KLEVV Bolt V 32GB 6800MHz DDR5 Memory Review

KLEVV is one of the hottest memory brands on the market, as they continue to deliver quality SSDs and memory. With that in mind, I'm eager to put their new Bolt V on our test bench. It features a choice of three speeds, 6000, 6400 and 6800 MT/s and we've got the fastest of the three in the office today! Furthermore, they come with very good-looking latencies too, albeit the faster the kit, the lower the latency, but our 6800 MT/s kit has 34-40-40-80 which is certainly impressive. KLEVV Bolt V There are no flashy colours, or pretty RGB here either, this is designed to be much more understated, and that's certainly welcome given there's plenty of flashy memory on the market anyway. With a low-profile design, compatibility should be excellent, but you still get a nice thick aluminium heatsink to ensure optimal performance. There's built-in PMIC on-die ECC, and they come with both Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD Expo Ready right out of the box. For in-depth features and specifications, please visit the official product page here. Packaging & Accessories The packaging is simple enough, a cardboard sleeve with a plastic window panel to view and store the memory. It's not resealable though, you do have to tear it open at the back, which sucks if you want to resell it at a later time, but at least there are fewer materials here, so it's easy to recycle too. A Closer Look The memory looks nice, keeping a very toned-down gun-metal grey aesthetic. There's a thicker section nearer the spin, so while these use a lower profile design, there's plenty of material in the heatsink to help dissipate heat. I like that they've kept the branding pretty minimal too, with a simple Klevv logo in the bottom left corner. There is a DDR5 badge in the top right. It also says Bolt V on the middle section, but it's slightly recessed into the heatsink, so you'll only see this from a more side-on view anyway. The spine is pretty low-key too, with just a small Klevv logo in the corner, no RGB, and again, a nice low-profile design so it doesn't conflict with your CPU cooler. Overall, they look great, they're understated and should blend in with virtually any type of build. The PCB is nice and tidy, and as you can see there are 8 ICs on here, as well as the controller in the middle. The memory is all branded ESSENCORE E5CDAG8NAJR, but it's actually a custom order from SK Hynix, which is no bad thing. The controller is pretty much what you would expect, but it did come with a much thicker thermal pad ensuring it's able to be cooled more efficiently. 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 ProcessorIntel Core i9-13900KMotherboardGigabyte Z790 AORUS MasterMemoryChanges Per ReviewGraphicsXFX RX 6800 XT MERCStorageSeagate Firecuda 530 1TBPower SupplyNZXT C1000SoftwareWindows 11 Pro 22H2DriversAMD Adrenaline 23.7.1 Software Used CineBench R23 (download) AIDA 64 Engineer (download) WPrime (download) 3DMark (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. Screenshots This isn't the fastest memory kit we've ever tested, but at 6800 MT/s and with good timings, it's certainly up there in terms of performance. For 3DMark, both tests, the scores look reassuringly strong, so I have high hopes for the gaming performance. Again, very fast read, write and copy performance, as well as very low latency of just 67ns. When it comes to rendering, no issues churning through Blender with good times in all three scenes. As well as a very high score in all-core performance for R23. With WPrime, it scored strong, with just 81 seconds to complete 1024m. AIDA64 As I said, this isn't the fastest we've tested, but as you can see, it's very quick, delivering some of the best read, write and copy performance we've seen in AIDA64. Latency is nearly the lowest we've seen too, beating out all but the T-Force Delta, so this should bode well for overall system performance. Calculation Performance It delivered our fastest time in SuperPi, beating out the Delta by a whole second. And again, just over a second ahead of the next fastest in WPrime, scoring 81.506 seconds. Rendering Performance It fell behind in Blender, not by much, but it's still a competitive time at least. The same in Cinebench, again it's a fraction behind the competition here, so it's not something I'm worried about. It faired a bit better in Corona, again with a time similar to pretty much everything else. FutureMark Performance When it comes to GPU-bound performance, again, it's very competitive with a strong overall score and physics score. And again in time spy, a little lower down the list, but within touching distance of other memory kits scores. Assassin's Creed Valhalla Become Eivor, a Viking raider raised to be a fearless warrior, and lead your clan from icy desolation in Norway to a new home amid the lush farmlands of ninth-century England. Find your settlement and conquer this hostile land by any means to earn a place in Valhalla. Available now on Steam. Gaming is what I wanted to see most of all, with the low latency and tighter timings, the 1% lows should be decent, and in Valhalla, it's not the fastest, but it's holding up well enough. Cyberpunk 2077 Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure RPG set in the megalopolis of Night City, where you play as a cyberpunk mercenary wrapped up in a do-or-die fight for survival. Improved and featuring all-new free additional content, customize your character and playstyle as you take on jobs, build a reputation, and unlock upgrades. The relationships you forge and the choices you make will shape the story and the world around you. Legends are made here. What will yours be? Available now on Steam. The same is true in Cyberpunk, a little lower on the 1% for some reason though, which is a shame. Dying Light 2 Humanity is fighting a losing battle against the virus. Experience a post-apocalyptic open world overrun by hordes of zombies, where your parkour and combat skills are key to survival. Traverse the City freely during the day, but watch the monsters take over during the night. Available now on Steam. Again, very competitive on the averages, and has one of the better 1% low scores in Dying Light 2. FarCry 6 Welcome to Yara, a tropical paradise frozen in time. As the dictator of Yara, Antón Castillo is intent on restoring his nation to its former glory by any means necessary, with his son, Diego, following in his bloody footsteps. Their oppressive rule has ignited a revolution. Available now on Epic. I feel like a stuck record saying that it is consistent, but well, it is, and it's good to see the 1% lows holding higher here too. Forza Horizon 5 Your Ultimate Horizon Adventure awaits! Explore the vibrant and ever-evolving open-world landscapes of Mexico with limitless, fun driving action in hundreds of the world’s greatest cars. Available now on Xbox.com. Much better in Horizon, one of the better scores we've seen, albeit by a small margin. Horizon Zero Dawn Experience Aloy’s legendary quest to unravel the mysteries of a future Earth ruled by Machines. Use devastating tactical attacks against your prey and explore a majestic open world in this award-winning action RPG! Available now on Steam. Microsoft Flight Simulator From light planes to wide-body jets, fly highly detailed and accurate aircraft in the next generation of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Test your piloting skills against the challenges of night flying, real-time atmospheric simulation and live weather in a dynamic and living world. Create your flight plan to anywhere on the planet. The world is at your fingertips. Available now on Xbox.com. And even the very demanding Flight Simulator held at 100 FPS average. Watch Dogs: Legion In the near future, London is facing its downfall: an all-seeing surveillance state is oppressing the people, private militaries control the streets, and a powerful crime syndicate is preying on the vulnerable. The fate of London lies with you and your ability to fight back. Available now on UPlay. Finally, we have Watch Dogs Legion, and again very impressive, one of the best scores jet and also the second highest 1% lows. Temperatures The smaller heatsinks are certainly capable, that much we've seen in our performance tests, but they do run a bit warmer than most. I suspect if KLEVV does a tall version of this memory, it'll perform even better in most benchmarks! How Much Does It Cost? Unfortunately, at the time of writing, I couldn't find UK or US stock of this kit, but it is coming to our respective shores very soon, so you can check for up-to-date stock and prices on Amazon here. Overview KLEVV continue to impress us with quality products that look great, are well made and perform very competitively. The only downside is that they're still pushing to get retail stock into the UK, so we're a little early with this review, but it's a good taster of things to come. When it comes to specifications, the KLEVV Bolt V comes in three variants, 6000 NT/s, 6400 MT/s and the one we tested, 6800 MT/s DDR5, however, the lower speed ones also come with tighter timings, so I am curious if there would be much difference in their overall performance. I do like the low-profile design of these, as it's ideal for slimmer systems or scenarios where the cooler may conflict, but they did run a bit warm as a result given the smaller heatsink combined with the higher speeds. Hopefully, we see a larger heatsink version of the same memory, as I think it'll run much faster. Of course, it wasn't exactly slow anyway and delivered some great overall performance in all benchmarks. However, we couldn't overclock it, it was already maxed out using the XMP profile, which is great, as it worked right out of the box, but again, maybe a larger cooler would help. Should I Buy One? KLEVV deliver great performance every time, and I love the toned-down and more mature-looking aesthetic of the heatsinks too. I do like a bit of RGB and crazy designs too, but when it comes to my own PCs, I prefer something a little muted, and I think the KLEVV would look right at home in an office PC or a gaming PC. Great performance, low profile, fast read, write and copy speeds, good timings and low latency all get a thumbs up from me. Now, get it in stock in the UK already KLEVV!