HP V10 DDR4 RGB DDR4 RAM Review

HP are not the sort of brand that comes to mind when someone asks me about high-end and stylish gaming memory, but I'll be damned, it looks like they're giving it a shot anyway! Now, while I think of printers, office computers, and little else when I think of HP, there's more to this memory than you might think. Firstly, HP doesn't actually make it, it's made by BIWIN, who produce some pretty fantastic memory for a bunch of other companies and also made the HP SSD I reviewed last year! Plus, BIWIN manufactures their own hardware, meaning they're got greater control over the design and hardware, unlike some companies that stamp different logos on the same blank DIMMS. Furthermore, BIWIN uses Samsung B-Die ICs, so again, this RAM is already off to a great start. HP V10 DDR4 HP can deliver this memory at speeds of up to 4000 MHz, albeit, I have the 3600 MHz kit in for review right now. 3600 MHz is a nice sweet spot though, offering good performance for high-end computers and gaming, without getting too silly on the price. All the usual stuff is included, such as XMP 2.0 one-click overclocking, RGB lighting effects, good hardware compatibility, a large heat spreader, and a decent 5-year warranty. HP V10 comes in 8 GB or 16 GB with dual and quad kits (16GB/32 GB/64GB). The product offers three frequencies (3200 MHz/3600 MHz/4000 MHz). The frequency can go up to 4000 MHz with 18-19-19-39 timing or at 3200 MHz you can achieve the lowest timing of 14-14-14-34. Features Samsung B-Die ICsMain frequency up to 4000 MHzSupport XMP 2.0 one-click overclockingVariable RGB color light effectWide compatibility5-Year Limited Warranty Specifications HP V10 RGB DDR4, WINNER OF GLOBAL DESIGN AWARDS "The Red Dot Design Award is an international design prize awarded to the best products created every year. The distinction "Red Dot" is renowned globally as one of the most sought-after seals of quality for good design. HP V10 is a Red Dot Winner 2021. Every year, the global iF DESIGN AWARD identifies outstanding design, its relevance for business and everyday life-- and awards one of the most important seals of quality in the world. The iF label is a reliable sign of good design for consumers as well as for the design community. From almost 10,000 entries, HP V10 was chosen to be an iF DESIGN AWARD WINNER 2021. Winning two highly competitive global design awards proves the HP V10 is an exceptional memory module where design reflects its inner qualities including top speeds, amazing lighting and stable performance." Packaging The box looks pretty stylish, surprisingly, with a stunning photo of the memory on the front, which again, looks stylish! There's the red dot badge and IF design thingy, but personally, I don't much give a crap about either of those, but brands seem to love paying a fortune to win those things... Around the back, it's pretty minimal, with the specifications in the corner, and a few badges for the RGB platforms that it supports. The outer sleeve slides off, revealing a surprisingly robust inner box. Inside that, you'll find the memory in a plastic clamshell. There's a thick layer of padding in here too. While I don't feel it's required, this is easily the most robustly packed and well-protected memory kit I've seen in a few long time. A Closer Look HP may have their name on this memory, but again I must remind you that it's really created by BIWIN, and boy, do they know how to make a good memory kit! "This flagship HP memory module offers quality inside and out" reads the official blurb, and first impressions hold them true to their word. Those huge aluminium alloy heat sinks look stunning, but should also do a fine job of dissipating any unwanted heat. The high-quality 10-layer PCB board is robust and should provide a more stable signal transmission. There are 15μm gold-plated contacts, which improves the oxidation resistance and adds a more stable connection. Plus, the PCB is finished in a nice black too. Albeit, all of this is fairly commonplace on good memory kits these days, it's still always welcome. HP V10 uses the much loved Samsung B-Die ICs, which we all know to be great components and typically found in the best memory kits. Overall, it should mean great performance and good overclocking capabilities too. The HP V10 DRAM supports Intel XMP 2.0 one-click overclocking with preset overclocking profiles, of course, you can also use custom settings if you're experienced in memory overclocking too. The profiles should work just fine on most AMD platforms too, of course. The badges look stunning, with a milled aluminium finish that's matte, but also a little reflective. As you can, it just catches the light in the texture of the metal. There's more bare metal on the sides, complemented by some black aluminium that gives it a slick two-tone look. It certainly looks the part and should match up with most PC builds aesthetics easily enough. There are 8 independent lighting areas here, running down the full spine of each DIMM. Of course, this gives you a full 16 million colours, and 10+ lighting controls, ensuring you can always get the colour or effect you so desire. The memory supports ASUS Aura, Gigabyte RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light and ASRock Polychrome Sync software to sync with RGB system lighting. However, I'm sure most other brands will work fine, it's likely they just haven't tested them all. How We Test Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of graphics card, CPU, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there's always a margin for error when using any software. Therefore, your experience may vary. Testing Your Own System Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you're looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using our benchmarks and settings where possible. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware we tested to give you a ballpark figure of how much an upgrade this will provide you with. Test System Motherboard – Gigabyte Aorus Pro Z390Processor – Intel Core i9-9900K @ StockCPU Cooler – Noctua NH-D15SPower Supply – Be Quiet Power Zone 1000WMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBOperating System – Windows 10 64-bit Software Used CineBench R15 (download)AIDA 64 Engineer (download)WPrime (download)3DMark Fire Strike Physics (download)HWMonitor (download)CPU-Z (download) Methodology In our RAM reviews, we keep things relatively simple. We put the RAM kit that is being tested into our test system and benchmark it at its first XMP profile using a variety of benchmarks and tests. Once complete, we apply a reasonable overclock where possible and benchmark the same software with the overclocked values. The CPU clock speed is set to default for both runs. CineBench R15 CPU & OpenGL I really can't find a fault with the memory, it seemed to struggle on the XMP profile for me, but that's not exactly uncommon anyway. The given voltage range on the back of the memory was 3.5v to 5v and manually setting it to the lower end of that seemed to suit it better. I am on a newer beta bios to deal with some other issues though, so that's likely a factor. With that in mind, I think it's time to upgrade my test bench and revisit some of our more recent memory kit tests when I do. Overall though, this kit is performing as expected. WPrime 3DMark CPU Profile AIDA64 Cache & Memory Benchmark Cinebench R15 How Much Does It Cost? Unfortunately, there's not any stock showing in the UK, at least not in the places I usually check. However, these things change literally by the hour sometimes, so you can check Amazon UK for stock here. However, they are available in the US, but you'll find the faster 4000 MHz kit on Amazon for $149.99. Not particularly cheap, but given their design and components, they're most certainly in the premium section of the memory market. Overview HP has long been pushing to win the favour of the gaming market, and somewhat distance themselves from their rather boring OEM side. To some extent, it has been working too. The SSD I reviewed last year was great, and the new memory clearly has what it takes to compete. I suppose it's just a branding issue at this point, as calling HP cool ain't easy, but I'm going say it. Here goes. Right now, saying it. This is a cool HP product. The design is king here, with a fantastic two-tone design blending that matte black and brushed aluminium heatsink with the stunningly finished HP badge in the middle. It's very sleek, very modern and again, cool. The addition of the RGB is welcome too, as it's not overdone, but it still does everything you would expect from other high-end rival RGB memory kits. The RGB works with most motherboard software, so it's easy enough to configure. Furthermore, the light bar is recessed nicely, so it's not one of those huge funky shaped ones like we often see. Not that there's anything wrong with those, but I just like a more refined and stylish look to my memory kits. Overall though, I hope to see a non-RGB version for those who just one something stylish and understated. Performance is right on the money, and really there's a good enough range here to find one that suits your need. With speeds from 3200 MHz to 4000 MHz and in either 8GB or 16GB DIMMS, you should be able to configure a bundle that suits your needs. Assuming you can find stock that is, but hey, that's likely got less to do with HP than it does with the currently global crisis, albeit there are more than one at any given time these days. If you can find it in stock though, the quality is as good as it gets. Fantastic Samsung B-Die ICs, a stunning aluminium heatsink design, slick RGB integration and really, you can't go wrong with any of that! Highly recommended. HP V10 DDR4 RGB DDR4 RAM Review