XPG Lancer RGB 6000MHz DDR5 Memory Review

XPG is one of the hottest names for high-performance PC hardware, with some of the best-performing cases, power supplies coolers and peripherals on the market. Of course, today, we're focusing on one of their memory products, the XPG Lancer RGB, a 6000 MHz DDR5 memory kit, which comes with a promisingly low latency of CL-30-40-40. High speeds and low latency are sure to make this a very competitive kit. However, it also comes equipped with their latest ARGB lighting effects that support ASUS, Gigabyte MSI and ASRock motherboards. If that's not enough, it's both AMD Expo and Intel XMP 3.0 ready, meaning it's pretty much ready to rock on any of the latest motherboards! Features New speed benchmark in gaming memory Customizable RGB light effects PMIC for power supply stability On-die ECC error correction Supports Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO for easy overclocking The box for memory is rarely of much interest, but this one looks really fantastic with its metallic orange finish and Mera, their brand mascot of sorts, who appears on many of their products; my daughter actually has a mouse mat with her on it and one of their gaming mice, it looks pretty cool, but that is subjective. A Closer Look XPG is well-known for stunning gamer-focused aesthetics, and the new memory kit is certainly no exception. While the XPG Lancer is an RGB memory kit, it's not the only design focus, and the modules look really stylish even with the lights off. The heat spreaders are a little taller, giving them a huge surface area to dissipate heat too, which should ensure they can maintain their performance. The kit we have is a 6000MHz model, but as is often the case, quite a few variants are available, from 5200 MT/s to 7200 MT/s, with various latencies and capacities too (all detailed here). The heatsink is black anodized aluminium with a brushed metal finish, and this left section has been etched into to expose the raw aluminium underneath it, which looks pretty gorgeous I have to say. The other side has a larger area of black, but the brushed metal lines still flow parallel to the other side, and the XPG is etched into it too, exposing more of the aluminium. Of course, the PCB is black too, but that's pretty much standard these days, can't recall the last time I saw a green or blue PCB on any memory product really. Down the spine, you can see there is a lightbar running the length, with the aluminium folded over about 1mm on the ends to secure that in place, but there's a larger exposed section that forms a triangle on the sides of the modules, with a nice XPG logo on the top. Installed in the system, they look stunning, with those lines and the black and white practically putting the modules in a shirt and tie-like style. As I said before, they look really nice even with the RGB turned off, but let's get this system powered up for a better look. Look at those colours! I mean, a compressed photo on a web browser strips them of some of their shine, and I'd wager most of you haven't calibrated your monitor's colours as well as ours, but even then, I bet these colours look pretty nice. Overall, they get top marks for build quality and aesthetics here. I don't have them here, but there is a non-RGB version which just comes with a black insert on the top and honestly, I think they look pretty stunning too. Style is subjective though, and you'll have a choice of these with RGB or without. And then the same choice again, but in white! 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 i9 12900kMotherboardMSI Z690 TOMAHAWK WiFiMemoryChanges Per ReviewGraphicsGigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming OC 10GBStorageSeagate Firecuda 520 1TBPower SupplyCorsair RM850xSoftwareWindows 10 Professional 1909DriversNVDIA GeForce 497.29 DCH 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. AIDA64 This is a very fast kit, and that shows well enough here, with read speeds of 94355 Mb/s, and the write and copy performance put it broadly in the same chart position too. Of course, that is around the middle of the chart, but some of those other kits are higher speeds too, and more expensive too I might ad. The latency is alright too, at 67.8 it's on par with similarly equipped kits and clearly ahead of some of the earlier kits we've tested that were getting dangerously close to 80ns. Calculation Performance In Super Pi, this didn't go overly well, the slowest we've had yet, not bad really, but there's clearly room for improvement. A little better in WPrime, which is odd, as I thought that Super Pi would be a good indicator of this one also going slower, but it seems fine. Rendering Performance The rendering performance was all over the place on this one, not the scores we would have liked to see unfortunately. Corona did fine, similarly to everyone else. And Blender, much like Cinebench, fell flat on its face. FutureMark Performance While the rendering performance lacked, when it comes to GPU focused testing, things are looking pretty decent, with the speeds proving competitive with pretty much everyone else. Assassin's Creed Valhalla Gaming performance runs the full gamut for this memory kit, starting off with a surprisingly low score in Valhalla, but to be honest, I won't lose any sleep gaming at 150 FPS. 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. Cyberpunk 2077 More mid-range on Cyberpunk, but keep in mind that it scored 96 FPS in the 1% lows, which is absolutely excellent! 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. F1 2022 Again, competitive averages here, but the 1% lows are absolutely flying at 224 FPS! Make your mark on Formula 1 in the officially licensed F1 Manager 2022. Be the boss of your chosen constructor and pick from a roster of 2022 drivers and staff. Featuring full F1 licensing and true-to-life presentation, you won’t just play F1 Manager 2022 – you’ll live it. Available now on Steam. FarCry 6 Moving up now, 209 FPS, but again very strong 1% lows, which is what's going to give a smoother gaming experience overall. 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. Forza Horizon 5 Then leading the pack in Forza, it set a new record for both the average and the 1% lows, by quite a large margin. 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. Horizon Zero Dawn A strong result here, pretty much typical on the average, but again rather strong 1% lows, which should reduce any unwanted stutters. 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 The 1% did drop down here, but overall, the averages are very good at around 90 FPS. 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. Watch Dogs: Legion Watch Dogs fell behind a bit though, with a 160 FPS average and 114 FPS 1% lows. Again, not slow, but there is room for it to be improved. Build a resistance from virtually anyone you see as you hack, infiltrate, and fight to take back a near-future London that is facing its downfall. Welcome to the Resistance. Recruit and play as anyone in the city. Everyone you see has a unique backstory, personality, and skill set. Available now on UPlay. Overall Average FPS How Much Does It Cost? Memory prices are a pain in the backside here in the UK, I'll be honest, as most retailers will only stock a couple of capacities, speeds and latencies, so you can pretty much never find one store that has the whole range. I can find the 5200MHz CL38s at CCL for £56-65 for a 16GB module. Amazon has the white 6000 MHz kit, but with the C40 latency and that's £157 for a 32GB kit, and then we get dozens of small retailers that all have one kit each, but not this one... Unfortunately, this has often been the case for my memory reviews. However, if you're in the States, then you'll find Amazon.com has pretty much everything for $266 -300 which seems to be about on par with similar offerings from G.SKill, Patriot, Kingston and a few others. Overview When it comes to their build quality, you have to look pretty long and hard to find a fault with any of the big-name brands. Actually, even some of the budget brands are pretty on point these days too. However, there's no need to detract from XPG here, as the heatsink is absolutely stunning, and its beautifully anodized and etched aluminium is sure to wow anyone. I think the metalwork looks better on the black version, as it has a stronger contrast, but the white is obviously really nice too. The hardware is all top-tier stuff, with PMIC and ECC ensuring their efficiency and reliability. Plus, like most memory, they come with a limited lifetime warranty. Aesthetics gets a huge thumbs up though, the heatsinks are striking, and there are both options with and without RGB lighting, as not everyone wants or likes RGB, and some certainly don't want to pay extra money for it either. Regardless, both versions look great, and then you have a choice of black or white heatsinks too, so blending it in with most PC hardware should be a breeze. When it comes to performance, there's really nothing to complain about here, so long as you're a gamer. Some of our synthetic benchmarks threw out unexpectedly slow results, but as we saw, that wasn't reflected in the gaming performance. The higher speeds and the lower latency mean that any high-end gaming PC is going to benefit from what they have to offer. That is, assuming you can get the version you want in the speed and latency you want, as stock is a little all over the place. Should I Buy One? XPG always delivers when it comes to high-end gaming hardware and the XPG Lancer RGB 6000MHz DDR5 Memory is no exception—highly recommended for anyone who wants a great performance and stunning aesthetics from their next memory kit.