Teamgroup Says Its New DDR5-8800 RAM Runs Stable At 9600MHz On Air
Mark our words, one of these days a memory maker is going to release a retail kit specified at DDR5-10000. Today is not that day, though Teamgroup is nipping the heels of the milestone that has so far eluded memory makers, with the release of its T-Force Xtreem CKD DDR5-8800 memory kit that it claims is "designed for stability at an exclusive frequency of 9,600MHz."
There are some caveats that come with that claim, and we're not sure what Teamgroup is implying with the term "exclusive." We know of at least two other kits that are not only capable of hitting 9,600MHz, but are offered in retail form at that speed. One is from Asgard, which announced a DDR5-9600 Thor memory kit in September, and the other is G.Skill, which followed suit a month later with a Trident Z5 CD DDR5-9600 memory kit.
Both of those rival memory kits feature Intel XMP settings for running at 9,600MHz. In comparison, Teamgroup's new T-Force Xtreem CKD memory kit tops out at DDR5-8800 (still exceptionally fast), as it relates to onboard XMP settings, though the company claims even faster speeds are attainable when running two DIMMs. Therein lies one of the caveats, albeit a minor one—we don't know of any four-DIMM kits that can hit these speeds.
The other caveat is that overclocking to DDR5-9600 "is only supported on models listed in the compatibility list." That said, there are models from ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI.
Part of Teamgroup's claim hinges on the use of 2mm aluminum alloy heat spreaders paired with "high thermal conductivity silicone." The other part of the claim rests on the advent of CUDIMMs, which feature an onboard clock driver (CKD) chip to facilitate cleaner, more stable signals. This is what's behind the rash of recent DDR5 frequency overclocking records, as well as faster kits in general.
It's hard to tell from the press release, but Teamgroup also seems to be suggesting that its DDR5-8800 kit can top 10,000MHz without resorting to liquid nitrogen (LN2).
"In addition, T-Force Lab has demonstrated the capabilities of Xtreem CKD DDR5 by achieving an impressive DDR5-10666MHz overclocking speed. This record-breaking result was achieved using an ASRock Z890 OCF motherboard, Intel Core Ultra 7 265K processor, and Siren GA360 AIO liquid cooler, showcasing the module's ability to reach unprecedented speeds effortlessly," Teamgroup says.
While the CPU used an all-in-one liquid cooler, what's less clear is if the memory modules required extreme cooling like LN2. When taking into account LN2, the actual record is currently DDR5-12666, set by G.Skill and ASRock just this week.
As configured, Teamgroup's new T-Force Xtreem CKD DDR5-8800 memory is shipping in a 48GB (2x24GB) kit at 1.45V and with latency settings at 42-54-54-96.
