Crucial UDIMM 32GB Kit, DDR5-4800, CL40-39-39, 1RX8

We fully understand that many will look at this set of Crucial DDR5 and pass just based on the aesthetic factor, and while we can appreciate that, this is a time where function surpasses form. To us, this is a good thing, as we would much rather have a naked set of RAM at the helm doing what it can to make things faster and easier on us than if they had sent us a kit that was far prettier but lacked any sort of grunt to back it up. Honestly, we prefer stunning and illuminated, but the reality is that when it comes to a system, stability and performance are top-tier over any aesthetics that attempt to push lackluster options through past reviewers. At least they are black this time, rather than the green DDR4 PCBs, and on top of that, Crucial leaves us with an unlocked PMIC that affords wiggle room for the tinkerers out there. In all the testing, we never saw this kit pass 41°C under load, which is some five or so degrees better than many kits with attached heat spreaders. As we said earlier, with such low voltage requirements, they don't heat up like many others, and even with the additional voltage we applied, it didn't seem to matter when it came to thermals. Performance in testing seemed like a bit of a mixed bag, but when you factor in the speed of this kit compared to others in our charts, and with the vast majority of results favoring these Crucial sticks, it is hard to find fault with what we saw. On top of performance and the rest, you also need to think about CPU cooling, and since this kit is naked and only 31.32mm tall, there aren't many coolers out there where the RAM height will be an issue for fitment. So while they may seem basic on the outside, Crucial has tuned them well and eliminated many problems that customers may find after all of the parts show up. As we said earlier, the Fury Beast is sold at a similar price and comes with fancy heat spreaders, but in the end, compared to Crucial CT2K16G48C40U5, they do not have the performance to match. Crucial comes out of the gate with better timings than we have seen thus far of any kit, and it is easy to see how much it matters when the manufacturer of the ICs gets to set the timings, whether they be the main timings, secondaries, or tertiaries, Crucial has the advantage here. Even though pricing varies by location, we still feel you cannot go wrong opting for this set of DDR5. You can find faster kits that should do better. We are not arguing that. We are saying that you get a lot of bang for the buck in this kit, and there is room left to increase performance for those who know how to tune these kits even further. At this time in the DDR5 game, we will strongly be recommending users to give Crucial a long hard look before buying, as even though they are not the most stellar to look at, they have the price and performance to make you look past the plainer set of sticks that you get. Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/10125/crucial-ddr5-4800-32gb-dual-channel-memory-kit/index.html

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review one of the harder pieces to find for an Alder Lake build is DDR5 memory. This market is still not flooded with a ton of modules like we see with DDR4 and the flashy modules with RGB lighting are extremely expensive. So getting a kit like this makes sense as you can save some money, but you still get some pretty awesome performance overall and remember that extra money saved could go towards a faster SSD or better graphics card.