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Overclocking

In my experience, quality memory modules have a lot of "headroom" left over for overclocking. Would I overclock a mission critical business system? Heck no! But it sure is a nice way of getting some extra mileage out of your system without spending waaaaay too much for a few extra FPS.

The G.Skill PC6400 modules ended up running at up to 975MHz at 4-4-4-12 timing - that is 175MHz above the rated 800MHz speed; a 21.9% increase in raw memory clock rate. We have seen higher memory speeds, but it is still fairly impressive to see a PC6400 module reach PC7800 speeds.

In order to reach 975-4-4-4-12 stably, I had to increase the memory voltage to 2.35V. The modules were quite warm, but they were not too hot to touch, however even increasing the memory voltage to 2.4V did not get them stable at 1000MHz. I was using a 1.45Vcore, 1.65 Northbridge, 1.45 FSB voltage setting.

Conclusion

Can you get faster memory than the G.Skill PC6400?

Yep.

Can you get faster memory that will overclock higher than the G.Skill PC6400?

Yep.

BUT.

If you get the G.Skill PC6400, you are still getting pretty damn good memory, and spending a lot less money than those PC8500 or higher modules. Don't get me wrong - if you want to squeeze the last bit of memory performance out of your system, and have the funding available, the higher end modules may actually be a better deal for you - however, I think that for most users, modules such as the G.Skill PC6400 that combine decent performance with a lower price tag may be a good choice.

About the only negative aspect of these modules was the need to boost the memory voltage to at least 2.2V in order to have them run stable at their rated 800MHz 4-4-3-5 timing. Mind you, this could just as easily be explained if the motherboard was not supplying as much voltage to the modules as is configured in the BIOS; and in reality, there was no significant difference in speed between 4-4-3-5 and 4-4-4-12. Frankly, running at 975-4-4-4-12 is a heck of a lot faster (for memory) than running at 800-4-4-3-5! 

To give you an idea why I am satisfied with the G.Skill's performance, let's take a peek at some current pricing from a major web retailer:

• G.Skill 6400C4 $281
• Corsair PC2-8500 CL5 $397
• Corsair PC2-8888 CL4 $678
• OCZ PC2-9200 CL5 $597

Granted, the higher priced modules surpassed the G.Skill in the tests; but for most people, the savings are significant.

Ok, so given the good performance, why is the G.Skill not getting the "Value Award"?

Because the SuperTalent T1000UX2G5 PC2-8000  I recently tested, which was only rated at 1000-5-5-5-15, managed to hit 1069-4-4-4-12 for only $8 more!  G.Skill F2-6400CL4D is still an excellent set of memory with great performance at stock and good overclocking.  It might not be the value king right now but it certainly holds enough value and performance to make it a worthy choice.