PNY Anarchy X DDR4 2800

Skylake is finally here (kinda, retail availability was nonexistent as we went to press), and as a result, mainstream users’ interest in DDR4 is likely to rise in the coming months. DDR4 memory prices have also dropped to the point that the speed increase and power decrease compared to DDR3 make the newer specification an obvious choice. Indeed, it’s a great time to buy memory, and PNY is looking to make the most of this impending tidal wave of DDR4 buyers with its new 16GB Anarchy X DDR4-2800 kit. PNY’s kit consists of four 4GB matched modules. Although this setup is ideal for a quad-channel memory rig, it’ll work just fine in a dual-channel Z170- based motherboard. This is one of the more affordable DDR4 kits we’ve tested, but it still manages to support Intel’s XMP 2.0, which makes overclocking the memory to 2,800MTps (megatransfers per second) a simple matter of changing a single setting in the BIOS. By default, the memory will boot at 2,133MTps, but Profile #1 unleashes this kit’s full potential. The Anarchy X kit also supports 2,666MTps and 2,400MTps speeds. At its highest rated speed, this kit still just calls for 1.2V. The timings are also pretty solid, at 16-16-16-36. The heatspreaders on the Anarchy X consist of colored aluminum plates. Two anodized black plates make up a majority of the heatspreader and a central clip, available in anodized blue or red, holds the two halves together. The black plates are adorned with Anarchy X, PNY, and DDR4 logos. The PCB is 3.1mm tall and the heatspreader adds just 1.1mm to the overall profile, making this kit ideal for those planning to use oversized CPU coolers. The memory kit also comes with a lifetime warranty. In SiSoft Sandra 2015 SP2, the integer and floating point memory bandwidth scores were 53.67GBps and 55.13GBps, respectively. We also ran Sandra’s memory latency workload, which measures how long it takes to transfer a block of data from main memory. In this test, the Anarchy X kit scored a very impressive 25.6 nanoseconds. Our low resolution Aliens Vs. Predator run, designed to isolate the CPU and memory performance, yielded a 750.9fps score. That doesn’t mean much on its own, but when we underclocked the memory to 2,133MTps, the score dropped almost 100fps, to 657.7fps. For its affordable price, impressive performance, and sharp aesthetics, PNY’s 16GB Anarchy X DDR4 kit should occupy a top slot on your new parts list.