14 DAY TRIAL // A Taiwanese ancient proverb has it that RAM memory is never enough and we would gladly approve with it, if memory manufacturer G.Skill hadn't gone ahead of us. You may wonder why this launch is so important, since there are plenty of vendors to sell 8GB DDR2 kits (and DDR2 memory is getting obsolete).
Well, here is the big deal: while traditional memory manufacturing process involves the use of six layers of PCB (Printed Circuit Board), the G.Skill F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK uses 8 layers of the mentioned material.
This means that the memory is connected through an eight-layered PCB, which allows for overall better signaling and routing, lower noise, lower signal distortion and a more stable impedance. Of course, the two extra layers of PCB increases the manufacturing complexity, and be sure that this will reflect in the extra cash you'll have to pour for this dual-kit.
The memory chips are seated in a row under the typical G.Skill heatspreader that dramatically helps heat dissipation. The memory modules are factory fine-tuned, so you can expect to achieve maximum performance out-of-the-box. In fact, I think this is the most important aspect of these memory modules, since there are a lot of PC users that have been born neither overclockers, nor hackers.
Of course, those "chosen few" that are handy enough can squeeze the last bits of performance out of the memory modules. The memory is rated by default as DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15, which is pretty impressive, given the fact that top memory modules rarely beat the 4-4-4-13 peaks.
Stacking 2GB of memory on a single module is also difficult, and we expect that the memory chips are high density units. This will give a hard time when overclocking, but a decent cooling solution will surely fix things up.