Netac's Shadow II RGB DDR5-7200 32GB is the first memory kit we've seen from the company. It is available in six different speeds, all at 32GB capacity, with a choice of two module colours, while it offers EXPO and XMP support along with RGB lighting. The Shadow II RGB model line consists (at the time of writing) of six speeds: 5600MT/s (40-40-40-77) 1.2V, 6200MT/s (32-38-38-96) and 6400MT/s (32-38-38-90) both at 1.35V. The three fastest speeds, 6800MT/s (34-45-45-108), 7200MT/s (34-45-45-115) and 7600MT/s (36-46-46-122) are all rated at 1.4V. At the time of writing, the Shadow II RGB modules are only available in 32GB kits. Netac's Shadow II RGB memory supports both Intel's XMP and AMD's EXPO technologies. The Shadow II RGB 7200MT/s kit we are reviewing here uses a pair of single-ranked 16GB DIMMs, each using 8 SK hynix A-die ICs, default rated at 5600MT/s (46-45-45-90), which rises to 7,200MHz at 34-45-45-115 at 1.40V using EXPO/XMP settings. The memory supports a second set of EXPO/XMP settings at 6800MT/s (34-45-45-115 at 1.40V). Netac backs the memory kit with a lifetime warranty. Specification: Model Number: NTS2D5P72DP-32W. Capacity: 32GB (16GB x 2). Rated Frequency: 7200MT/s. Rated Timings: 34-45-45-115. Voltage: 1.40V. Memory IC: SK Hynix A-die (H5CG48AGBDX018). Module Height: 43.3mm. XMP/EXPO: EXPO 0.9 / XMP 3.0. The front of the box has a good, clear image of one of the modules, which has a gloss finish, making it pop out a little against the matt finish of the remainder of the box. The only other thing of note on the front, besides the module name, is an image confirming the lifetime warranty Netac backs the kit with. The back of the box is covered in multilingual bullet points about it being a desktop memory module. The heat spreaders on the modules are made from aluminium, finished in white (a black version is also available). The spreaders give the module a height of 43.3mm, and at the top sits the RGB defuser bar, which covers eight RGB zones. Netac don't have any in-house RGB software (at the time of writing), but the memory is supported by most of the motherboard RGB controllers on the market. The white finished module looks quite striking with a black band running along the top, which holds the Netac name, while the main body of the heatspreader has intricate patterns of black and gold lines on it. The modules are a single-rank design; under each heatsink, there are eight SK hynix A-die (H5CG48AGBDX018) ICs along with a power management IC (PMIC). The memory runs at DDR5-5600 with timings of 46-45-45-90-135 (1.10V) natively with the two EXPO and Intel XMP profiles supporting DDR5-6800 (34-45-45-115) and DDR5-7200 (34-45-45-115) both at 1.40V. The RGB works very well with vibrant, bright colours with smooth transitions. Netac memory isn't supported by any in-house RGB lighting software (at the time of writing), but if you want the modules to sync up with the rest of your lighting scheme, Asus Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0, MSI Mystic Light Sync, and ASRock Polychrome Sync are all supported. We used MSI's Mystic Light Sync software, but it also seems to work with G.Skill's Trident Z lighting control as well. We will be testing the memory kit performance with an Intel Core i7-14700K CPU, MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi motherboard and a GeForce RTX 4060 VENTUS 2X BLACK 8G OC graphics card. The processor is maintained at its stock frequency. Test System Processor: Core i7-14700K (20 cores/ 28 threads) CPU Cooler: MSI MAG CORELIQUID E360 Motherboard: MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi Graphics card: GeForce RTX 4060 VENTUS 2X BLACK 8G OC Power supply: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850W SSD: MSI SPATIUM M570 Case: MSI MPG GUNGNIR 300P AIRFLOW OS: Windows 11 Thanks to MSI for providing the test system above. Test Memory Kits Our DDR5 comparison kits consist of: ADATA XPG Lancer Blade RGB DDR5-6400 C32 32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-5600 C36 64GB Corsair Dominator Titanium DDR5-6000 C30 64GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5-5200 C38 32GB G.Skill Ripjaws M5 RGB DDR5-6400 C32 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-7200 C34 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO RGB DDR5-6000MT/s CL26 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO RGB DDR5-6000MT/s CL28 96GB G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO RGB DDR5-6000MT/s CL34 128GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal DDR5-6400 C32 64GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-5200 C36 32GB Klevv Cras X5 RGB DDR5-6000 C40 32GB Klevv Cras V RGB DDR5-6000MT/s 32GB Klevv Cras V RGB DDR5-7600 CL36 48GB Lexar ARES RGB DDR5-6400 CL32 32GB TeamGroup T-Force XTREEM DDR5-7600 C36 32GB TeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB DDR5-6400 C40 32GB TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan a DDR5-6000 C40 32GB Thermaltake Toughram RC DDR5-5600 C36 32GB Thermaltake Toughram XG RGB D5 DDR5-7200 C36 32GB Tests: 7-Zip v19.00 – Built-in 7-Zip benchmark test (CPU & Memory). Cinebench 2024 – All-core CPU benchmark (CPU & Memory). HandBrake H264 – Convert 1440p60 H264 video to 1080p60 H264 using the YouTube HQ 1080p60 preset (CPU & Memory). AIDA64 – Memory bandwidth, memory latency (Memory). Total War Pharaoh - Battle benchmark. Final Fantasy XIV-Dawntrail. Cyberpunk 2077. Memory Benchmarks AIDA64 In the AIDA64 Memory Bandwidth test, Netac's Shadow II RGB 7200MT/s 32GB kit sits in fifth position in the results graph between G.Skill's Trident Z5 RGB 72000MT/s C34 and Thermaltake's Toughram XG RGB 7200MT/s C36 kit. The Netac Shadow II RGB latency of 66.6 n/s puts it in the top half of the table. Compute and Productivity Benchmarks 7-Zip In the 7-Zip Compressing / Decompressing benchmark, Netac's Shadow II RGB sits in fifth position in the results chart. However, the truth be told, there isn't much difference between it and the other modules in the top half of the results chart. Cinebench 2024 With a multi-core CPU points score of 1930, the Notac Shadow II RGB 7200 kit sits in a mid-table position in the Cinebench 2024 results chart. Encoding Benchmark Handbrake In the Handbrake test, the Netac memory set sits in the mid-table position with a test result of 212.19fps with a render time of 86 seconds. Office Productivity Benchmarks PCMark 10 Essentials Productivity Digital Content Creation Netac's Shadow II RGB 7200MT/s memory doesn't seem to handle the rigours of PCMark 10 benchmark too well. It sits in last but one place using the Digital Content Creation test traces and gains a place in the Essential test. It performs best in the Productivity test, where it sits in a lower mid position. Gaming (1080p) Benchmarks Total War Pharaoh - Battle Using the Ultra quality settings, the Netac Shadow II RGB 7200MT/s memory ranks tenth in the Total War Pharaoh – Battle benchmark results chart. Easing off the quality settings to Low sees the memory still in tenth place. But in truth, there isn't much difference between any of the kits in the top half of either table. Final Fantasy XIV-Dawntrail Using the maximum quality settings in the Final Fantasy XIV-Dawntrail benchmark, the Netac memory sits in sixth place, but the margins are slim from third position down. Backing off the quality settings sees the modules drop down one from last place in the table. Cyberpunk 2077 With the game quality settings set to Ultra, the Netac Shadow II sits in a lower mid position in the Cyberpunk 2077 results table. Switching over to low-quality settings, the memory drops to the lower half of the results chart. We will be testing the memory kit performance with an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X CPU, MSI MPG X670E Carbon WiFi motherboard and a GeForce RTX 4060 VENTUS 2X BLACK 8G OC graphics card. The processor is maintained at its stock frequency. Test System Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X (8 cores/ 16 threads) CPU Cooler: MSI MAG CORELIQUID E360 Motherboard: MSI MPG X670E Carbon WiFi Graphics card: GeForce RTX 4060 VENTUS 2X BLACK 8G OC Power supply: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850W SSD: MSI SPATIUM M570 Case: MSI MPG GUNGNIR 300P AIRFLOW OS: Windows 11 Thanks to MSI for providing the test system above. Memory Benchmarks AIDA64 When tested with the AIDA64 memory benchmark, the 32GB kit of Netac's Shadow II RGB DDR5-7200 C34 produced a read figure of 52,281MB/s, a result which places the modules in last place. Compute and Productivity Benchmarks 7-Zip In the 7-Zip benchmark, the Netac Shadow II RGB 7200 sits in last place in the results table, but there isn't an awful lot in it between it and the two kits above it, Teamgroup's T-Force Vulcan α 6000MT/s C40 and the Fury Beast 5200MT/s C36 from Kingston. Cinebench 2024 In the Cinebench 2024 multi-core test, the Netac memory kit sits in last place in the results table. Encoding Benchmark Handbrake In the Handbrake test, Netac's Shadow II RGB 7200MT/s 32GB kit sits in last place in the results table,10fps behind Klevv's Urbane V RGB 7600MT/s 32GB kit that sits in first place. Office Productivity Benchmarks PCMark 10 Essentials Productivity Digital Content Creation It sits in last place on the results table for the Essential test and second from the bottom in the Productivity tests. It does, however, pick up pace in the Digital Content Creation tests to sit in a lower mid-table position. Gaming (1080p) Benchmarks Total War Pharaoh - Battle Benchmark In the Total War: Pharaoh – Battle benchmark using Ultra quality settings, Netac's Shadow II RGB 7200 produces an average FPS score of 129.036MB/s, which places it in last place in the table; however, the 1% Low figure of 98.58 is quite strong. Switching over to the low-quality settings sees the drive move up to three places on the table, although this time its 1% Low figure is the slowest we've seen to date in this test. Final Fantasy XIV-Dawntrail. In the Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail benchmark, the Netac Shadow II RGB 7200 produces an average FPS score of 114.754 FPS with the image quality settings set to maximum, a figure that places it in last position in the results table. Easing off the quality settings to standard desktop, the average fps rises to 166.37 FPS, but still sees the modules sitting in last place on the table. Cyberpunk 2077 As far as the gaming benchmark goes, the Netac Shadow II RGB performs the best in the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark. Under the Ultra quality settings, the memory kit produced a score of 97.42 FPS, good enough to see it in a lower mid position in the table. Dropping the quality settings to Low sees the memory in the lower half of the table. Netac offers a small range of DDR5 memory modules from basic UDIMMs and SODIMMs (both 4,800MHz) to heatsink-equipped units with speeds up to 8000MHz. The Shadow II RGB DDR5 product line consists of six speeds: 5600MT/s (40-40-40-77) 1.2V, 6200MT/s (32-38-38-96) and 6400MT/s (32-38-38-90) both at 1.35V. The three remaining kits are rated at 1.4V, 6800MT/s (34-45-45-108), 7200MT/s (34-45-45-115) and the current flagship 7600MT/s (36-46-46-122). All modules in the range support both Intel XMP and AMD EXPO technology and come in 32GB kits. Netac provided us with a 32GB kit of Shadow II RGB 7200MT/s memory with white heatsinks. The kit uses a pair of single-ranked 16GB DIMMs, each using 8 SK hynix A-die ICs, default rated at 5600MT/s (46-45-45-90), which rises to 7,200MHz at 34-45-45-115 at 1.40V using EXPO/XMP settings. The memory supports a second set of EXPO/XMP settings at 6800MT/s (34-45-45-115 at 1.40V). The modules are 43.3mm high and 8mm wide, giving a wider range of compatibility with air coolers and motherboards and are available in two colours: black and white. The top of the module is home to the RGB diffuser bar, which covers the RGB zones controllable by 3rd party software. The RGB system comprises eight LED segments per module. These LEDS are bright, but they can be turned down in the software. At the time of writing, Netac doesn't provide any in-house RGB software, but the modules support the major motherboard RGB solutions: ASRock Polychrome Sync, Asus Aura Sync, MSI Mystic Light Sync (which we used) and Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0. You may find it is also supported by other memory manufacturers' software (we had it working with G.Skill Trident Z Lighting Control, for example). We don't have a confirmed price yet - Netac told us they are aiming for £90-100, depending on currency conversion, which would make it one of the cheapest DDR5-7200 CL34 32GB kits on the market, although we will have to see what materialises given it is not yet available in the UK. Pros Build quality. XMP and EXPO support, with two profiles each. RGB. Cons Some test results were a little disappointing. KitGuru says: Although the memory has been designed to run on AMD and Intel systems with support for both XMP and EXPO technologies, in our testing, it seemed to offer better performance when installed in the Intel test rig.
KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
