FEATURED G.Skill TridentZ Royal 2x8GB DDR4-3600 CL18 - F4-3600C18D-16GTRS

[Woomack]

In today's tests, I will use the latest G.Skill TridentZ Royal 16GB/2x8GB memory kit which is specified to run at DDR4-3600 CL18-22-22-42 and 1.35V. These settings are quite relaxed but as we know, many of cheaper memory kits at loose timings overclock well. I wanted to check if this memory kit has more to offer than only great looking lighting so here we go.

The F4-3600C18D-16GTRS is listed on various motherboard manufacturers QVL as memory based on Micron E-die IC. I was also counting on this IC while my memory kit has Samsung B-die.
Below you can see a screenshot from Thaiphoon Burner:


Some users may notice that the IC is exactly the same as we can find in DDR4-3200 CL14-14-14, 3600 16-16-16 or 4000 17-17-17. However, it only looks like that as in reality, it's not overclocking nearly as well.
I'm usually performing more tests but on this memory kit, I simply couldn't pass DDR4-4000 at any reasonable settings or run it at tight timings at lower frequencies. Now I know why G.Skill used it in a DDR4-3600 CL18-22-22 memory kit.





The memory works well at XMP settings. On both ASRock X570 Extreme4 and Gigabyte X570 I Pro WiFi was no problems with stability at XMP settings. Performance is actually quite good for given settings but I wouldn't expect anything better and in the next post you can see why.

 

[Woomack]

DDR4-3200 CL16-17-17 1.35V
CL15 couldn't work stable. Enters Windows but acts weird. The same 16-16-16.

Spoiler

DDR4-3466 CL17-19-19 1.35V
CL16 can't boot at DDR4-3466. CL17-18-18 is randomly freezing in tests.

Spoiler

DDR4-3733 CL18-22-22 1.35V
CL17 acts weird and randomly freezes in tests. CL18-18-18 can't even boot. CL18-20-20 gives exactly the same results as CL18-22-22 so I wasn't adding it to the list.

Spoiler

I was trying to set DDR4-4000+ and anything between 3200-3600 at tighter timings but it didn't work well. Voltages were not helping much. At 1.5V can drop CL by 1 but that's all. Overall performance at XMP and any manual setting is similar or worse. As you can see, DDR4-3733 at settings rewritten from XMP is performing worse than the DDR4-3600. Probably motherboard is setting something in the background what I can't see.

Quick conclusion. As long as you get Micron E based kit then you are good to go. If you get something like I did, then you won't be happy unless it's meant to work at XMP settings. XMP settings work well and performance isn't bad. All those who want this memory because of the looks and RGB lighting will be satisfied. Those who wish high performance, better if look for something else as G.Skill has many more, better memory kits.
One of the only things which are saving this memory is its price. Newegg is selling this memory kit for about $140 so it's comparable to competitive memory kits from higher series at 3600 CL18+.

 

[vulcan78]

DDR4-3200 CL16-17-17 1.35V
CL15 couldn't work stable. Enters Windows but acts weird. The same 16-16-16.

Spoiler

View attachment 207048

DDR4-3466 CL17-19-19 1.35V
CL16 can't boot at DDR4-3466. CL17-18-18 is randomly freezing in tests.

Spoiler

View attachment 207049

DDR4-3733 CL18-22-22 1.35V
CL17 acts weird and randomly freezes in tests. CL18-18-18 can't even boot. CL18-20-20 gives exactly the same results as CL18-22-22 so I wasn't adding it to the list.

Spoiler

View attachment 207051

I was trying to set DDR4-4000+ and anything between 3200-3600 at tighter timings but it didn't work well. Voltages were not helping much. At 1.5V can drop CL by 1 but that's all. Overall performance at XMP and any manual setting is similar or worse. As you can see, DDR4-3733 at settings rewritten from XMP is performing worse than the DDR4-3600. Probably motherboard is setting something in the background what I can't see.

Quick conclusion. As long as you get Micron E based kit then you are good to go. If you get something like I did, then you won't be happy unless it's meant to work at XMP settings. XMP settings work well and performance isn't bad. All those who want this memory because of the looks and RGB lighting will be satisfied. Those who wish high performance, better if look for something else as G.Skill has many more, better memory kits.
One of the only things which are saving this memory is its price. Newegg is selling this memory kit for about $140 so it's comparable to competitive memory kits from higher series at 3600 CL18+.

Thanks for the research with this! I'm using the 2x16GB variant of this (Hynix) with the same timings and voltage so I'm assuming it's the same or very similar: F4-3600C18D-32GTRS

I have an i7 8700k, not sure if this makes a difference (I hear memory overclocking is more difficult on AMD), I'm inexperienced when it comes to overclocking memory, do you have any basic guidance or should I not even attempt anything given the results you experienced?

 

[Woomack]

Hynix is totally different but results on Intel and AMD should be similar up to 3600 and next at 4000+. How high can you OC depends on many variables so I can't help you directly, especially that I had no new Hynix memory kit with 16GB modules.
However, new Hynix in general OC like 16-19-19 at 3466, 3600, 3733, 3800, 3866 <-- how high clock it can make depends on your luck and IC quality and the motherboard.

 

[Sabishiihito]

Thaiphoon Burner is reading these kits wrong, they actually use Samsung 8Gbit C-die as I found out by peeking under the heat spreader. I too was expecting Micron Rev.E or Hynix CJR/DJR when purchasing a kit of Ripjaws V with the same specs -_-

 

[Woomack]

It can be. TB is reading many kits wrong recently. PCB reading is always wrong but that's another thing. I had this kit for a couple of days only and didn't want to remove heatsinks. It doesn't change the fact that the kit itself is maxed out and really disappointing for anyone who is counting on overclocking.
I've seen some of these CL18 kits with Hynix, Micron, and Samsung IC. Really everything that fits the specs. The same is doing Corsair or ADATA nowadays but they also use Spectek and Nanya.

Some Hynix C kits are pretty good like can make 4400+ CL16 in 2x8GB and 2x16GB configs. However, most manufacturers already moved to DJR which can be everything between ~4400 and 5000+. G.Skill does the same in their higher kits.
I'm quite surprised how well are overclocking some Micron B kits. Something like DDR4-4500 on a 2x32GB kit, even at CL18, is quite impressive considering this IC is usually in the cheapest memory series.

The main problem I see with new motherboards as no matter how good memory kit you have, it can't show anything good so or tight timings and CR1 or high frequency. Afaik ASUS Apex and some other motherboards on which some are showing good results are all review samples on unofficial and tuned for max clocks, BIOS. In stores, their expected prices are still way too high and still barely available.

 

[Sabishiihito]

It can be. TB is reading many kits wrong recently. PCB reading is always wrong but that's another thing. I had this kit for a couple of days only and didn't want to remove heatsinks. It doesn't change the fact that the kit itself is maxed out and really disappointing for anyone who is counting on overclocking.
I've seen some of these CL18 kits with Hynix, Micron, and Samsung IC. Really everything that fits the specs. The same is doing Corsair or ADATA nowadays but they also use Spectek and Nanya.

Some Hynix C kits are pretty good like can make 4400+ CL16 in 2x8GB and 2x16GB configs. However, most manufacturers already moved to DJR which can be everything between ~4400 and 5000+. G.Skill does the same in their higher kits.
I'm quite surprised how well are overclocking some Micron B kits. Something like DDR4-4500 on a 2x32GB kit, even at CL18, is quite impressive considering this IC is usually in the cheapest memory series.

The main problem I see with new motherboards as no matter how good memory kit you have, it can't show anything good so or tight timings and CR1 or high frequency. Afaik ASUS Apex and some other motherboards on which some are showing good results are all review samples on unofficial and tuned for max clocks, BIOS. In stores, their expected prices are still way too high and still barely available.

Well at least for Asus and MSI, the unofficial BIOSes are available, mainly on HWBot and lots of Chinese-language forums but yeah, the average buyer wouldn't know about those.