Final Words & Conclusion

Final Words 

In this review, we examined G.Skills' best TridentZ5 kit in order to demonstrate the influence of frequency and performance scaling. Our initial DDR4 against DDR5 memory comparison revealed that a CL16 DDR4 kit running at 3600 MHz can readily compete with DDR5 5200 CL40. In conjunction with Alder Lake Gen 12 Core Intel CPUs, both combinations are termed sweet spot memories. That frequency and latency is, without a doubt, a sweet spot in terms of price and overall performance. If you are prepared to spend more money on DDR5, latency is where it counts, and this article should have shown you that CL32 at 6400 MHz is definitely faster than CL40 at 5200 MHz. Ironically when you have CL36 memory, frequency becomes almost immaterial as long as you remain over that frequency of 4800/5200 MHz. Now, there is a perceptible difference between 4800 and 6400 MHz, but the price difference will be far too significant in order to make kits as this means. In short, latency matters more than frequency, by a large statistical value. This brings up the question of how important DDR5 memory is over DDR4. However, when we look at an RTX 3090 in gaming, we can see actual results scaling upwards in frequency and, most importantly, latency. There is little question that DDR5 is the way to go. We just need kits with lower latency, CL36 would be lovely, and as shown CL32 is very sweet. 

Overclocking

We managed to push our sample kit, at native latencies, to 6,600MT/s using 1.5V. The increase over default frequency is less impressive than going from 4,800 to 5,200, as other than AIDA, regular benchmarks improved by, on average, maybe 1 percent. 5,200MT/s, it seems, is a nice sweet spot for this memory kit, 6,000MT/s and higher as it seems is a bit more premium.

Concluding

G.Skill does have a really outstanding CL32 memory kit available with the TridentZ5, at 6400 MHz, this memory kicks ass, however, the 550 EUR price tag makes it difficult to justify a purchase. You get DIMMs with a lifetime guarantee and a programmable RGB system for that price. If you ever convert to a motherboard with a green theme instead of a red color theme, you may adjust your DIMMs RGB LEDs to match. The TridentZ5 series DIMMs are a powerful product series aimed at a very specialized set of people: those who want the uber-fast things at the upper end of the range and with a niche-designed PC, then enthusiast-class PC gamer. The new DDR5 standard allows for greater frequencies at lower working voltages, but at the penalty of increased latencies. Given this, it makes it logical for G.Skill to provide a variety of DDR5 families and wide options to choose from. Purchase the Ripjaws S5 5200 MHz as a good starting point for fans seeking progressively higher performance, and for the enthusiasts and tweakers, the Tested CL32 6400 MHz TridentZ5 series. We'll stick to our earlier recommendations. 5,200MT/s at CL will be enough; CL 36, is certainly more suggested, and CL32 is fantastic but at a high expense. In terms of performance, G.Skill delivers a renowned kit that, in our opinion, is worth extra money over a similar-capacity 5,200MT/s set? Well, that's a question that only you the end-user can answer. Regardlessly, this is a fantastic memory kit to own. 

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