In a collaboration with Team Group, the enthusiasts over @Overclockers UK have helped to create an attractive memory kit based on Samsung B die ICs with an aggressively timed XMP setting of 3200MHz @ 14-14-14-31.
Product on Review: Team DARK Pro ‘8 Pack Edition’
Manufacturer: Team Group
Street Price: UK: £188.99
Since the release of the AMD Ryzen CPUs, we have seen many people asking ‘What memory should I use?’. Well, if you have been holding back, we are now happy to confirm that the majority of the teething issues have been ironed out, with stable BIOS patches rolling out from the various motherboard manufacturers. Many of these problems were down to the way that the Ryzen CPU architecture pairs itself, and utilises available memory. Initially, we were given a suggested memory frequency of 2400-2666MHz @ 16-16-16-36 timings. As of now, we are regularly able to achieve 3200MHz across the many motherboards we have looked at, but we haven’t been able to fully investigate the performance implications.
Team Group are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, and in that time, they have steadily been growing in reputation due to their excellent products and services, a growth which is reflected in both their product lines and availability of Team Group products, aided by the Partnership with OcUK and Caseking Group. In a special collaboration between Team Group, Gibbo, 8 Pack, Caseking and OcUK, we have been presented with the Team DARK Pro ‘8 Pack edition’, which is a cherry picked edition of the Team DARK Pro memory modules.
Guaranteeing Samsung B die ICs under the stylish heat-spreader, these memory modules feature an aggressive default XMP setting of 14-14-14-31 @ 3200MHz that has been tested across many motherboards of all the latest platforms to ensure broad compatibility. Taking this a step further, the Samsung B die ICs provide huge potential for enthusiast overclockers looking to get aggressive timings, or the highest frequencies from their platform. Potentially reaching 3722MHz in Quad-Channel configuration on X299, or 4133MHz on Z270, you can understand why we are excited to test them out with the latest AMD platform.
OverclockersUK on the DARK Pro ‘8 Pack Edition’
A cooperation between TeamGroup, Gibbo, 8 Pack, Caseking and Overclockers UK brings you this very aesthetically pleasing design with great thermals. But more importantly the IC is Samsung B die and has being qualified and tested thoroughly on the latest Intel Kabylake platforms (Z170/270) and AMD Ryzen mainboards.
With a very aggressive low latency of CAS 14-14-14-31 out the box this kit not only offers tight timings but high frequency as well with 3200MHz. Tested reliably in over 15 AMD Ryzen mainboards with both 350 and 370 chipset at advertised speeds.
Available exclusively only from OcUK, Caseking (Germany) and Globaldata (Portugal) which are all part of the growing empire known as Caseking Group.
With a very aggressive low latency of CAS 14-14-14-31 out the box this kit not only offers tight timings but high frequency as well with 3200MHz. Tested reliably in over 15 AMD Ryzen mainboards with both 350 and 370 chipset at advertised speeds.
Available exclusively only from OcUK, Caseking (Germany) and Globaldata (Portugal) which are all part of the growing empire known as Caseking Group.
Technical Specifications
– CPU Compatibility: Intel Skylake/Skylake-X/Kabylake/Kabylake-X ( LGA 1151 & LGA 2066 ) & AMD Ryzen 3, 5 & 7
– Chipset: Intel Z170, Intel Z270, AMD 350, AMD 370
– Capacity: 16GB (8GBx2)
– Dual Channel kit: Yes
– Tested Speed: DDR4-3200 MHz (PC4-25600)
– Tested Latency: 14-14-14-31
– Tested Voltage: 1.20V-1.40V
– Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
– Error Checking: Non-ECC
– Type: 288-pin UDIMM
– SPD Speed: 2133 MHz
– SPD Voltage: 1.2V
– Warranty: Lifetime
– Exclusive to Caseking Group
– Chipset: Intel Z170, Intel Z270, AMD 350, AMD 370
– Capacity: 16GB (8GBx2)
– Dual Channel kit: Yes
– Tested Speed: DDR4-3200 MHz (PC4-25600)
– Tested Latency: 14-14-14-31
– Tested Voltage: 1.20V-1.40V
– Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
– Error Checking: Non-ECC
– Type: 288-pin UDIMM
– SPD Speed: 2133 MHz
– SPD Voltage: 1.2V
– Warranty: Lifetime
– Exclusive to Caseking Group
Packaging & Product
The DARK Pro memory modules are available in either a red or gunmetal grey colour, however the ‘8 Pack Edition’ seems to only be available in gunmetal grey, though this clears up the imagery on the front of the packaging. The memory timing, frequency and capacity is listed in the details on the sticker, there is otherwise no real other distinguishing features to determine it from the regular ‘DARK Pro’ on the external packaging.
The reverse side of the box reveals a short description in various languages to point out that this memory is made for gamers and overclockers.
At the front there is a panel that opens to reveal some more information about the product, including its support for Skylake CPUs, and that it supports XMP 2.0, and features a materials designed for efficient cooling. There is also a window that shows the product inside, along with the tale-tell 8 Pack logo.
The memory itself features a heavyweight black heat-spreader with a pseudo honeycomb design revealing the gunmetal grey accents beneath. We would have attempted to remove the heat-spreader to reveal the ICs, but without the correct tools and consideration to remove the thermal adhesive (as well as replacing it), we did not want to risk damaging the product.
Looking at the side view of the memory module, we can see that the heat-spreader construction appears to be two thick metal plates that have been clamped together to provide the cooling.
Including the heatspreader, the DARK Pro memory modules are much lower than the stylised Night Hawk or Xtreem modules, measuring up at a reasonable height of 45-46mm.
Test Setup
Memory Configurations
Team DARK Pro ‘8 Pack Edition’
2666MHz @ 14-14-14-14-32-58-1T
2666MHz @ 16-16-16-16-36-62-1T
2933MHz @ 14-14-14-14-32-58-1T
2933MHz @ 16-16-16-16-36-62-1T
3200MHz @ 14-14-14-14-31-97-1T – XMP 2.0
3200MHz @ 16-16-16-16-36-62-1T
3333MHz @ 14-14-14-14-32-58-1T – (Highest reached C14)
3466MHz @ 16-16-16-16-32-62-1T – (Highest reached with RYZEN 7 1800X)
3600MHz @ 16-18-18-18-38-72-1T – (With RYZEN 3 1300X, 1800X failed)
3722MHz @ 18-18-18-18-38-78-1T – (With RYZEN 3 1300X, 1800X failed)
Test Setup
Cooling Corsair Hydro H115i
MotherboardASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero
MotherboardGIGABYTE GA-AX370-GAMING 5
Graphics Radeon RX 480 8GB
Storage Corsair Force LE 480GB
PSU Corsair RM 750X 80 Plus Gold Certified PSU
Compared against
HyperX Predator 3200MHz
Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz
Team DARK Pro ‘8 Pack Edition’
2666MHz @ 14-14-14-14-32-58-1T
2666MHz @ 16-16-16-16-36-62-1T
2933MHz @ 14-14-14-14-32-58-1T
2933MHz @ 16-16-16-16-36-62-1T
3200MHz @ 14-14-14-14-31-97-1T – XMP 2.0
3200MHz @ 16-16-16-16-36-62-1T
3333MHz @ 14-14-14-14-32-58-1T – (Highest reached C14)
3466MHz @ 16-16-16-16-32-62-1T – (Highest reached with RYZEN 7 1800X)
3600MHz @ 16-18-18-18-38-72-1T – (With RYZEN 3 1300X, 1800X failed)
3722MHz @ 18-18-18-18-38-78-1T – (With RYZEN 3 1300X, 1800X failed)
Test Setup
Cooling Corsair Hydro H115i
MotherboardASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero
MotherboardGIGABYTE GA-AX370-GAMING 5
Graphics Radeon RX 480 8GB
Storage Corsair Force LE 480GB
PSU Corsair RM 750X 80 Plus Gold Certified PSU
Compared against
HyperX Predator 3200MHz
Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz
Benchmarks
Cinebench R15 – CPU
SiSoftware SANDRA – Memory bandwidth
AIDA64 – Memory Benchmarks
PCMark 8 – Photoshop
Games – Dawn of War III
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
System Monitoring and Stress Testing: AIDA64 Stability Test
CPU Specification Monitoring: CPU-Z
Overclocking
Overclocking the DARK Pro ‘8 Pack Edition’ was a fun and enjoyable experience on the Ryzen platform. We are working with the Crosshair VI Hero motherboard which proved to be a great overclocking motherboard previously, along with the Ryzen 7 1800X CPU. Out the box, we had no problems running the CPU with the C14 3200MHz XMP setting. Taking it up a gear, we found that this memory kit could run with timings of 14-14-14-14-32-58-1T up to 3333MHz before needing to move to the C16 band. The 1800X held 3466MHz fine at 16-16-16-16-36-62-1T no problem (all running with 1.35V) and could boot with C16 3600MHz, but proved to be unstable in testing. Despite our efforts to get 3600MHz stable with various voltages and timings, this is the limitation of our 1800X CPU. We did however test this memory with the latest Ryzen 3 1300X CPU, and found that it held 3600MHz 16-18-18-18-38-72-1T, and 3722MHz 18-18-18-18-38-78-1T no problem, though this seemed like the absolute limit for the 1300X chip despite trying to boot in with 3866MHz.
Resident overclocker at OCUK ‘8 Pack’ shared with us some of his endeavours with the X299 platform and the Z270 platform, reaching an impressive 3722MHz in quad-channel configuration, and the blazingly fast 4133MHz when paired with the i7 7700K CPU, proving how flexible this kit is.
Memory Transfer Performance – AIDA64
AIDA64 Product PageMemory 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.
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
From our experience, we found that there are some notable gains to be had with the Ryzen CPUs and faster memory, specifically regarding the Cinebench R15 results, which gained over 40 points. This could be a collective improvement seen due to the number of CPU cores on the 1800X, where the single thread improvements may be more marginal, this doesn’t detract from the gains generally.
As far as outright performance improvements go, memory tends to be the least cost-effective, and can sometimes be within within margin of error (especially in regards to a few nano-seconds), still gamers are likely to gain a few frames per second higher than they would with slower and slacker memory configurations. Enthusiast overclockers on the other hand, will be able to squeeze every last drop of performance out of their system. Considering it is priced competitively against similar grade memory modules it is virtually a no-brainer to opt for memory modules with guaranteed high-performance ICs. We also appreciate the attractive, heavy duty heat-spreader design which will compliment various setups, and is at a height that will allow for a broader compatibility with CPU coolers than the taller counterparts.
The real party piece is in the guaranteed Samsung B die ICs which allow for a very flexible overclocking experience. We hit 3722Mhz on our Ryzen platform, while other platforms could potentially reach over 4000MHz. This will make the DARK Pro ‘8 Pack Edition’, highly sought after by enthusiast overclockers looking to get the highest performance out of their system.
As the DARK Pro ‘8 Pack Edition’ is guaranteed to use Samsung B die ICs, gamers and enthusiasts can both benefit from the gains provided by this attractive, performance orientated memory kit.
Pros
+ Guaranteed Samsung B Die ICs
+ Aggressively timed XMP
+ Overclocks extremely well!
+ Tested on all current platforms
+ Attractive heatsink design
Cons
– None
+ Guaranteed Samsung B Die ICs
+ Aggressively timed XMP
+ Overclocks extremely well!
+ Tested on all current platforms
+ Attractive heatsink design
Cons
– None
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