Page 2 - A Closer Look, Test System
This is the first time for me to review RAM from Thermaltake, even though I have personally covered many of their products since 2006. That said, my colleague Jonah has tested the TOUGHRAM XG RGB DDR4-4000 2x8GB two years ago as mentioned on the previous page, so there is a degree of familiarity for the TOUGHRAM series to us here at APH Networks.
The Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 DDR5-5600 2x16GB, being a part of the latest performance DDR5 line from the company, utilizes a set of medium-profile heatspreaders. The TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5's aluminum pieces are distinctively shaped and molded with sharp lines to give it lots of visual flare and complexity. A Thermaltake-branded translucent plastic diffuser at the top allows light to shine through. Aluminum is lightweight and serves as a decent heat conductor.
The TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 is approximately 4.75cm tall, or just under two centimeters taller than modules with no heatspreaders at all. Since the heatspreader height is moderate, it is hard to imagine the TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 will interfere with any modern processor cooler. Whether you like to call it a marketing gimmick or whatnot, it is impossible to find performance memory without any form of a heatspreader attached for decades now. They do undeniably serve a purpose in dissipating heat, but for most memory modules, unless run at a voltage significantly over designed voltages -- which you will not, thanks to integrated memory controller voltage limits on Intel and AMD CPUs -- this feature is certainly not a requirement. But they look pretty cool in any windowed chassis.
The heatspreader design of the TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 modules is asymmetrical when looked at straight on, but symmetrical between sides, which is logical, because memory can be installed in different directions depending on your motherboard manufacturer and design. Besides functional purposes, it also improves the look. The Thermaltake logo and TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 branding is printed on a black background on the right side of the RAM, while the left side features a white diamond grid pattern on a gray background. A dark shiny piece in the middle adds to the look, but it is a fingerprint magnet. A specifications label is found on the opposite side. It lists information like the serial number, bandwidth, latencies, voltage, and the kit's memory capacity. Its country of origin is not listed here, but the box says it is made in Taiwan.
As you can see more clearly in our photo above, the Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 DDR5-5600 2x16GB has a very nice black PCB. Thermaltake claims this is a 10-layer PCB with 2 oz copper inner layer for better overclocking performance. We can also spot the power management integrated circuit, commonly abbreviated as PMIC, near the center. Its heatspreader on top is composed of two separate pieces plus a plastic diffuser. It features a unique design, where the two separate pieces are placed on the module in a crisscross manner such that half the piece covers one side and the other half continues on to cover the other side of the module. This is done to achieve the cool 3D design in the center. The heatspreaders are held to the module itself by strips of thermally conductive adhesive and are not physically locked together. Instead, they are aligned by a notch near the middle. The adhesive force between the two heatspreaders and memory ICs is pretty strong, so if you ever do take them off, keep your hair dryer around. Additional strips of adhesive at the top hold the plastic diffuser in place.
As mentioned, the heatspreaders are not mirror images of each other. Instead, they each feature a different design for the crisscross installation. The pieces are made from relatively thin aluminum, but will still resist easy bending due to the way it is installed on the RAM. It is not thick enough to hold a lot of heat, so it should dissipate heat energy reasonably quickly into the surrounding environment. Either way, you will probably never remove them, since the heatspreader design is a selling point. In the unlikely event it will not clear your processor heatsink, then you might as well not buy this kit, haha.
A closer look at the memory chips on the Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 DDR5-5600 2x16GB dual channel memory kit. The photo above should be quite clear -- it says "H5CG48MEBDX014" on each IC. We have previously seen these on many products, including the Patriot Viper Venom RGB DDR5-6200 2x16GB, XPG Lancer RGB DDR5-6000 2x16GB, and Kingston FURY Renegade RGB DDR5-6000 2x16GB. These are SK hynix-manufactured chips with eight 2GB chips on one side only for a total of 16GB on each DIMM. As mentioned on the previous page, these RAM modules run at a frequency of DDR5-5600 with 36-36-36-76 latencies. These latencies are pretty low compared to the competition, which is good, but we will see how they perform in just a moment. These modules operate at a stock voltage of 1.25V, which is higher than the base DDR5 voltage of 1.1V.
The Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 DDR5-5600 2x16GB works along with a version of TT RGB PLUS, which is a 150MB download from the company's website at press time. This program unifies many Thermaltake into one application like the SWAFAN EX12 RGB, but check the website first for compatibility. Once the program opens, it will immediately detect all the compatible products you own.
The main configuration window is separated into three tabs. The Lighting tab allows you to select the product you want to configure, which, in this case, is our TOUGHRAM. There is a great variety of lighting effects and configuration options, as shown in our screenshot above. If you do not want to use Thermaltake's software for configuration, the TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 is compatible with all major motherboard RGB lighting control systems, including ASUS Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0, and MSI Mystic Light.
Special thanks to our former colleague Seth Claussen for letting us use his computer for benchmarking. Our test configuration is as follows:
CPU: Intel Core i7-13700K
CPU Cooling: Custom Water Cooling Loop
Motherboard: MSI MPG Z690 Force WiFi
Graphics: EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti FTW3 ULTRA GAMING
Chassis: Thermaltake The Tower 900 Snow
Storage: XPG Atom 50 1TB
Power: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G5 1000W
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Compared Hardware:
- Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB D5 DDR5-5600 2x16GB @ DDR5-5600 36-36-36-76
- Kingston FURY Renegade DDR5-7200 2x16GB @ DDR5-7200 38-44-44-105
- Patriot Viper Venom DDR5-7200 2x16GB @ DDR5-7200 34-42-42-84
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 CPU
4. Benchmark: AIDA64 FPU
5. Benchmark: AIDA64 Memory
6. Benchmark: PCMark 10
7. Benchmark: 3DMark
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 10
9. Benchmark: SuperPI 1M, Cinebench R23
10. Overclocking and Conclusion
