APC Australia - September 2019

thelab » memory buyer’sguide

$219|WWW.GSKILL.COM

G.Skill Trident-Z

Royal

Memory with looks

suitable for royalty.

G

.Skilliswell known

inoverclocking

circlesfor its

willingness to push

theenvelopewith ever

fastermemorykits. If

you’reaftermaximum

performance,G.Skill is

usuallyintheshortlist.

TheTrident-Zrange has

beenavailableinone form

oranotherformany years,

butneverhasitlooked like

this.Itcomessheathed in a

magnificentmirror like

silverorgoldfinish. It really

doesgivethatwow factor

whenyouopenthe box for

thefirsttime.Even the

packagingisa premium

matchforthekit. The

gorgeousfinishis

complementedby a

sparklingcrystalline light

bar.Asit’sa clear plastic

material,thecolors are

especiallyvibrant and

accurate.Colorsbounce

aroundeverywhere. Look

arealwayssubjective, but

thisisthebestlooking

memorykitI’vepersonally

everseen.

TheG.Skillkit’s

performancewas about in

the middle of the pack.

Where it excelled was its

overclocking performance.

While it doesn’t come with

Samsung B-Die like you’d

likely find in a 3200 C14 kit,

for the lesser spec kit, its OC

was still noteworthy

compared to the other kits

in the test.

The Trident-Z Royal

carries quite a bit higher

price compared to some of

the other kits, which hurts

it in an especially

competitive market. But its

supreme good looks and

roundup leading

overclocking ability

elevates it. As with the other

kits in the test, pricing is

volatile right now, but as a

premium product, it’s

always going to carry a bit of

a premium price.

Verdic t

A gorgeous memory kit with plenty

of OC headroom, though it carries a

bit too much of a price premium.

$329 | WWW.HYPERXGAMING.COM

Kingston HyperX

Predator

A quality kit that needs

a price adjustment.

K

ingston’s HyperX

Predator is the

second of two

3200MHz 32GB

kits in our roundup. A

2x16GB kit is perfect for

demanding users or those

limited to two memory

slots such as you’d find on

an ITX motherboard. Its

primary timings are

16-18-18-36 at 1.35v. The

Kingston HyperX Predator

is a non RGB kit. While it’s

perfectly suitable for a

gamer thanks to its

inherent double rank

performance advantage

(albeit a small one) its lack

of RGB means it probably

won’t find its way into a

blinged up system. That

will suit many people just

fine.

The Hyper X kit shares

quite a lot in common with

the Crucial kit. In fact other

than a few secondary

sub-timings, the entire list

of timings we could read

were identical. Although

time constraints with so

many different kits

prevents us from really

dialing in the best overclock

foreachkit,theCrucialand

Kingstonkitshadaboutthe

sameoverclocking

headroomtoo.Ittoppedout

at 3733MHzatXMPtimings

and1.4V.

TheproblemKingstonhas

withthiskitisitsvalue,or

lackthereofatthetimeof

writing.Withsolittleto

differentiatea lotofkits,if

onefallsbehindonprice

alonethenittakesa bighit.

Whileit’sa highlycapable

kit,itneedsa pricedropto

returnittocompetitiveness.

Docheckthepricing

enginesforthelatest

pricingaswithalmostdaily

marketvolatility,our

quotedpricemaywellhave

beenadjusteddownwards

fromthetimeofwriting.

Verdic t

Kingston’sHyperXPredatorisan

excellent32GBmemorykitthat

we’rehopinggetsa more

-38at1.35V;XMP2.0suppor t;

y.

competitive price.

guide

Kin dator;32GB(( )2x16GB) Royal; 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-

DDR4-3200CL16-18-18-36at1.35V; XMP2.0

support; Lifetime warranty.

3200 CL16-18-18-

Lifetimewarranty

G.Skill Trident-ZR