G Skill Trident Z DDR4 and X99

[Brain-ache]

Hi,

It's getting to that time where I'm due a new PC and I'm looking to invest in the new x99 platform. Obviously when spending such money I want to make sure I'm getting the right parts that will perform well, but being as ocd as I am, there is a huge part of me that wants things to look awesome too!

I am currently looking at an Asus X99 Sabertooth for the MB which uses quad channel memory. I generally hate how a lot of RAM looks (crazy colours and spikes that could take an eye out), however I love the look of G Skill's Trident Z DDR4 range and the timings look great.

The Tridents were build for the Z170 platform and are classed as dual channel. What I want to know is if I bought 4x(XGB) dimms, would they work correctly in quad channel, and would I have any issues on the x99 platform as they aren't on the QVL list for the MB?

I have searched the internet but there are conflicting views on the matter and I wondered if anyone has experience of using the tridents in x99. If not then I may have to look at the corsair dominator or the ripjaw 4 range instead which is a shame.

Thanks in advance.

[Steve - P]

Hi Brain-ache,
I'm using an Asus Deluxe board with the Corsair 4x4 2800 c16 kit works really well, are think of using a Heswell or Broadwell CPU?
Seems that this board hits max mem clock around the 3333Mhz mark.
After lots of overclocking and testing I find, regardless of the hype, the best stable settings for me are to use the max native memory clock for the IMC, Heswell is 2666 Mhz with reduced timings. Which provides 56GB bandwidth and 21ns response time;
Headline timings being 13 14 15 30 1T or 67% efficiency.
Not sure yet what Broadwell will offer for it's max native clock but suspect it will be 3000 Mhz.

Hope that helps out

[EndlessWaves]

The Tridents were build for the Z170 platform

That sounds like a marketing statement rather than an engineering one. They'll almost certainly be built to the DDR4 specs and will work on any DDR4 platform.

[Brain-ache]

That sounds like a marketing statement rather than an engineering one. They'll almost certainly be built to the DDR4 specs and will work on any DDR4 platform.

That was my thought, just a marketing thing. But I cant get a definitive answer whether anyone has got them to work in quad channel in x99 as they only state they are dual.

[Brain-ache]

I decided to email G.Skill's tech support team to see if they would give me a definitive answer, I sent:

Hi,

Are you able to confirm whether your Trident Z DDR4 ram will run in quad channel on an x99 motherboard? You site says it is dual channel, but if you purchased 4 dimms would it then work in quad channel? Im looking at the 3200mhz dimms to go into an Asus Sabertooth x99.

Thank you for your assistance.

Kind regards,

Their response:

Dear Sir,

As long as you using 4 sticks in your X99 motherboard, it will starts to running with quad channel technology automatically.
Our site mentioned about dual/quad was about the numbers of the memory stick in one kit only.
However, please kindly follow the QVL to choose compatible memory kit:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...421.1442890838

Thank you for choosing G.SKILL

Best Regards

Tech Support Team
F.A.E
G.SKILL international

So although not definitive and the English is a little broken, I can gather that their trident Z series will work correctly on an x99 platform in quad channel. They arent on the QVL he/she linked, but then again, a lot of ddr4 aren't.

Since writing this post and doing a bit more research I may go with the Corsair Dominators as I know these have been tested with the board, but I have also seen the KLevv Cras range which look amazing, but you pay for the looks really.....