G.Skill And Kingston Top DDR5-12000 In Fierce Race For Memory OC Bragging Rights
How quickly things can change, eh? When DDR5 first came onto the scene, the speed-to-price ratio was underwhelming, to say the least. It didn't take long for pricing to settle way down, but speeds didn't seem to ramp all that quickly afterward. Now with the introduction of CU-DIMMs, we're seeing memory makers hit new speed tiers, both within the retail sector and of course in the overclocking scene, with G.Skill and Kingston jockeying for pole position.
In short, CU-DIMMs, or Clocked Unbuffered Dual Inline Memory Modules (with JEDEC's blessing), differ from regular DIMMs by employing a little integrated circuit (IC) directly on the module's printed circuit board (PCB) to generate clock signals. The addition of a clock driver (CKD) allows for greater stability, and in turn can pave the way for higher clocks, which is what we're now seeing.
In the world of professional overclocking, G.Skill today announced that no less than four extreme overclockers managed to break the DDR5-12000 barrier, which it says is a "tough milestone to reach." Tough as it is, BenchMarc from the US, OGS from Greece, Dreadzone from Australia, and CENS from Germany all managed to achieve the impressive feat, achieving speeds of DDR5-12066, DDR5-12046, DDR5-12046, and DDR5-12042, respectively.
All four of them hit the blistering speeds on a setup consisting of an ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Apex motherboard and an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor. They also used liquid nitrogen (LN2), so this is not something that a typical user would be able to replicate at home. Still, it's impressive.
"We are thrilled to see G.Skill DDR5 memory hit the DDR5-12000 mark," said Tequila Huang, Vice President at G.Skill. "This achievement reflects our commitment to deliver cutting-edge memory products that are designed for overclocking enthusiasts seeking the highest performance levels. It also shows the incredible potential of DDR5 technology as we continue to push memory speed to the limits."
The achievement comes on the heels of G.Skill announcing new Trident Z5 CK DDR5 memory that's being offered in speeds of up to DDR5-9600, which is just shy of the DDR5-10000 mark but attainable on air cooling. As for the record overclocks, though, they appear short lived.
Over at HWBOT, there's a new top memory frequency listing, with overclocker Kovan Yang achieving a record speed of DDR5-12104 with Kingston's Fury Renegade memory. That feat was accomplished with the help of an MSI Z890 Unify-X motherboard sporting a Core Ultra 7 265KF processor. And like G.Skill's overclocking partners, Yang turned to LN2 cooling.
Kingston isn't shouting the record DDR5 speed achievement from a mountain top, at least not yet, perhaps because things are moving at such a rapid pace—the top five DDR5 speed rankings are all above DDR5-12041.
What does this all mean? Well, for the general public, DDR5-12000 speeds are still unattainable without extreme cooling. However, these feats show what kind of headroom is possible thanks to the introduction of CU-DIMMs, and we fully expect it won't be long before we see retail kits touting DDR5-10000 speeds or even higher. Buckle up, we strongly suspect it's going to be a fast and wild ride in the coming weeks and months ahead.
