G.Skill ECO 4GB DDR3 1600MHz CL7 Low Voltage Memory Kit Review

Conclusion

G.Skill’s ECO series is quite the kit when you consider what it is able to accomplish with what it is given. DDR3-1600 with only 1.35vdimm may become commonplace in the future but for now it is a nice surprise. Priced at $124.99 plus $2.99 for shipping, the G.Skill ECO DDR-1600 2x2GB are priced $15 above the lowest priced 4GB DDR3 1600MHz dual-channel memory kit, but it is priced among the majority of other DDR3-1600 C7 kits. It might be worth considering the powersavings from these sticks versus your typical 1.65v or higher kits but we are also talking about fractions of a penny a day.

Like most if not all memory manufacturers, G.Skill offers a lifetime warranty on their memory kits. However with the low voltage I doubt this will ever need to be called into service. As I mentioned earlier these sticks run very cool to the touch so accelerated degradation due to heat should not be an issue. Scanning the internet for customer reviews reveals a high level of satisfaction with the kit. However a good point to note is that these sticks were binned for Lynnfield processors. There is no guarantee that they will do DDR3-1600C7 with 1.35v on LGA1366 or AMD AM3 motherboards. Perhaps we will see G.Skill X58 ECO kits in the near future if demand is high enough.

Like most memory reviews it is tough to measure between what could be the margin of error to determine performance. Memory subsystems have become so efficient regardless of the memory used that you have to look for other differing factors when measuring a kit’s value. I feel like a broken record saying this but the kit does work as advertised and runs on a lower operating voltage which resulted in cooler running sticks and lower power consumption. Overclocking performance was what I’d consider to be marginal but logically it makes sense for a low-power kit to not scale to high frequencies. In the end it comes down to the fact that at stock the sticks are rather nice for $124.99 and they deliver on all the promises made on the packaging. To wrap everything up they also look rather nice; I guarantee my photos do not do them justice.

Legit Bottom Line: G.Skill’s ECO series delivers excellent performance while keeping power consumption in check.