As we move over to DDR5, DDR4 is no longer an option for either AMD’s or Intel’s new processors. Micron is providing a solution with its Crucial DDR5 Pro Overclocking RAM. Micron sent over a 32 GB kit with 2x 16 GB UDIMMs running at 6400MT/s with 38-40-40-84 timings for testing.
One of the best upgrades you can do for your gaming PC is increasing your system memory. 16 GB may have cut it once upon a time, but you are going to be hitting the limit with many new games. Whilst it may be enticing to fill all four slots on your motherboard with 16 GB memory modules, unless you are really into video production, you don’t need 64 GB of RAM. You are better off investing in 32 GB of faster DDR5 memory.
Out of the box, the black DDR5 modules look genuinely nice. The origami-style head spreaders have no RGB, giving them a simple, understated elegance. At about 32mm high, the modules are fairly low-profile for those with large CPU fans.
Intel’s Arrow Lake Core Ultra 200 series desktop processors natively support DDR5-6400 modules. I tested Micron’s Crucial DDR5 Pro Overclocking RAM with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K running on an MSI MEG Z890 Unify-X motherboard.
Installing DDR5 modules is easy, as the connector is divided in such a way that you can’t fit them the wrong way around, or accidentally mix DDR4 and DDR5 modules. The hardest part is using “reasonable force” to clip them in place. They need a firm amount of pressure to clip in place, but not so much that you bend (or break) your motherboard.
The only thing that you need to be mindful of is to make sure that you adjust the XMP 3.0/EXPO profile in your motherboard BIOS to increase the frequency to the factory overclocked 3200 MT/s. Your board will likely set the RAM to the default JEDEC standard speed of 5600 MT/s, which means that you will not be getting the performance that you paid for. There’s another XMP profile included, running at 6000 MHz, but with lower latency timings.
MT/s means megatransfers (million transfers) per second and is a more honest measurement of data transfer for RAM speed than a figure derived from the frequency of voltage change/second. 6400MT/s makes more sense as DDR5-6400 modules actually run at a clock speed of 3200 MHz.
Whilst we are probably halfway through the DDR5 lifecycle, modules still suffer from high latency clock timings. This may not be as important as the frequency, but it is still a factor when it comes to performance. The Crucial DDR5 modules have a CAS Latency (CL) of 38, which is a good balance of performance and price. This is fine for gaming, especially at 3200 MHz.
Evaluating the memory with Passmark’s Performance Test achieved a score of 4063, which is a 98th percentile result. This is an improvement on Crucial’s DDR5-6000 result of 3582, which was an 89th percentile result.
Overclocking tends to be more of a sport than a practical way of achieving a real performance boost. There are gains to be had, but they are minimal and rarely worth the time it takes to achieve stability, or the additional cooling needed to dissipate the inevitable increase in system temperature. It’s good to have a bit of headroom, though, should you want to go down this particular rabbit hole.
From the motherboard BIOS, the memory was easily overclocked to 6766MT/s; the board’s automatic overclocking increased the RAM timings to make any performance improvement moot. Further twiddling with the settings resulted in a PerformanceTest Memory Mark increase from 4063 to 4295. Whilst nothing to write home about, it’s something for nothing from ten minutes of dabbling in the BIOS. With a bit more time, I’m sure even better results could be achieved.
The Micron Crucial DDR5 Pro Overclocking kit worked without issue. Apart from switching over to the 6400 MHz profile, it was just a case of inserting them into the motherboard. The modules look discreet in your case but offer the performance that you’d expect for a gaming PC. The potential for overclocking is there if you wish to try and get even more out of what is already fast value for money memory.