Test Rig
For our tests, we used our Test Rig which consists of a Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Ultra motherboard, along with an Intel Core i9-12900KF and a ASRock Radeon RX 6500 XT (4GB GDDR6) graphics card.
* ALL tests are conducted at specified default speeds and settings.
| CPU | Intel Core i9-12900KF |
| Cooling | Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL240 Flux AIO |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Ultra |
| Ram | Lexar ARES DDR5-5200 32GB Memory Kit |
| XMP 3.0 profiles | Memory timings : 38-38-38-73 @1.25v (2x16GB) |
| SSD | Adata Legend 840 PCIE Gen4 NVMe |
| PSU | Thermaltake ToughPower PF1 ARGB 1050W |
| VGA card | ASRock Radeon RX 6500 XT (4GB GDDR6) |
| OS |
Windows 10 |
Installation
Please take note, as I’ve said before DDR5 ram is not compatible with DDR4, the notch on the memory module is positioned slightly different. Just make sure you align the notch to the DIMM slots on the motherboard and insert firmly.
BIOS Setup
To set the default speed of DDR5-5200 using XMP 3.0 Profiles. Just select the XMP Profile 1 and the BIOS and “Save” and that’s it! All other settings were left untouched on AUTO.
CPU-Z and SPD Information
As you can see from the CPU-Z screenshot, the DRAM frequency is running at 2600MHz which is correct for the default speed of DDR5-5200. The other thing you’ll notice is that the ram is now running in Quad channel mode. Here’s a quick reason why … DDR5 gives you two 32-bit wide (40-bit wide, with ECC) channels per stick, which means that you get a quad-channel configuration when running two DIMMs.
AIDA64 Memory Information
The SPD information on AIDA64 shows that the Lexar ARES DDR5-5200 uses memory chips produced by Micron. A high CAS latenct is expected when running DDR5 ram. Oddly, CAS lastency is reported at 40-38-38-74 …
Full Load Temperatures
Load temps hit a high of 46 degrees Celsius which I was a suprise to see. I was expecting something lower. Having said that, we didn’t encounter any issues. The heatspreaders seem to be doing an adequate job of cooling the memory modules.
