Pushing for Speed

With testing out of the way, I endeavored to see if these sticks had any headroom. I left the voltages and timings at their XMP defaults and started increasing the frequency divider until the system failed to boot. At that point, I backed it down to the last bootable configuration and did some basic stability testing using MemTest64.


I was only able to get 3333 MHz out of this kit with all other XMP settings at their default. Like many recent kits, pushing past that proved difficult. Raising voltages did not yield better results (highest tested: DRAM: 1.5 V, VCCSA: 1.35 V, and VCCIO: 1.3 V).

For AMD overclocking, I endeavored to find the maximum possible frequency with XMP timings. Next, I set the frequency to 3600 MHz and used DRAM Calculator for Ryzen to optimize the timings. In the case of the Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RGB, I had trouble using the "Fast" configuration and had to settle on the "Safe" settings. I then benched each setting with AIDA64 to showcase what kind of benefits you can expect from each. I also included the default (non-XMP) settings as a base reference point.


I was again only able to get 3333 MHz out of the Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RGB on my MEG X570 ACE with the XMP default timings. Given the recommended timings for these SK Hynix ICs are similar to the XMP timings at 3200 MHz, I did not test a timing-optimized configuration beyond the XMP settings.

AIDA64

Looking at the graphs, there is some benefit to overclocking this kit past XMP settings, at least for use with Ryzen systems.