAM, sure, but Intel does too, sometimes more.

    4. Re:AMD? by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 2

      This kit is only going to get that speed on one very specific ASUS Maximus Apex motherboard, which is Intel specific.

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    5. Re:AMD? by wjcofkc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The very first sentence in the article talks about AMD Ryzen taking advantage of DDR4 on the AM4 chipset platform. The only reference to the i5 is a statement that an i5 platform was used to overclock the memory to 4500Mhz. At the end of the article the question is posed as to how much this type of kit will cost while also referring again the 4500Mhz overlocking.

      So it's basically awkwardly written article with a summary that is trying its best.

      I just wonder why they used an i5 setup for the overclocking and not an i7 (or Ryzen). I suppose there must be some super special i5 only motherboard out there that makes it possible? This should have be explained in the article.

      --
      Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    6. Re:AMD? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      Fuck Intel and AMD, I'm going to add this to my ATmega328P!

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    7. Re:AMD? by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      Lol thank you for the laugh! Now to just figure out how to pop it in the breadboard

    8. Re:AMD? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      https://pics.onsizzle.com/elvi...

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    9. Re:AMD? by Khyber · · Score: 2

      Please. I can take the same memory to another motherboard and fuck with the bus manually to overclock it. Don't you know how to bit-bang-bus, old timer?

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    10. Re:AMD? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      I expect Texas Instruments to throw this into their calculators really soon now.
      The level of progress they show is simply amazing!

    11. Re:AMD? by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      not really, ryzen doesnt scale well past a point, that point being around 2900-3200 ish

    12. Re:AMD? by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

      Citation?

      --
      Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    13. Re:AMD? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Fuck Intel and AMD, I'm going to add this to my ATmega328P!

      Not really enough enough pins to do a 30-pin SIMM... but it is fast enough to refresh DRAM and still do useful work. They have atmegas with enough pins to pull it off.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    14. Re:AMD? by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      every overclocker on the internet that makes a simple bar graph

    15. Re:AMD? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      That's not very different from the diminishing return of adding memory channels, but since "consumer" Zens have only two, anything requiring heavier memory traffic needs at least faster channels if it can't simply get more of them. Whether or not a particular workload benefits from either of these options is an entirely different matter.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    16. Re:AMD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      External serial shifters.

    17. Re:AMD? by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      Lol I thought you were linking me to an actual article showing Dimms linked to an atmega

  3. Cool ad bro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nice one (1).

  4. This is an ad and Slashdot keeps sinking. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    "G.SKILL is a respected RAM maker, and the company is constantly pushing the envelope." Are you kidding me? They don't even make RAM. They make DIMMs with RAM chips that they buy. Their main achievement is the "development" of tacky heat sinks in an attempt to signal performance to the gamer demographic. They also make "gaming" keyboards and mice.

    1. Re:This is an ad and Slashdot keeps sinking. by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I've been using G.Skill memory modules in my builds for the last 10+ years. Never had a problem with them.

    2. Re:This is an ad and Slashdot keeps sinking. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Presumably they bought a ton of chips and did a lot of binning... well, had some other company do a lot of binning for them. And they paid someone to gush a lot about this achievement. You pay for that, too.

      In fact, just yesterday I watched an item on the idiot box about energy drinks; the cost of producing and transporting and distributing a can is about eur 0.30, so you get reasonably good value for the cheapest no-brand at 0.40 per can, inasmuch there is actual value in drinking that nonalcoholic rotgut. Much of the 1.20 you pay for a can of a much more well-known brand is spent on marketing, so you're paying for the pretense, for drinking an idea, rather than the (apparently because of homeopatic concentrations mostly imagined) benefits of all the fancy ingredients.

      So yeah, you pay a lot for the shouty gushy excreably stupid word salad barf, along with the "insane!!1!eleventy!!" numbers printed on the sticker on the device.

      But yeah, boring ad is boring and the failing editors are failing at editing.

    3. Re: This is an ad and Slashdot keeps sinking. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't consider this an ad. Whiplash has stated that Slashdot doesn't get money for running stories, and I believe him. I'm sure they get money for the sponsored whitepapers, though. If there's any story about a new product that nerds might care about, it's immediately condemned as an ad. The stories that get accepted have always been criticized, even back when Malda ran the site. The real problem is the actual ads on here that do some pretty malicious things with redirects, sucking up bandwidth to play (apparently inaudible) sounds, and trying to access things like phone cameras. If Slashdot is the only tab open on Firefox Mobile, there's no reason the browser should request camera permissions, and yet it has. Slashdot is also deleting comments. So, yes, I'm no fan of Slashdot these days. But I think the criticism of any story about new products and claiming they're ads is asinine. If we're going to criticize Slashdot, and there's plenty to criticize, let's be fair about it. I'll take this any day over the political stories, for example.

    4. Re: This is an ad and Slashdot keeps sinking. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot may not get paid to run this ad, but it's still an ad.

    5. Re:This is an ad and Slashdot keeps sinking. by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Hence, Apple is not a respected computer maker anymore. :)

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    6. Re:This is an ad and Slashdot keeps sinking. by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      I've been using G.Skill memory modules in my builds for the last 10+ years. Never had a problem with them.

      I bought two dimms and then I bought two more dimms and then my first two dimms BOTH went bad. However, G-Skill replaced them rapidly and graciously with the precise same P/N and I had no downtime, just time with half the RAM. I strongly suggest the same route to others. Buy your second pair of DIMMs later so they may have come from a different batch :)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:This is an ad and Slashdot keeps sinking. by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Buy your second pair of DIMMs later so they may have come from a different batch :)

      One time I bought two pairs of G.Skill DDR2 memory five years apart. Same part number and specs. Heat sink on the newer pair had a slightly lighter shade of blue than the original pair.

  5. RAM has caught up with CPU speeds? by hackertourist · · Score: 2

    Back in the old days, RAM was clocked at the same speed as the CPU, so RAM could be accessed with a minimum of wait cycles. Then speeds diverged, making various levels of cache necessary.
    Does the advertised 4.2 GHz speed mean we're back to RAM that's synchronized with the CPU? Or is the issue more complex than that? The 19-19-19-39 timing mentioned suggests that it is, but TFA is light on detail.

    1. Re:RAM has caught up with CPU speeds? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Everything in computers is only fast when "streaming". It's the same for CPUs, RAM, graphics, network, mass storage: Everything is pipelined. Fast processing requires avoiding random access, because there's latency everywhere.

    2. Re:RAM has caught up with CPU speeds? by Blaskowicz · · Score: 2

      It's also 4.2 GHz "data speed" as multiple bits are sent on a single clock cycle, hence I think it's running at 1.05 GHz.

      So let's say a 1ns cycle time and the timings suggest latency might be a bit under 20-40 ns although who knows how the numbers have to be added up or not.

      It adds up I think, consider the distance traveled, memory controller and CPU memory hierarchy the CPU-to-RAM latency may be something like 50 to 70 ns very roughly.

      L1 cache still is well over 10x faster.

    3. Re:RAM has caught up with CPU speeds? by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 1

      2.1 Ghz- it is DDR, not QDR RAM

    4. Re:RAM has caught up with CPU speeds? by willy_me · · Score: 2

      Then speeds diverged, making various levels of cache necessary.

      It is not the difference in clock rate that necessitated the use of cache, it is the latency. The physical constraints of having memory located on a DIMM external to the CPU result in unavoidable latency. Once you implement a cache to get around the latency, the CPU speed and memory speed are no longer linked. Introducing memory that runs at the same speed does nothing to change this - you are still using a cache to avoid the latency.

  6. Meanwhile... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    I'm waiting for the prices on DDR3 memory modules to drop. On a related note, prices on DDR2 memory modules have dropped since the introduction of DDR4 memory modules. Hmm...

    1. Re:Meanwhile... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you werent so full of yourself, you would know that DDR3 has been declining in price for the last 6 months. but I guess its hard to pay attention with all the stupid in your head.

    2. Re:Meanwhile... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      If you werent so full of yourself, you would know that DDR3 has been declining in price for the last 6 months.

      I check Amazon daily. Prices for the G.Skill Ares 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1866 memory modules is still $110. That price haven't changed for several years.

      but I guess its hard to pay attention with all the stupid in your head.

      Go find someone else to play with, troll.

    3. Re:Meanwhile... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I have about 2.3kg of 30-pins memory modules if you want to buy them.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:Meanwhile... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same with HDD prices. I'm thinking about buying used 2TB drives for my own storage array.

    5. Re:Meanwhile... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Same with HDD prices. I'm thinking about buying used 2TB drives for my own storage array.

      If I was to rebuild my file server, I would get the Seagate 2TB BarraCuda Compute hard drive for $67 each. These are not NAS drives but should work all the same. That's slightly more in price than what I paid for Western Digital 1TB Red NAS hard drive, and an extra 1TB of storage space is hard to ignore. Alas, I won't be replacing my hard drives until they hit the five year mark./p.

  7. and, while cache hit rate is 98% for everyone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    all the time, even doubling DRAM throughput won't even get you another 1% of performance. Win-Lose. You lose. DRAM sell chain gain.

    But, if you are using an low-end Intel GPU with no internal RAM, then you can boost graphics, but for the cost of memory, you'd be better of getting a bottom-end graphics adapater.

    1. Re:and, while cache hit rate is 98% for everyone by DreadCthulhu · · Score: 1

      Some games really do benefit from having faster memory. Arma 3 for example, really benefits from higher memory speed; in The Techreport's test, for example, moving from DDR4 2133 RAM to DDR4 3866 RAM increases the fps from 46 to 56. http://techreport.com/review/3... Of course, the DDR4 3000 kit they tested got 54 fps; that is probably about where diminishing returns kick in for most games. Fallout 4 is another game where having faster memory can make a 10-15% difference in certain areas.

    2. Re:and, while cache hit rate is 98% for everyone by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      There were huge gains in Core i3 6100 tests, the particularity being it applies to many games there. i3 are not overclockable but have a high clock in the first place. Save for one recent model which is overclockable but costs the same as an i5.
      The only annoying thing, with Intel, is that you need a motherboard with Z170 or Z270 chipset to clock the RAM higher. So, they make it harder to max out single thread performance on a cheap budget. i3 7100, DDR4 2400 (up from the older 2133 limit) and B250 motherboard will be a relatively cheap option to play ARMA 3 specifically and emulators, but leaves some performance on the table.

  8. A small correction by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 5, Informative

    G.Skill does not manufacture the memory dies, it purchases the memory dies and assembles them into a DIMM memory module ready for sale to customers - Wikipedia.

    Which means that technically they are assembling memory modules, instead of producing them from start to finish.

    There are just four companies in the world which actually produce memory chips and they are: Micron (Crucial), Samsung, Hynix, and Toshiba.

    1. Re:A small correction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And don't forget anyone with a 3D printer. We are in the post-scarcity post-industrial post-Luddite game-changing REVOLUTION, man!!

    2. Re:A small correction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Toshiba is in terrible financial condition and will likely spin off the semiconductor division, with Flash being their most important product.

      The Westinghouse division has already filed bankruptcy. Good luck getting those Eastern U.S. power plants completed. On Japanese tv they admitted that they can't find enough qualified engineers. In a separate story, Japan will likely abandon an old problematic breeder plant, and work with the French on a new design. Again, the main reason for ditching the old plant is that most of the design engineers have died or retired. The plant components are okay, but the youngsters don't understand the design.

      The many people that work at plants are generally good at what they do, but handling operation is a far cry from the skill set needed for design.

  9. 19+19+39 = 77 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and 4500/77 is 58.4 MHz. Wow, specsmanship! Not all access is random, but hey - this actually isn't so hot.

  10. That stuff is newbie trap though by Shados · · Score: 1

    I recently built a new computer, something I don't do very often (every 5 years~ and I got lazy last time and got a prebuilt, so it's been a while).

    First, RAM speed barely makes a difference for most people since not everyone is editing videos all day (and in games it barely does anything).

    Then, these kits only reach these speeds with the timings properly setup, on the right motherboards/cpu combo (even if all your hardware is advertised as being compatible with the speeds). Often only if you only use 2 chips (at 4 its a coin toss if it will reach it or not). And even with all that, it's still a lottery if the ones you got will reach it and then you have to decide if you care enough to play the RMA lottery.

    1. Re:That stuff is newbie trap though by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      I think you have it wrong, video encoding only cares about megaflops pretty much while games react more to memory latency, or more precisely the whole { L1 + L2 + L3 + memory }.

      Of course, the über RAM is silly with as you say the extreme frequencies hardly properly working but eventually when RAM will cost say (dummy prices) $103 for DDR 2133, $103 for DDR 2400 and $107 for DDR 3200 you should take the 3200 pretty obviously.

    2. Re:That stuff is newbie trap though by DreadCthulhu · · Score: 1

      RAM speed does make a difference in some games; Arma 3 will run about 20% faster using DDR4 3000 RAM versus DDR4 2133. Fallout 4 is also rather sensitive to memory speeds as well. Still, going beyond 3200 mhz RAM seems to have some seriously diminishing returns, and isn't worth it.

    3. Re:That stuff is newbie trap though by Shados · · Score: 1

      Yup, I was mostly talking about 4000+ RAM.

    4. Re:That stuff is newbie trap though by Shados · · Score: 1

      Fair enough :) Thus the n00b trap (I'm a noob), where it's pretty hard to figure out what it will actually do.

      When I was looking at benchmark for DDR4 RAM, most showed no real improvement in most games, but some drastic improvement in certain high end photoshop or 3d rendering tasks ::shrugs::

      Either way, you really have to know what you're doing if you're buying something above 3200~

    5. Re:That stuff is newbie trap though by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      Games differ a lot between them, they can also be where you need a +5% performance the most (even though you can really barely see it)

      Yes "useful" photoshop-like tasks vary as well. Benchmark quality and selection varies.

      Also generally, for games you might want 4 or 6 cores at 4GHz (or more Hz if possible and cheap), if you're a professional doing media or server/dev things you might like 16 cores at 2.7GHz better (say), have more memory channels and you don't give much of a shit about RAM speed.

    6. Re:That stuff is newbie trap though by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First, RAM speed barely makes a difference for most people since not everyone is editing videos all day (and in games it barely does anything).

      I agree that throughput is a negligible concern, but RAM latency is a different matter...

      (When they up the megahurtz, they also up the timings, so the latency tends to stay the same...)

  11. I am BeauHd... and by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    well, I try to play it off, but everyone knows.
    That I pro port my self as a stand yup; individual..
    but in reality, I'm on my knees paying homoage to the DICE gods. Their (ignorance) sustains me, feeds me, enlightens me, enriches my life, and it brings food in my mouth.. I am sure to those intelligent, this is all obvious. But to those whom may not be, this is my story. An explanation as to why crap just falls out of my mouth spontaneously (when its not filled with something else)
    I, folks am the definition of a tool, as personified above.

    1. Re:I am BeauHd... and by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      its actually filled with someone else ;)

  12. meh by JustNiz · · Score: 2

    Wake me up when RAM speed has any noticeable effect on real world performance.

    Besides,all they're doing to get this, is overclocking standard slower speed memory on a tester then binning the individual chips accordingly. You aren't getting RAM that was actually made to go this fast, whcih brings a LOT of reliability questions up.

    Personally I'd rather have good reliability than a slightly higher score on benchmarks that you'll never notice in real life.

    1. Re:meh by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      Say, you run games on a Ryzen CPU, on a 1080p 144Hz or higher monitor so small framerate difference don't go to waste.
      You can notice it in very specific situations like that.

      With early motherboard revisions, early BIOS, first gen CPU you might be almost certain the stupid overclocked speeds won't run though.
      This story about 4500 MHz RAM is really pointless right now, the only way it's interesting is it signals that in the long run, you might/should have reliable and fairly affordable memory at 3600 or even 4000 speed.
      Let's say an AMD desktop APU is wanted in year 2018 or 2019. By then getting 3600 RAM in 2018, or 4000+ RAM in 2019 is actually more reasonable since you will get some reasonably Xbox One like 3D performance in games.
      It's really nerdy to take the time to think of that, sure.

    2. Re:meh by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      RAM speed affects Ryzen quite a bit. For some reason parts of the CPU internal bus are linked to RAM clock speed, and benchmarks show quite big gains in some applications.

      --
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    3. Re:meh by JustNiz · · Score: 1

      Thanks. I just read that as yet another reason to avoid AMD.

    4. Re:meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      .. so how does it compare to Intel Optane memory?

    5. Re:meh by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      THat is due to the WIndows 10 schedular bug which clears out the L3 cache forcing it to constantly reload. Intels share the same L3 cache for all cores. If that bug is fixed ram speed on AMD won't be so critical

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
  13. AMD's CPUs are heavily bottlenecked by RAM by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    There's been several videos/articles showing Ryzen (their new CPU) closing it's gaps with Intel when RAM was overclocked; even if you run the same overclock on Intel hardware.

    --
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    1. Re:AMD's CPUs are heavily bottlenecked by RAM by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

      Citation please.

      --
      Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    2. Re:AMD's CPUs are heavily bottlenecked by RAM by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      Citation please.

      Every benchmarker on the planet. Go youtube em?

      But it is not the ram but WIndows 10 scheduler bug. Under WIndows 7 it doesn't have this problem. Basically what is hurting Ryzen and handing the crown to Intel for games is due to the CXX NUMA architecture which it calls Infinity Fabric.

      Basically a Ryzen is really a server oriented chip with 2 4 cores. Not 8. Cache is shared only on 4 cores each. Windows 10 spins all the freaking threads like a merry go round to the cores for power management so cell phones and tablets perform well in it's kernel.

      Problem is BAM l3 cache has a 100% miss when it leaves the CXX core to the next! It then has to wait to refresh from the RAM while the Intel cpus keep going as all cores share the L3 cache. So RAM does bottleneck the Ryzen heavily but really part of the problem is the Windows 10 schedular. MS won't change it so AMD is now denying it but it has been confirmed if you Google Tomb Raider on WIndows 7 which gets like a 20% performance boost.

      So in a nutshell due to the software/hardware much faster ram has a HUGE impact on AMD vs Intel

      --
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  14. Department of redundancy department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a DIMM memory module

    The MM in DIMM stands for Memory Module. Dual Inline Memory Module

    1. Re:Department of redundancy department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll keep that in mind next time I'm entering my PIN number at the ATM machine.

      sorry