Memory

XPG Spectrix D40 DDR4 Memory Review

vortez
June 6, 2018 8 Min Read
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With speeds up to 4400MHz and capacities hitting 64GB, the Spectrix D40 memory from XPG certainly promises performance, but does it deliver?


Product on Review: XPG Spectrix D40
Manufacturer: XPG
Street Price: £329.99 / $438.99

XPG are a company who specialise in flash format PC storage and high performance system memory, tending to use flashy styling and plenty of lights. Today we look at the XPG Spectrix D40 RGB DDR4 memory, an RGB memory kit designed for enthusiasts and gamers in with an eye for aesthetics.

The Spectrix D40 kit is available from 8GB up to 64GB and speeds varying between 2400MHz up to a massive 4400MHz. We’ve been provided a 32GB – 2400MHz kit for testing, which should strike a good balance between capacity and performance.

XMP 2.0 is supported, minimising any time spent in the BIOS once the RAM is installed, as well as featuring a 10-layer PCB for enhanced stability and overclocking. AMD and Intel DDR4 systems are also all supported.



The RGB lighting is configured within 5 separate zones on top of each stick, customisable through Windows software, or via ASUS Aura Sync on ASUS motherboards. We’ll take a proper look at the RGB features within our review.

The provided kit, as mentioned, runs at 2400MHz, but only requires 1.2v to do so; we’ll also delve into the overclocking side, with a small voltage increase, to see how well those heatspreaders can dissipate any extra heat and observe the top-end performance of the kit.

Let’s plug it in, turn it on and see how it performs.

XPG on the Spectrix D40:
As the first DDR4 RGB memory by XPG, SPECTRIX D40 integrates stunning performance and visual beauty in an armor-inspired heatsink – perfect for PC DIY enthusiasts, overclockers, and gamers! D40 has been fully tested compatible with popular ASUS AURA Sync software, enabling users to customize proprietary RGB colors and effects to match their systems. In addition, D40 features speeds of over 4000MHz with support for the Intel X299 platform with a starting speed of 2666MHz. It is also compatible with AMD AM4 motherboards. With Intel XMP 2.0 and 10-layer PCBs, D40 enhances overclocking as well as system stability. Like all ADATA memory modules, SPECTRIX D40 comes with a lifetime warranty backed by excellent service for maximum peace of mind.

Technical Specifications

Memory Type: DDR4
Memory Speed: 2400 MHz
Designation: PC4-19200
Memory Size (Total): 32 GB
Number of Modules: 4
Memory Size (Individual): 8 GB
Pin Configuration: 288 pin
Memory Package: DIMM
Error Correction: No
CAS Latency: CL16

Electrical
Voltage: 1.2 V

Environmental
Operating Temperature: 0° – 85° C
Non Operating Temperature: -55° – 100° C

Physical
Form Factor: DDR4 Memory
Width: 47.37 mm
Depth: 138.98 mm
Height: 7.6 mm

Warranty
Warranty: Lifetime

Packaging & Product

The DDR4 kit is packaged well inside a fairly thick cardboard carton with a plastic insert inside. The front of the box gives information on capacity, speed and XMP and ASUS Aura compatibility. The RAM stick on the front is also very slightly smaller than the physical item.



The front of the packaging flips up, showing a single RAM stick as well as some further information about the DIMMs.



In typical fashion from XPG, the black and red theme is still the main focus. The black PCB and heatspreader complement each other well.



The reverse side is almost identical, save for a small specification sticker.

Test Setup

Memory Configurations

XPG Spectrix D40 DDR4 2400MHz

2400MHz @ 16-16-16-16-39-55-2T – XMP 2.0
3000MHz @ 16-16-16-16-39-69-1T – Highest reached frequency

Test Setup
Cooling Corsair H150i Pro RGB
Processor Ryzen 7 2700X
MotherboardMSI X470 Gaming M7 AC
Graphics Radeon RX 480 8GB
Storage Samsung 970 EVO 1TB
PSU Corsair RM 750X 80 Plus Gold Certified PSU

Compared against
Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz (2x 8GB)
Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB 3000MHz (4x 8GB)
G.SKILL Sniper X 3400MHz (2x 8GB)


Benchmarks
Cinebench R15 – CPU
SiSoftware SANDRA – Memory bandwidth
AIDA64 – Memory Benchmarks
PCMark 8 – Photoshop
Games – Dawn of War III


Other Software
Temperature Analysis: Aida64/Ryzen Master
System Monitoring and Stress Testing: AIDA64 Stability Test
CPU Specification Monitoring: CPU-Z

Lighting & Overclocking

Before we get stuck into the performance numbers, whet your appetite on the video and images below.









Looking at overclocking performance, which XPG claims is a key selling point for the Spectrix D40 set. The large heatspreader seemed promising and gave us the confidence to happily bump the voltage from the standard 1.2v to 1.35v, as is the norm on most DDR4 memory kits above the 2400MHz-2666MHz range.

We started off small, trying to 2666, then 2800, then 3000 and eventually 3200, all at the original timings, however at 3200 we found some instabilities so backed the overclock down to 3000.

To achieve a stable overclock at the 3000MHz frequency, we had to slacken the timings ever so slightly, but we could reduce the command rate to 1T instead of 2T to help retain any performance lost by increasing timings.

Our Cinebench scores rose from 1791 to 1813 with this overclock.





We also tested AIDA64 at stock and overclocked, the results speak for themselves.



The Spectrix D40 DIMMs sadly don’t feature a thermal diode for direct measuring, but the memory sticks were never more than “slightly warm” to the touch.

Memory Transfer Performance – AIDA64

AIDA64 Product Page
Memory bandwidth benchmarks (Memory Read, Memory Write, Memory Copy) measure the maximum achiveable memory data transfer bandwidth. The code behind these benchmark methods are written in Assembly and they are extremely optimized for every popular AMD, Intel and VIA processor core variants by utilizing the appropriate x86/x64, x87, MMX, MMX+, 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE4.1, AVX, and AVX2 instruction set extension.

The Memory Latency benchmark measures the typical delay when the CPU reads data from system memory. Memory latency time means the penalty measured from the issuing of the read command until the data arrives to the integer registers of the CPU.


Bandwidth Performance – SiSoftware SANDRA

SANDRA isn’t always a benchmark that is included in hardware reviews but I believe it shouldn’t be ignored. SANDRA provides a vigorous package that tests your system in a rather large array of benchmarks. There are many aspects of benchmark that can be executed.


Processing Power Performance – Cinebench R15

CINEBENCH can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. This test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor.


Image Editing Performance – PCMark 8 Photoshop

PCMark 8 Product Page
Developed in partnership with Benchmark Development Program members Acer, AMD, Condusiv Technologies, Dell, HGST, HP, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Samsung, SanDisk, Seagate and Western Digital, PCMark 8 is the latest version in FutureMark’s popular series of PC benchmarking tools. Improving on previous releases, PCMark 8 includes new tests using popular applications from Adobe and Microsoft.


PassMark – Memory Mark

PassMark Performance Test. Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing and benchmarking. PassMark PerformanceTest allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.


Gaming Performance – Dawn of War III

To test out the benefit of faster memory in a real world scenario, we have taken a recent game and created a CPU limited scenario by reducing the resolution and graphics settings to minimum, while setting the CPU dependent settings at their highest.


Conclusion

Certainly, the main attraction of the XPG Spectrix D40 kit is the RGB lighting strips dominating the top edge of each stick, and while they do look nice, they lack any form of synchronisation. Almost immediately after setting an effect, the individual sticks would seem to go off at random intervals, somewhat spoiling the appearance. Only a solid colour would remedy this, even with the software running.

The sticks look good with the black and red heat spreader, which also performed well, never allowing the memory to get hot, even during our overclocking tests.

Despite finishing bottom in most of our tests, the fact still remains that those numbers are all just synthetic benchmarks, disregarding the gaming performance. The 2400MHz kit will feel the same as a 4000MHz set in almost all day-to-day tasks unless you require the absolute best performance or game at very high framerates and can’t afford the bottleneck.

Overclocking, as XPG told us to expect, was amazing. We got 600MHz extra from our 4 sticks, improving results drastically with no noticeable increase in heat. If you were brave and stuck a little extra voltage into it, say 1.4v or possibly 1.45v, we feel 3200MHz would easily be possible.

Priced at £329 in the UK, for 32GB of RGB DDR4 memory, we feel the value is pretty decent at this moment in time, but RAM prices are so volatile that it’s genuinely difficult to recommend any price at the moment.



If you’re after a decent quality set of RGB DDR4 RAM that won’t make your wallet cry, the XPG Spectrix D40 should definitely be considered.

Pros
+ RGB lighting is bright and colourful
+ Good out of the box performance
+ Excellent overclocking
+ Reasonably well priced
+ Sticks look great

Cons
– RGB lighting effects lose sync very quickly


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