Page 2 - A Closer Look, Test System
The overall design of XPG Spectrix D45G DDR4-3600 2x8GB is simple and clean. Unlike our previously reviewed XPG Spectrix D50 DDR4-3600 2x8GB, this product is less modernistic and replaced by a more rugged look. Just like Spectrix D50, aside from the memory PCB, Spectrix D45G also has a set of aluminum heatspreaders and a plastic light diffuser. The lines on the heatspreaders make the memory look rugged. The matte black finish on the memory modules does not only look good, but it is also nice to touch. There is no need to worry about leaving fingerprints on them. The XPG logo is milled on the top right side of the heatspreader, which looks more premium then just a sticker. In terms of size, the heatspreaders plus the light diffuser add about 1cm on top of the memory PCB. I don't think the height of this product will cause any issue such as intruding into the CPU heatsink. ADATA engineers must have considered the clearance requirement when designing this product.
The other side of XPG Spectrix D45G DDR4-3600 2x8GB is pretty much the same, as this product features symmetrical design on both sides. There is also a sticker that shows some essential specifications, such as the capacity, frequency, voltage, and timing information of this product. According to that sticker, we can see that this product can run at DDR4 3600MHz frequency and it takes 1.35V. Although the 1.35V is higher than the standard 1.2V voltage, I do not think it is a hard requirement to have those heatspreaders for heat dissipation. Of course, it is nice to have the heatspreaders as some kind of shield to the memory. I feel safer to grab on those metal heatspreaders as opposed to directly to the memory chips. This is the same reason why I prefer a graphics card to have a metal black plate. Some sort of protection is needed for electronics.
After removing the heatspreader on one side of Spectrix D45G, we can get a better look at the PCB of this product. It features a standard black PCB. I can tell this PCB design is very clean, and the build quality is really good. The way the heatspreaders are attached to the PCB is through thermally conductive adhesive strips. The adhesive is pretty strong, so if you plan to remove the heatspreaders, a heat source such as hairdryer and a set of pry bars can be handy. I was actually trying to remove the heatspreader without heating it up, but I soon realized I could bend the aluminum heatspreader due to the strong adhesive. The LEDs are also soldered on the PCB. It is worth mentioning that the RGB lighting effects of this product are changeable through the motherboard software. Users will need to figure out how to make that happen with the particular motherboard used.
Now, let us take a closer look at those memory chips on the PCB of XPG Spectrix D45G DDR4-3600 2x8GB kit. We can clearly read the information printed on each of the IC -- it says "SEC 113 K4A8G085WD BCWE". The ICs are identified as Samsung K4A8G085WD-BCWE. Each IC provides 1GB capacity. With all eight chips there is a total of 8GB on each DIMM. According to the specification of the end product, the memory kit runs at DDR4-3600 with 18-22-22-44 latencies. The product is powered at a 1.35V voltage level, which is the maximum safe limit recommended by both Intel and AMD. The following information of the memory ICs are obtained from Samsung's website:
Density: 8Gb
Generation: 5th Generation
Org.: 1G x 8
Speed: DDR4-3200
Voltage: 1.2 V
Temp.: 0 ~ 85 °C
Package: FBGA (Halogen-free & Lead-free, Flip Chip)
Our test configuration is as follows;
CPU: Intel Core i5-8400
CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-L9i
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 I AORUS PRO WiFi
Chassis: Fractal Design Node 202
Storage: Western Digital Black SN750 NVMe SSD 500GB
Power: SilverStone SFX SX500-G 500W
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Compared Hardware:
- XPG Spectrix D45G DDR4-3600 2x8GB @ DDR4-3600 18-22-22-44
- Kingston HyperX Fury HX426C16FB3K2/16 2x8GB @ DDR4-2666 16-18-18-39
This is the first time for me to review a memory kit using this computer, so I can only compare the review unit with one other memory kit. The biggest difference between the two kits is the clock speed. The HyperX Fury HX426C16FB3K2/16 runs at 2666MHz, while the XPG Spectrix D45G runs at 3600MHz. The timings of the two kits are also slightly different. The same capacity with a different frequency makes this comparison particularly interesting for someone who wants to buy a set of 2x8GB memory, but does not know the performance difference between DDR4-2666 and DDR4-3600 on the Intel platform.
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
