Buzz
In today's computer market, especially in the realm of gaming PCs, even RAM kits, the systems' random-access memory serving to transfer dozens, even hundreds of gigabytes of data to processing chips like CPUs and GPUs, have become a battleground for many major players on both fronts. Firstly, there's the clock speed of the RAM and the latency in operation. And secondly, more visibly, more eye-catching, is the overall design as well as the RGB lighting array on each RAM stick installed in the desktop rigs.Today's spotlight is on the Adata XPG Lancer Blade RGB. Before diving into its performance and design, let's acknowledge the biggest advantage of this Adata branded RAM kit.Throughout history, on both Intel and AMD chipset platforms serving generations of CPUs, there have always been technologies to adjust the speed and latency of RAM, to enhance processing performance for internal memory. Intel motherboards support XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) technology, while on AMD motherboards it's DOCP for DDR4 RAM generations, and currently EXPO, an abbreviation for Extended Profiles for Overclocking. Consequently, memory manufacturers must produce RAM kits that support these technologies. This still holds partly true for DDR5 RAM kits used on motherboards with Intel's Z690 chipset or AMD's X670E.
Simultaneously, with improvements to the controller on each PCB of each RAM stick, combined with BIOS updates, DDR5 enthusiasts no longer face the challenges they did during the early days of Z690 or X670E platforms launched in late 2021 and 2022. For instance, my own experience with Intel using XMP 3, utilizing high-speed DDR5 kits at that time was quite straightforward, with the condition of only installing 2 sticks. Installing 4 sticks meant not reaching the maximum speed supported by a RAM kit, requiring a downgrade for stable operation.As for AMD, during the early days of the Ryzen 7000 series desktop version launches, perhaps many of us experienced sitting and waiting for minutes for the motherboard and CPU to 'train' the RAM sticks to operate at maximum speed before reaching Windows. At that time, using chips like the Ryzen 7 7800X or Ryzen 9 7950X for video editing or content creation was enjoyable, but there was always the immediate concern of RAM issues.Those nightmares seem to be entirely resolved now. Even with the Z690, Gigabyte's Aorus Xtreme motherboard version, installing 4 RAM sticks, running at 6000 MT/s speed, CL30 latency, almost encountered no issues throughout usage. It's quite rare to find a DDR5-6000 RAM kit with timings like this.
Certainly, with 16GB capacity per Lancer Blade DDR5 RGB stick, perhaps about 85% of PC users will feel sufficient and confident with 32GB of RAM. Only a small portion of users needing extensive memory for tasks like content creation or app development would require 64GB of RAM or more. Even when using ComfyUI and Automatic1111 for shaping AI models by Stable Diffusion, loading models from SSD to RAM for GPU processing, 32GB of RAM is rarely fully utilized. Gaming, even at 4K resolution, shows no significant difference. 16GB might be slightly lacking if aiming to evaluate and record 4K game review footage, but 32GB is more than enough.
With a 6000 MHz overclocking profile, CL30, and priced just slightly over 3 million Dong for a pair of 16GBx2 RAM, the XPG Lancer Blade DDR5 RGB falls into the mid-range segment. Above it are products with much higher speeds, such as 7200 or even 8000 MHz, leveraging the full power of DDR5 RAM technology, unconstrained by standard speeds JEDEC introduced when standardizing this memory technology.The metal heat spreader design covering the PCB of this RAM kit looks identical on both sides, very symmetrical in appearance. Consequently, similar to other products I've experienced, distinguishing between the front and back to plug into the motherboard RAM socket can only be done by relying on the position of the information sticker on each RAM stick.
In terms of aesthetics, compared directly to the Lancer DDR5 RGB, the Lancer Blade DDR5 RGB looks more elegant with its uninterrupted LED strip design, rather than the somewhat segmented design of RAM pairs introduced earlier in 2022. Performance or data processing speed will be somewhat similar if you choose Lancer and Lancer Blade kits with similar clock speeds and timings. But if you want to build a PC that is both beautiful and simple, without too many intricate details, looks premium thanks to RGB lighting, then the Lancer Blade is a more worthwhile choice.
The Lancer RGB looks beautiful from the side. As for the Lancer Blade, when viewed head-on, there's nothing to criticize, especially when the 8 LED lights on each RAM stick shine bright.
Moving on to AIDA64, measuring read, write, and copy speeds. In the basic XMP 3.0 profile that the motherboard automatically supports, at 6000 MHz, with timings of 30-40-40-76, the measured results hover around the threshold of 84 to 85 GB/s, sufficient to meet the usage needs of the vast majority of gamers or content creators, as well as possessing speeds comparable to many other RAM options on the market, also at 6000 MHz.
It's easy to notice that with some tinkering, it's entirely possible to push Adata's RAM kit up to 6400 MHz, even higher, still at CL30 latency. I don't recommend doing this because the overall system stability depends on each RAM kit's overclocking capability; not all kits can achieve the same numbers. However, once at 6400 MHz, the read, write, and copy speeds of the RAM kit increase significantly, especially when benchmarked with AIDA64 Extreme, where read and write speeds increase by a noticeable 5 to 7GB compared to the original 6000 MHz clock speed of the XMP 3.0 profile.
But the test results suggest that Adata seems to have created a mid-range RAM kit, stable enough for users to plug into the motherboard, enable XMP or EXPO according to the supported profile, and then run smoothly without any worries. However, the true potential of this RAM kit sometimes provides an advantage for overclocking to higher numbers, in return for faster data read, write, and transfer speeds to the processing chips, both CPU and GPU, will be faster.Continuing with the aesthetics of the RAM kit. It supports most of the popular RGB lighting control solutions on the market, from Asus Aura Sync to MSI Mystic Light, or in my case, Gigabyte RGB Fusion. But for those using Gigabyte hardware, you might recall, Gigabyte's RGB LED control software is quite lacking in options.
Therefore, the XPG Prime software, used to control all Adata RGB-lit components, becomes a lifesaver. Although the lighting and RGB effects selection in XPG Prime isn't as extensive as desired, the lighting effects on the 4 RAM sticks are still more beautiful and diverse than RGB Fusion.
In conclusion, who is this RAM kit for? Based on both design, performance, and RGB lighting array, if you're looking for a simple yet elegant RAM kit to build an all-white PC setup, with a comfortable budget, priced in the mid-range desktop memory segment, sufficient for Core i5, i7, or Ryzen 7 systems. It's worth noting again, the support for both XMP and EXPO overclocking profiles also provides an advantage for the XPG Lancer Blade DDR5 RGB.
