Memory

Apacer NOX RGB DDR4 Review

vortez
June 14, 2019 7 Min Read
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Featuring RGB lighting, fancy aluminium heat-spreaders and a wide range of available capacities and frequencies, the Apacer NOX RGB DDR4 might just be the perfect memory kit for you.


Product on Review: Apacer NOX RGB DDR4
Manufacturer: Apacer
Street Price: 32GB @ 3200MHz – $279.99 USD

Apacer are a Taiwan-based company specialising the development and manufacture of industrial solid-state-drives and consumer-level memory modules since 1997. Their largest audience is in the far-east but their products are slowly emerging into western markets.

Today we look at their latest RGB modules, available in a range of capacities, starting at 4GB per module and extending all the way up to 32GB. Speeds vary from 2400MHz to 3200MHz with 2666 and 3000 included between.

Helping to improve performance, Apacer have equipped the NOX RGB modules with an aluminium-alloy heatsink to keep temperatures in check and include Intel XMP 2.0 support for one-click overclocks. All DRAM ICs are meticulously screened for excellent stability and compatibility.


RGB Synchronisation is compatible with all major motherboard manufacturers with ASUS Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0, MSI Mystic Light Sync and AS Rock Polychrome Sync. This allows full control of the 16.8M colours through your motherboard.

Today we’re looking at Apacer’s top of the line NOX RGB, rocking a 3200MHz frequency at 16-18-18-38 timings.

Apacer on the NOX RGB DDR4:
The mysterious black and minimalist designed high-class aluminium heat sink, not only with great heat dissipation, but also showing the gamer’s bursting energy instantly.

Technical Specifications

Frequency / Capacity / Voltage / Cas Latency
3200MHz / 8GB, 16GB, 32GB / 1.35V / 16-18-18-38
3000MHz / 8GB, 16GB, 32GB / 1.35V / 16-18-18-38
2666MHz / 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB / 1.2V / 16-18-18-36
2400MHz / 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB / 1.2V / 16-16-16-36

Memory Architecture
x8 FBGA DRAM chip

Intel XMP 2.0
Yes

PIN
288-pin

Certificate
RoHS, CE, FCC, RCM, VCCI, JEDEC

Package
Single Channel Package
Dual Channel package

Warranty
Limited lifetime warranty

Packaging & Product

Apacer package their RAM modules in an appropriately sized box, showing an almost full-size image of the RAM module on the front, along with RGB illumination, and with a decent selection of ‘information at a glance’.


The rear, largely thanks to Apacer packing in multiple languages, is lacking in any real information, but let’s face it, what more do you need to know than the frequency and capacity that is listed on the front.


Once the RAM is removed from the packaging, the first thing to strike you will likely be the height of the modules; standing at 51mm tall, quite a bit taller than other modules on the market. Apart from the Apacer print and the NOX marking, there’s very little going on, which should bode well for attractive the eye towards the RGB strips at the top.


The reverse side is identical, apart from a rather ugly product sticker.


Perhaps an unwise decision, Apacer have put their company logo on the very top of the modules and placed the, much cooler looking, NOX logo on the edge.

Test Setup & Methodology

Memory Configurations

Apacer NOX RGB
3200MHz @ 16-18-18-38 – XMP 2.0

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)
XPG Spectrix D41 RGB 2400MHz (4x 8GB)
HyperX Predator 3200MHz (4x 8GB)
Team Group T-Force Delta RGB 3200MHz (2x 8GB)
Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 3200MHz (4x 8GB)
XPG GAMMIX D30 3000MHz (2x 8GB)


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

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 – PC Mark 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

While Apacer are beginning to emerge into Western markets, we’re still yet to see them in the certain regions, with very little of their stock arriving on UK shores. Because of this, British readers may struggle to find stock anywhere outside of overseas sellers.

Regarding performance, there isn’t much to a memory kit other than its frequency and CAS timings, but regardless, we found the performance to be exactly in line with other similar kits. The 3200MHz frequency definitely helps performance on the Ryzen 2700X, particularly in gaming where the last few framerates are the hardest to reach.

The RGB lighting is a bit of a let-down, sadly. Apacer don’t provide any downloadable software to control the RGB lighting, instead depending on the motherboard’s software for lighting presets. It’s unusual not to include any kind of customisation software and quite frankly just downright annoying. Ignoring the lack of software, the distribution of colours throughout the diffusion bars along the top is almost perfect with incredible uniformity and vibrance.

Then we move onto the size of the modules, which we mentioned earlier in the review; they stand over 50mm tall in the middle. If you plan to use an AIO watercooling loop, this can be completely ignored, but check the clearance on your air cooler if you’re considering this purchase.


The RGB lighting looks great, performance is exactly as you’d expect but the tall heatsinks and lack of software are off-putting.

Pros
+ Decent performance
+ Beautiful lighting
+ Large aluminium heatspreaders

Cons
– Tall modules
– Not available in the UK
– No RGB software


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