Now that we have benchmarked this memory's 6400 MT/s XMP profile and preformed a bit of overclocking, it's time talk about what XPG can offer you, the consumer, with this XPG Caster RGB DDR5-6400 CL40 kit. Being that DDR5 is still fairly new, it is important to cover the different hurdles one may face when purchasing DDR5 system memory. We will start off with issues that plague DDR5 in general before moving on to what XPG could improve on and finishing the review on a positive note.

A common complaint among early adopters is the price. While this isn't a new revelation, it isn't always worth the potential benefits of being the first to acquire the newest technology as these products can have unforeseen problems. These early issues are almost always resolved in future revisions. Even so, the pricing discrepancies between DDR4 and DDR5 are noticeable and tend to be more prominent with higher frequency memory kits marketed towards PC enthusiasts. The good news is that as more companies enter this ultra-competitive DRAM market, pricing will continue to fall as adoption rates increase. With AMD announcing the company's next Ryzen CPU (Zen4) to be exclusively DDR5 compliant, production will rapidly increase to meet the demand throughout 2022 and beyond.

For now, though, Intel's 12th Gen Core processors still offer consumers an alternative with support for DDR4 as well. Given AMD is moving exclusively to DDR5 and Intel most likely will drop legacy support after the 13th generation Core processors, DDR4 production is winding down throughout 2022. While sales of DDR4 will stay strong for a number of years to come, the benchmarks in this review using higher PC enthusiast memory kits are showing what is on the horizon for DDR5 as it starts to edge out DDR4, which brings up the next point for early adopters. At the time of publication, Intel is the only supporter of DDR5, which makes predicting which memory configuration is ideal in the future for AMD CPUs difficult. Therefore, Intel compatibility is the focus of this review. Being that this XPG Caster memory kit is rated for 6400 MT/s, caution is advised from buying without confirming that the motherboard being used will support the desired memory XMP profile.

Users that have an Intel motherboards with a B660 chipset will be the most limited. Overall, the upper memory limit for a majority of the Intel LGA 1700 motherboards on the market today is anywhere from 6200 MT/s to 6600 MT/s. This can be due to PCB quality, PCB memory trace length or the memory training algorithm not being up to the task. That being said, to run this memory's XMP 6400 MT/s profile, it is still important to update the BIOS for best support and system stability. For more reassurance, it is of course always good to check the QVL list with the motherboard manufacturer for official support, or TechPowerUp motherboard reviews.

This is where XPG falters a bit because without a second XMP profile if the main profile is not compatible, users are forced to manually adjust the settings on their own. Not everyone is comfortable with going deep into the motherboard BIOS and even less are willing to change voltages from Auto. Not including a lower frequency XMP profile is a major missed opportunity because not every Intel system is capable of using this memory to its fullest. Not to mention when AMD starts to support DDR5, a fallback profile is useful as well. The baseline JEDEC 4800 MT/s profile isn't an ideal alternative.

In terms of overclocking, this kit used SK Hynix M-Die ICs, which is the best currently available, partially due to limited choices in the market today. In the future, we may see Micron or Samsung becoming the industry leaders for high frequency memory. For this generation of DDR5 ICs, SK Hynix reigns supreme. The XPG Caster RGB DDR5-6400 kit used in this review did well with the ability to boot into Windows at DDR5-7000. However, take note that a set overclock never is guaranteed and will always have to be done through trial and error.

For casual users, the XPG Caster RGB DDR5-6400 kit is hard to recommend at this memory frequency. It just does not make sense to spend more money when the benefits of higher frequency system memory are limited to specific types of gaming setups. That being said, The XPG Caster RGB DDR5-6400 CL40 memory kit is within the enthusiast PC realm based on the operating frequency alone. The benchmarks show that memory bandwidth does have a meaningful impact on games and those who are truly CPU bound in games.

XPG has a solid product for those looking for that extra bandwidth and PC enthusiasts looking for a minor performance bump in competitive gaming or applications that utilize more bandwidth. It could also serve those who favor a system optimized in the big three—CPU, GPU, and memory—without reaching for a kit at the extreme of cost vs. performance. The XPG PCB build quality and RGB lighting implementation is superb. Those into overclocking and tweaking the memory sub-settings may find the lack of a thermal pad on the PWM controller and surrounding components concerning. Such an omission is a bit disheartening if looking to overvolt and tweak timings further. While no evidence yet suggests short or long-term damage will occur because of the lack of direct cooling, if it turns out to be a problem in the future, XPG does offer a limited lifetime warranty for those troubled by it.

XPG could have improved the product's value simply by including a second XMP profile and lowering the primary timings. As it stands, XPG meets expectations of a well-binned memory kit marketed for the PC enthusiast crowd looking towards the future as early adopters. Being that the XPG Caster line is marketed as a superior binned memory kit, overclocking is strongly encouraged even if it is not officially stated. Those planning to leave everything on auto pilot and not chase the highest framerate may find the XPG Lancer lineup a better choice simply because of cost vs. performance.