G.Skill this week has announced a new addition to its Trident Z family of high-performance DDR4 memory modules aimed at modders. The new Trident Z RGB will feature software-controllable RGB LEDs on top of the modules. The DIMMs will require no additional connectors and will work in all DDR4-capable computers running Windows.

The new G.Skill Trident Z RGB modules will be based on the company’s custom 10-layer PCB, will feature speed bins up to DDR4-4266 and XMP 2.0 SPD profiles to appeal to users seeking for both style and high memory performance. The DIMMs will use Trident Z’s aluminum heat spreaders, however now equipped with RGB light bars on top (as opposed to metallic bars in case of regular DIMMs). Previously the company offered Trident Z modules with different color schemes, and the addition of RGB illumination is G.Skill’s next step.

The manufacturer says that the Trident Z RGB will display a rainbow of colors in a wave-style lighting effect by default, but users will be able to customize lighting and design their own lighting effects using a special program that controls the light bars. G.Skill does not reveal how exactly those LEDs work or controlled, but most probably the company uses one or two of the “spare” RFU (reserved for future use) pins that DDR4 modules/slots have and/or 12 V supply pins not used on consumer DIMMs to control and power the LEDs.

G.Skill’s Trident Z RGB will not be the first DDR4 memory modules on the market to feature light bars. For example, Corsair introduced its Vengeance LED DIMMs this summer. However, G.Skill will be the first to offer software-controllable RGB light bars on its memory modules and bring additional levels of freedom of expression to modders. You can watch G.Skill’s Trident Z demo video at the company’s YouTube channel.

G.Skills plans to start selling the new Trident Z memory modules with RGB lighting sometimes in mid-January 2017, so chances are there might be some at CES early next month. The manufacturer does not disclose prices of the upcoming Trident Z RGB DIMMs and it is hard to predict how much will those lighting effects cost to end users. Software to configure the lighting is set to become available from February 2017.

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Source: G.Skill

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  • LordanSS - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link

    Well, some people like to tune/mod their cars, others work on their houses, etc.

    Some like to mod their cases (even though it might not be visible to many people).

    More power to them. Their money, their choice. Choice is important.
  • Chaitanya - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link

    That is one of the best RGB implementations I have seen so far.
  • DanNeely - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link

    As long as these things remain an option for people who want to show off through a window as opposed to becoming a default you have to pay for if you want the high performance part even if your case is opaque and they're just adding cost and wasting power the way bling lighting on mobos and high end GPUs seems to be going.
  • maximumGPU - Thursday, December 22, 2016 - link

    wow, some punctuation goes a long way.
  • iamkyle - Saturday, December 24, 2016 - link

    Thanks for being so generous to add a period at the end of that word soup.
  • jamyryals - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link

    Pretty awesome looking design, but I wouldn't pay for it.
  • yuhong - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - link

    I wonder if they use SMBus to control the LEDs.
  • BrokenCrayons - Thursday, December 22, 2016 - link

    Someone needs to make these for laptops. If I skipped the RAM cover door on my laptop, it could cast a glow on the desk under it and make it seem like my laptop was going faster because it was hovering on a pillow of RAM light.
  • MajGenRelativity - Thursday, December 22, 2016 - link

    Yes, that would be incredible!
  • lazarpandar - Thursday, December 22, 2016 - link

    Genuinely nice looking.

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