Table of Contents
Today we’re reviewing ADATA’s current flagship DDR5 memory. Released in December to coincide with Intel’s Z690 platform, the XPG LANCER RGB is one of the faster DDR5 kits available. Coming in at a whopping 6000 MT/s and with an elegant RGB glow, the LANCER RGB promises to deliver everything you need for a modern gaming or performance computer.
DELTA RGB Specifications
ADATA launched the XPG LANCER RGB product line with two different SKUs. For now, it’s just a small introductory line for the DDR5 launch. As time goes on and the technology matures, we expect ADATA to increase the number of SKUs for the XPG LANCER. If you’re on a budget and looking for an introduction to DDR5, they offer the 5200 CL38 32 GB kit priced at $385.99. However, if it’s performance computing and overclocking you’re after, then the 32 GB 6000 CL40 kit is the one for you. Priced at $529.99, it’s the fastest kit that ADATA has ever released, and indeed it’s one of the fastest retail kits available.
Below is the marketing campaign for this product. We credit atata.com for the following content:
| A New Speed Benchmark in Gaming Memory |
| RGB Your Way |
| Enhanced Power Management |
| Stability and Reliability |
| Made with High-Quality Materials |
| Overclocking Made Easy |
In the table below are specific details of our test kit:
| LANCER RGB DDR5 | |
| Part Number | AX5U6000C4016G-DCLARBK |
| Color | Black |
| Capacity | 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) |
| Type | U-DIMM |
| Lighting | RGB lighting with 120° Ultra-Wide Viewing |
| Voltage | 1.35 V |
| Rated Frequency | DDR5 6000 MT/s (PC5 48000) |
| Chipset | Intel XMP 3.0 |
| Multi-channel Kit | Quad Channel Kit |
| Rated Timings | CL40-40-40 |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 133.35 x 40 x 8 mm |
| Pricing | Newegg $457.99 Amazon $529.99 |
| Warranty | Limited Limited Lifetime |
| Registered / Error Checking | Unbuffered / On Die ECC |
| Links | Datasheet |
Right about now, we usually like to show you the Thaiphoon Burner SPD output. We use that software for preliminary identification of the ICs under the hood. Unfortunately, the software is not ready for DDR5 at this time. However, don’t despair; CPU-Z now accurately reads the IC branding. Although it doesn’t display nearly as much information as Thaiphoon Burner, it gives us a good indicator of the IC. As you can see, our test kit has SK Hynix ICs.
Product Tour
In November, we covered the non-RGB version of this memory, the XPG LANCER DDR5 5200 MHz Review. We didn’t have the retail packaging for that product, but we can imagine it would be similar to what we see here. Although this is ADATA’s flagship DDR5 memory product, it comes in a straightforward package. XPG products tend to ship in no-nonsense packaging like we’ve seen today. Budget packaging is either a cost-saving method or a determinant to the unboxing experience, depending on how you look at it. Even though most users don’t care about the packaging, we believe that high-tier products should come with packaging of the same caliber.
Inside the package, we find a 2-piece plastic clamshell to transfer the memory safely. There’s nothing else inside the box for this kit.
Meet the LANCER RGB
Opening up the packaging, we get an up-close and personal with the XPG Lancer memory. The heat sink is thick and feels quite substantial when holding it compared to many others who use thin, stamped aluminum heat spreaders, such as the recently reviewed T-FORCE DELTA RGB. The geometric styling has been an XPG trademark for a few years now, and this new breed of DDR5 uses the same theme.
The light diffuser does not dominate the entire topside of the module. The heat sink extends up to the very top in spots, which means the light diffuser occupies about 75% of the top-down view of real estate.
The deep grooves cut into the heat sink, combined with an angular RGB light diffuser, give it a geometric look.
RGB Illumination
We’ve been a big fan of ADATA’s recent RGB releases from the lighting standpoint. There are no observable hot spots or poor viewing angles. They tend to produce RGB memory with a softer lighting effect than we’ve seen from their competition like Team Group, Corsair, and G.SKill.
ADATA isn’t trying to outshine the competition by having the most prominent and brightest RGB lights; instead, they built the LANCER RGB to be more refined.
Testing and Overclocking
If and when the XMP profile proves to be stable, we will evaluate the memory from an overclocking perspective. As we pointed out in the specifications, the rated voltage of this kit is 1.35 V; however, we plan to conduct overclocking tests. Therefore, we’ll show you what the memory can do with a slight voltage increase and the stock voltage.
Below is the test system and resulting memory speeds used to evaluate the memory and run the various benchmarks.
| Test Setup | |
| CPU | Intel Core i9-12900KF – Core i9 12th Gen Alder Lake 16-Core |
| Cooler | Custom water loop |
| Motherboard | ASRock Z690 AQUA OC LGA 1700 DDR5 |
| Graphics Card | EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 K|NGP|N Gaming Graphics Card |
| Solid State Drive | T-Force CARDEA ZERO Z330 1 TB |
| Power Supply | be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1500 W PSU |
| Operating System | Windows 11 x64 |
| Memory Speeds Compared | |
| XMP – 6000 MHz CL40-40-40 + XMP Sub Timings @ 1.35/1.35 V | |
| Overclock – 6000 MHz CL30-38-38 + Tight Sub Timings @ 1.35/1.35 V | |
| Overclock – 6400 MHz CL30-37-37 + Tight Sub Timings@ 1.45/1.45 V | |
XMP – 6000 MHz CL40-40-40 + XMP Sub Timings @ 1.35/1.35 V
We’re happy to report that the XMP profile works flawlessly. With absolutely no bios knobs tweaked, we applied the XMP profile and conducted all of our tests. There were no stability issues, and the memory XMP profile never failed.
How did the memory perform? Check out the comparison results below to see how it stacked up against overclocked profiles and other DDR5 memory kits.
 |  |
Overclock – 6000 MHz CL30-38-38 + Tight Sub Timings @ 1.35/1.35 V
What type of overclocking can we achieve with the XMP voltage? This overclocking attempt aims to produce the best profile we can without providing the DIMMs with any additional voltage. As you can see below, we kept the frequency the same as XMP, but we dramatically enhanced the timings.
 |  |
Overclock – 6400 MHz CL30-37-37 + Tight Sub Timings@ 1.45/1.45 V
By adding a scant 10 mV, we increased the frequency by 400 MHz. Furthermore, we could run the same (or better) tight timings we developed in the above overclocking profile. It may not look like much at face value, but the overclocking potential is incredible given the limited voltage we used.
We were close to achieving stability at 6600 Mhz; however, it required 1.50 / 1.50 V, so we decided to abandon it in favor of lower voltage.
 |  |
Extreme Overclocking
Until now, we’ve set artificial overclocking limits regarding voltage and memory stability. What happens when we remove the boundaries and push the memory as far as it will go? Here we are testing the maximum possible frequency that we can achieve. To do this, we’ve set the memory timings to be extremely loose, providing more headroom for overclocking. The CPU is reduced from 16c/24t down to 2c/2t, alleviating IMC workload stress. Furthermore, only one DRAM module is populated, making it a one DIMM per channel configuration.
With 1.60/1.60 V, we achieved a validation frequency of 3901 MHz (7802 MT/s). We feel this is an impressive result. The credit goes to the excellent XPG memory, a strong CPU IMC, and a top motherboard designed for memory overclocking.
Benchmark Results
AIDA64
The results here are pretty typical. Looking at the copy result, overclocking yielded an astonishing 20% increase beyond the XMP profile. Although that’s an impressive result, it doesn’t always translate to increased performance for average memory tasks such as web browsing.
Geekbench 4 Multi-Core
Our overclocking efforts only gained us a 4% increase over the XMP profile. The total score implements many different types of tests and averages them together to give you an overall picture of the performance. We feel confident that this test represents the average gain you expect from everyday computer tasks.
Game Tests
Lastly, we’d like to examine the performance effects of our memory profiles using game benchmarks. We used the same settings found in the GPU Testing Procedure article for consistency.
Memory Comparison – XMP
AIDA64
Geekbench 4 Multi-Core
Game Tests
Speedy XMP profiles are alive and well for gamers. We’ve seen memory XMP comparisons provide almost no difference in gaming performance in the past. Although the most significant difference we’ve seen here today is only 4%, it’s enough to make a difference for gamers.
Conclusion
The physical characteristics of the XPG LANCER RGB are on point. Overall, the overall style is understated and elegant with a flat-black, brushed aluminum heat sink. We appreciated their approach to RGB lighting and the overall effect. The resulting light show is soft but pronounced. ADATA has struck the perfect balance between bright lighting and a soft, diffused glow.
As much as we loved the exterior, here at overclockers.com, we wouldn’t be happy without respectable overclocking capabilities too. The LANCER RGB did not disappoint in the performance and overclocking department. We could dramatically overclock the timings and the respective memory performance with absolutely no voltage increases. When it came time to add some voltage, we increased the frequency by 400 Mhz with just 10 mV of additional voltage beyond the XMP rating. We’re pleased with the overclocking result, and it shows that users can increase performance by about 5% while keeping the voltage within safe limitations.
In terms of the competition, there are kits available from Team Group, G.Skill, Gigabyte, and Kingston for speed ratings of 6000 MHz. Our XPG review kit can be found for sale on Newegg for $457.99. We can also find G.Skill’s RGB offering at 6000 MHz on Newegg for $459.99. With relatively the same price point, is there anything that separates the kits besides style? We’ve seen that G.Skill’s kits, at that frequency, are currently equipped with Samsung ICs. While they may have been the kings of DDR4, the world of DDR5 overclocking revolves around SK Hynix ICs, at the moment. There is no certainty that one particular kit will have Samsung or SK Hynix ICs; however, if you’re looking for the revered Hynix memory, then your chances are favorable with the XPG LANCER RGB. Therefore, it’s easy to suggest the XPG LANCER RGB over G.Skill’s offering simply because of the overclocking potential.
No replies yet
Loading new replies...
Member
Join the full discussion at the Overclockers Forums →