G.Skill Launches 24GB Memory Kit at DDR3-2000 CL8

In today’s high-end computing game, it’s not uncommon to see people equip their PC’s with at least 8GB or 12GB of RAM, depending on whether they’re using a dual or triple-channel memory controller. Personally, I use 12GB, as it’s a nice compliment to my Core i7, and yes, I do manage to take advantage of all of it, thanks to running multiple virtual machines and being a heavy multi-tasker. But could I take advantage of 24GB? Nah, I don’t think so… not at this point in time.

But, there are people out there who can, and I admire the ability to do so. Many people who need so much RAM run advanced applications and scenarios that can generally exceed 12GB or more, so in that case, a 24GB kit of RAM can make sense. But going so high does carry two notable downsides… price, and timings. Because it’s much more difficult to keep tight timings on a 4GB module, it’s not uncommon to see a CAS latency (CL) of 9 or even 10 on any DDR3 module out there, regardless of frequency.

It appears that G.Skill has worked past that issue, though, by developing a 24GB kit (6x4GB) of DDR3-2000 CL8. You read that right… CL8 on a 4GB module rated for DDR3-2000 frequencies. This kind of combination is unheard of, except from G.Skill’s other kits. Taking a quick look at Newegg reveals that the best 24GB available is rated for DDR3-1600 CL9, so G.Skill not only pushed the boundary for frequency on a 24GB kit, but for the CAS latency as well. Even better? The modules still require just 1.65v to operate.

The company doesn’t reveal the bandwidth or latencies of the resulting spec, but it did provide a screenshot that can be seen on its website that shows a full-board memory test running, showing the success of the speeds. The full timings are 8-9-8-24, and all testing was done on an EVGA X58 SLI Classified motherboard. Whether or not this kit will work on any X58 motherboard is unknown, but if you expect to get your hands on one, you probably want to use either the same board or another that’s known to handle six sticks of RAM at such settings.

The press release doesn’t mention pricing, but you can expect it to be high… as in, $1,500+. As for availability, that’s also not known, but I’d expect to see these trickle out slowly in the weeks ahead. I can’t imagine it’s easy to spec a kit like this, so I doubt we’ll be seeing too many of them.

G.Skill previously demonstrated 24GB of DDR3 at 2,000MHz CL9 during Computex 2010 earlier this month, but has again managed to push the boundaries. This super capacity kit has already attracted a large number of extreme gamers and professional users who expect higher memory capacity can improve their PC performance. G.Skill has successfully provided 24GB (4GBx6) at 2,000MHz CL8 to another high-end boundary, making it the absolute ultimate choice for the extreme users.