8Pack tests Team Group DDR4 3866 C18 8gb Dual Channel Kit.

OcUK Staff
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I was very pleased to be asked to test this very high end (Elite Tier ;)) memory kit. This is the first ultra high frequency DDR4 kit I have had to test and with default speed of 3866mhz C18 when Team say Xtreem on the label in this case it seems they really do mean XTREEM!!! Anyone who has done any testing of 2D applications such as rendering or Photoshop as well as Games with Physics will know Skylake does benefit from having large memory bandwidth available to it.

For a 3866mhz Kit the Team has reasonably aggressive timings 18-20-20-40 at 1.35v. Of course I wanted to see how such a high end kit could be tuned for better performance than just XMP.

Not only does the Team Xtreem from the specs read amazing the look is great too. Its the traditional Black tall heat spreaders with large fins and the red and black logo design. Aesthetically these modules for sure lend them selves to any Black and Red themed build as well as Black and grey also.

Here they are installed in my memory testing Z170 platform of choice the Asrock Z170 OC Formula.




So onto the Overclocking testing
Test system:
Intel 6700K
ASrock OC Formula Z170 (This board simply clocks memory!!)
MSI 980Ti Lightning
8Pack 2000w PSU
Windows 8.1

First I tested the dimms at XMP. On the ASrock they booted straight up first time and where completely stable. Having tested this I then tested several frequency's with as tight a timings as possible for performance. I have to say not only could the dimms be tuned quite abit the Asrock was truly great at doing this. The auto rules for IMC voltages for example absolutely spot on. At each frequency I mem tested the dimms for stability before running a couple of benches one rendering (Terregon 3) and AIDA64.

Here are the results:
DDR4 3777mhz C16-18-18-28 1T TWCL9


DDR4 3866mhz C16-19-19-28 1T TWCL9


DDR4 4000mhz C19-20-20-28 1T TWCL9


Here are the results of this kit set to typical mid ranged 3000mhz Kit timings and finally for lower end 2133mhz Kit timings.

DDR3000 C15-16-16-36 (for comparison)


DDR2133 C15-16-16-36 (for comparison)


So what we can see here is that the rendering task is completed one second faster when moving from 2133mhz mem to 3000mhz mem. This Team group kit gets the job done upto 7 seconds faster at what proved to be the sweet spot timings and speed of DDR4 3866mhz C16-19-19-28 1T. At both DDR3777mhz and 4000mhz Rendering was completed 5.5 seconds faster. I would expect many end users at the top end of the market to do some testing to see what is the best setting for your individual uses but its good to know the kit will go 4000mhz rock stable without issue at tighter than XMP.

Once more this kit could boot up straight from bios in Dual Channel at 4250mhz C19-25-25-45. Yes the timings where slack and thus performance could not match 3866mhz C16 the fact the kit booted at this very high frequency shows the very high bin IC thats going onto this flagship SKU.



So to summarize you want one of the absolute best Skylake Z170 XMP certified Dual Channel DDR4 kits that is currently available then the Team Group kit is for you. Its very very fast out of the box, tunes well, with tangible benefits to tuning on everyday tasks. Furthermore it looks great and fits in with the look of many motherboards available today. Finally its fun to try eeeeeek out performance for the memory tuners among us. I have to also add for these enthusiast memory tuners the 170 OC formula is a great choice too.
 
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Associate
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A little OT, but any chance you could do a RAM tweaking guide? Possibly frequency, but timings mainly - as I have no idea how they relate to frequency and I'd like to learn.. YouTube isn't necessarily informative when it comes to RAM overclocking.

Thanks either way :p
 
Associate
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A little OT, but any chance you could do a RAM tweaking guide? Possibly frequency, but timings mainly - as I have no idea how they relate to frequency and I'd like to learn.. YouTube isn't necessarily informative when it comes to RAM overclocking.

Thanks either way :p

and also how to properly test stability for 24/7 use, what setting for custom prime95 for ram stability etc....:cool:
 
Associate
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and also how to properly test stability for 24/7 use, what setting for custom prime95 for ram stability etc....:cool:

Asus recommend not using Prime95. There is a guide here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz2VRRbLPrZnMXBnOXRWeVlHcHM/view?pli=1

According to them:

Prime95 28.5 is not a good stress test for this platform. It is easy to pass hours of Prime95 and then fail a Handbrake encode within minutes. As an example, a CPU can pass Prime95 at 1.30V but needs 1.34V+ to pass Handbrake at a given frequency. Use ROG Realbench instead.

I realise that is refering to CPU stability but still I thought it was useful information :)
 
OcUK Staff
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I mem tested the RAM to check its stability at each setting before benching.

The best way to test your entire system for stability is to use it for what you need it to do.

I agree with ASUS that ROG REAL Bench is a much better entire system stability test than Prime as its simulating Real Life computer uses and maxing out all components. Including the PCI Bus etc....
 
Caporegime
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Good luck trying to run p95 ver 28.5 on any Z series platform at stock let alone overclocked. Your likely to hit throttling temps in seconds no matter how good your cooling is. Tried it fir a few seconds on both 4790k's I've owned. 95c on the highest cores. Using real bench, 83c max at 4.7 on 1.300 on the chip in sig.
 
Soldato
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That is a good review, but it doesn't look like we can buy the asrock oc formula yet from ocuk. the xpower is the only overclocking board available. :(
I stopped using prime and IBT ages (years) ago.

Its all Realbench and XTU and whatever tasks you want to use your PC for, for me these days.
isn't xtu just prime with a few more instructions specifically for intel cpu's?
 
Caporegime
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I've found XTU to generate much lower temps than p95. Particularly ver28.5. So maybe its based on an earlier version? Tend to use real bench theese days coupled with normal use.
 
OcUK Staff
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I already asked Scott to get this in when it becomes retail. So far this is the best pure Overclocking board I have tested and the most efficient too. Nick at ASrock really nails the OC boards on the Z platform and this is thee best yet. The bios auto rules are very close to perfect and as u can see it's tuning memory even at 4250mhz with ease.

I will try the dimms on Ln2 soon yes and report back with results.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2012
Posts
5,272
Location
Leeds
I already asked Scott to get this in when it becomes retail. So far this is the best pure Overclocking board I have tested and the most efficient too. Nick at ASrock really nails the OC boards on the Z platform and this is thee best yet. The bios auto rules are very close to perfect and as u can see it's tuning memory even at 4250mhz with ease.

I will try the dimms on Ln2 soon yes and report back with results.
good :) i've never had an asrock board. looks like i will soon then!
 
OcUK Systems
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8Pack's favourite Z170 board is now available!

Asrock Z170 OC Formula Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard @ £212.99 inc VAT

MB-147-AK_400.jpg


Key Features
- ASRock Super Alloy
- OC Formula Kit : Power / Connector / Cooling / Monitor
- Supports 6th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors (Socket 1151)
- Digi Power, 18 Power Phase design
- Supports DDR4 4500+(OC) memory modules
- 4 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 3.0 x1, 1 PCIe 2.0 x1, 1 Vertical Half-size mini-PCIe
- Supports AMD 4-Way CrossFireX™ and NVIDIA® Quad SLI™
- 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec), Supports Purity Sound™ 3 & DTS Connect
- Intel® Gigabit LAN
- 3 SATA Express, 10 SATA3, 3 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3)
- 2 USB 3.1 (1 Type-C & 1 Type-A), 8 USB 3.0 (4 Front, 4 Rear)
- V-Probe, Rapid OC, PCIe ON/OFF, XMP Switch, Slow Mode Switch, LN2 Mode Switch
- Supports Full Spike Protection, ASRock Live Update & APP Shop


Technical Details:
CPU - Supports 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors (Socket 1151)
- Digi Power design
- 18 Power Phase design
- Supports Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology
- Supports Intel® K-Series unlocked CPUs
- Supports ASRock BCLK Full-range Overclocking
- Supports ASRock Hyper BCLK Engine

Chipset Intel® Z170 Express Chipset

Memory - Dual Channel DDR4 Memory Technology
- 4 x DDR4 DIMM Slots
- Supports DDR4 4500+(OC)*/4400(OC)/4300(OC)/4266(OC)/4200(OC)/4133(OC)/4000(OC)/3866(OC)/ 3800(OC)/3733(OC)/3666(OC)/3600(OC)/3466(OC)/3400(OC)/3333(OC)/3300(OC)/3200(OC)/3000(OC)/ 2933(OC)/2800(OC)/2600(OC)/2400(OC)/2133 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 64GB
- Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 2.0
- 15µ Gold Contact in DIMM Slots

Slots - 4 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE1/PCIE2/PCIE4/PCIE6: single at x16 (PCIE1); dual at x8 (PCIE1) / x8 (PCIE4); triple at x8 (PCIE1) / x4 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE4)); quad at x8 (PCIE1) / x4 (PCIE2) / x4 (PCIE4) / x4 (PCIE6))
- 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x1 Slot (PCIE3) (Flexible PCIe)
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot (PCIE5)
- 1 x Vertical Half-size Mini-PCI Express Slot
- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™, 4-Way CrossFireX™, 3-Way CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™
- Supports NVIDIA® Quad SLI™ and SLI™
- 15µ Gold Contact in VGA PCIe Slot (PCIE1 and PCIE4)

Onboard Graphics - Supports Intel® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals : Intel® Quick Sync Video with AVC, MVC (S3D) and MPEG-2 Full HW Encode1, Intel® InTru™ 3D, Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, Intel® Insider™, Intel® HD Graphics 510/530
- Pixel Shader 5.0, DirectX 12
- Max. shared memory 1792MB
- Dual graphics output: Support HDMI and DisplayPort 1.2 ports by independent display controllers
- Supports HDMI with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2160) @ 24Hz / (3840x2160) @ 30Hz
- Supports DisplayPort 1.2 with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2304) @ 60Hz
- Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI Port (Compliant HDMI monitor is required)
- Supports Accelerated Media Codecs: HEVC, VP8, VP9
- Supports HDCP with HDMI and DisplayPort 1.2 Ports
- Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) playback with HDMI and DisplayPort 1.2 Ports

Storage - 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors by Intel® Z170, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 14 and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
- 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors by ASMedia ASM1061, support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
- 3 x SATA Express 10 Gb/s Connectors*
- 3 x Ultra M.2 Sockets, support type 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110 M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s)**
*Support to be announced
M2_1, SATA3_0, SATA3_1 and SATA_EXP0 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.
M2_2, SATA3_2, SATA3_3 and SATA_EXP1 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.
M2_3, SATA3_4, SATA3_5 and SATA_EXP2 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.

USB On Board
- 2 x USB 2.0 Headers (Support 4 USB 2.0 ports) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
- 2 x USB 3.0 Headers (Support 4 USB 3.0 ports) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
- 1 x Vertical Type A USB 3.0
Rear Panel
- 2 x USB 2.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
- 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s) (ASMedia ASM1142) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
- 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C Port (10 Gb/s) (ASMedia ASM1142) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
- 4 x USB 3.0 Ports (Intel® Z170) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))

Audio - 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec)

LAN Intel I219V Gigabit LAN

Dimensions ATX form factor


Only £212.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW
 
Associate
Joined
12 Sep 2008
Posts
397
Location
London
A little OT, but any chance you could do a RAM tweaking guide? Possibly frequency, but timings mainly - as I have no idea how they relate to frequency and I'd like to learn.. YouTube isn't necessarily informative when it comes to RAM overclocking.

Thanks either way :p

Would also be interested in this, especially if it's coming from 8Pack ;) Keep fiddling with the timings on my Sammy greens, without really understanding :D
 
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