Low Latency DDR2 800MHz versus 1,066MHz
Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed):£56.17 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$69.99 (ex. Tax)
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The design is the same as the DDR3 Pi-Series we covered in part one of our DDR3 roundup recently, except these are anodised black instead. To be honest, we think the black is certainly tastier than the silver, but whatever you get it makes no difference to the actual cooling performance.
The heatspreader is obviously taller than simple, plain ones, so on certain motherboards with low slung heatsinks it could come into conflict so check before purchasing. At 50mm, it's only a few millimetres taller than Corsair DHX series for comparison. Unlike some other heatspreaders, the design also allows two sticks to sit next to each other with the fins neatly interlocking. This limits the air going from the top down, but get some airflow across them and the surface area is quite large.
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The Pi-Black series does feature Nvidia's EPP, however you wouldn't know it to look on the modules or the box strangely enough. We found that Gigabyte's P45 board even reads the EPP profile too which is a bonus to make use of the slightly performance enhanced 4-4-4-12 timings, rather than the usual 5-5-5-15. At £56 we think these are really good value for a CAS-4 kit rated at just 1.9V, so even very cheap boards can use this because there's very little voltage overhead.
While not a detrimental feature loss, what G.Skill is missing is the colour coordination between the PCB and Pi heatspreaders. If you really care about the package as a whole (and we do because, as modders, style is important to us) having its own PCB in black (or anything other than green) is something only a few other performance memory companies like Corsair and OCZ do. Instead, G.Skill bins the chips to find the performance parts like normal, then simply sticks them all on a single (green) PCB like everyone else making its differentiation just slightly less. On the plus side, G.Skill offers a lifetime warranty, which is certainly much more important and even though it matches the likes of Corsair and OCZ, among others, it's certainly a big plus to know you're completely covered.
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