A Closer Look

Looking closer at the Crucial Pro memory, the aesthetics and design hasn't changed since DDR4. Simple matte black heatspreaders, no RGB and a low-profile height, making it ideal for those looking for performance and value instead of just flashy aesthetics.


Both sides of the heat spreader have the same Crucial branding.


On one side of each DIMM module is the identification sticker listing the SKU the core information describing the product. Often these will have the full XMP/EXPO profile written out, but here we only get the CAS value. Still, it is in a quite easy-to-read format.


Laying the DIMMs on the side, you can see "Crucial DDR5 Pro" written in white lettering in direct contrast to the matte black heatspreaders.


The Crucial Pro DDR5-5600 Z-Height is 31.5 mm after rounding up with calipers and weighs in at 33 g on the scale.


After taking the heat spreader off, we see that these are dual-sided DIMMs with eight (16 Gbit) 2 GB ICs for each side. Included is the standard thermal pad that covers all the memory ICs. This particular kit does have coverage for the PMIC and surrounding components as well.


A closer look at the ICs shows that these are Micron (C) Die based on the software report. Currently, Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix are the three big suppliers of DDR5 ICs. When it comes to overclocking, SK Hynix ICs provide the highest frequencies and scale better with higher voltage. While Micron is the lowest of the three still.

Micron Rev C is certainly not the best from an overclocking prospective, which is why this brings up a common argument against buying lower-bin memory to overclock, just because it can be a much cheaper option. You ultimately are taking a chance of not getting the preferred memory brands and revisions. It is recommended to buy pre-binned to the desired specifications, then do further tuning instead.


With DDR5, one of the major changes is how the motherboard directly provides 5 V to the memory module's PMIC, which is then stepped down and split accordingly. No longer is the motherboard responsible for regulating the voltages, as with DDR4. The PMIC with the part number is unreadable. However, the software reports Richtek being the manufacturer.