Tweaking for Speed

With testing out of the way, I endeavored to see if these sticks have any headroom. For Intel, I kept the same procedure I have been using, leaving all settings at their XMP defaults and then increasing the frequency until the system loses stability. After finding that limit, I manually tweaked for the maximum frequency. Voltage modification from stock is allowed. After all, this is overclocking!

A good starting point for Ryzen Zen 3 based builds is 3600–4000 MT/s as it is optimal because of the Infinity Fabric limitations. For those unaware, AMD Ryzen CPUs can in some applications benefit substantially from a synchronized 1:1 ratio with the system memory and Infinity Fabric. This extends to the Ryzen 3000 series as well, though with it topping off around 1900 MHz instead to keep the 1:1 ratio intact. This is slightly lower than the Ryzen 5000 series, but still preferred over the 2:1 ratio configuration.

On the Intel side of things, 8th to 10th Generation Intel Core processors are going to benefit the most from the highest-possible frequency with the lowest timings. That being said, 3733–4000 MT/s is the ideal target range since there is no need to play around with VCCSA/IO voltages, and it is mostly plug and play. Switch to an 11th Gen Intel Core processor and things change given the introduction of the memory controller Gear ratio similar to what AMD has done. Once you surpass the memory controller's ability to stay in synchronous 1:1 mode, most motherboards will automatically switch to 2:1 ratio. If all else fails, you can manually set this in the BIOS.

With the release of Intel's 12th Gen Intel Core processors, not much has changed from the fundamentals introduced in the previous 11th generation. However, the biggest change here is the i9-12900K CPU. With a bit of IMC voltage tuning, it can reach 4000 MT/s while keeping the 1:1 ratio to the memory controller. Updating the BIOS to the newest one available is important as stability issues are still being ironed out.

The Neo Forza Faye XMP profile of DDR4-3200 used with this memory kit kept the 1:1 memory ratio intact for both Intel and AMD test systems, making this kit acceptable as-is. This is due to both AMD and Intel memory controllers officially supporting up to DDR4-3200 for Ryzen Zen 3 and Intel 11/12th Gen processors respectively.

Intel Results

Due to the module density already working against us for overclocking, the overclocking session was quick. In this instance, considering the use case for this memory kit, raising the voltage was out of the question. At the very least, I cannot recommended any safe voltages above what is already used in the XMP profile.

With the Intel Core i9-11900K, I could not raise the frequency without resorting to raising the timings. After the adjustments, jumping to 3600 MT/s passed all the stability tests. Being that it is still within the 1:1 ratio, those willing to raise the voltage may find extra performance by lowering primary and sub-timings further.

AMD Results

For AMD, following the same route as above overclock, it took little effort to change the timings and raise the frequency. There isn't much else to discuss in this section of the review. Time to move on.