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Thermaltake's ToughRAM XG RGB D5 DDR5 memory is the company's flagship range with speeds from 5600MT/s all the way up to 8000MT/s and features a unique heatsink design. We test a 7200 MT/s kit that is set to retail for $199.99, or £159.99 for UK buyers.
At the time of writing this review, the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 range is made up of eight speeds: 5600MT/s, 6000MT/s, 6200MT/s, 6400MT/s, 6600MTs, 7200MT/s, 7600MT/s and 8000MT/s. All come in 32GB (16GB x2) kits but 7200MT/s is the only speed available in a 48GB (24GB x2) kit.
Thermaltake sent in a 32GB kit of DDR5-7200 for review. It uses a pair of single-rank 16GB DIMMs (using SK Hynix A-die ICs), XMP 3.0 rated at 7200MHz at 36-46-46-96 at 1.45v. Thermaltake backs the memory with a lifetime warranty.
Specification
- Model Number: RG33D516GX2-7200C36B.
- Capacity: 32GB (2 x 16).
- Rated Frequency: 7200MT/s.
- Rated Timings: 36-46-46-96.
- Voltage: 1.45V.
- Module Height: 48.35mm.
- XMP/EXPO: Intel XMP 3.0 Ready.
The front of the box has a clear image of what the memory modules look, like including how the RGB works. At the top right of the box is a sticker displaying the memory speed and the kit capacity (in this case 7200MT/s and 32GB 2 x 16GB). Under the main image is a line of icons representing Thermaltake's RGB Plus, Neon Maker, TT AI voice control support and having sixteen addressable LEDs.
At the top left of the rear of the box is a bullet point feature list under which is a blue box showing that the kit supports Intel XMP. Under this are multi-lingual notes about the rigorously tested ICs. On the right-hand side, at the top is a very small image of the modules in the box under which are a group of icons for the sixteen addressable LEDs, Thermaltake's RGB Plus, Neon Maker TT AI voice control and Amazon Alexa support. Under this group is another with icons for 3rd party RGB compatibility; Asus Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0, MSI Mystic Light Sync, and ASRock Polychrome RGB.
Built on a 10-layer PCB (that has a 2oz copper inner layer for better electrical conduction), the 48.35mm high modules have aluminium heatsinks which are in the form of two interlocking plates. One plate is finished in patterned silver while the other, in the case of the review module, is finished in matt black (a “Snow” white option is also available). Covering most of where the plates interlock is a chrome-finished cover.
The memory uses eight 2GB SK Hynix A-Die ICs (H5CG48?GBDX014) and also on the PCB is a Renesas P8911-Y0Z001FNG power management IC (PMIC).
Thermaltake has used a unique X-shaped lightbar design on the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 that covers 16 high-lumen addressable LEDs. There are eight lighting zones, six along the top of the module and two that fill the gaps in the X shape.
The memory runs at DDR5-5600 with timings of 46-45-45-90-135 1.10V natively with the single Intel XMP 3.0 profile supporting DDR5-7200 with 36-46-46-96-142 timings at 1.45V.
Thermaltake's TT RGB Plus lighting control software looks after the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 lighting schemes. The software has thirteen lighting effects and a wide colour palette to set up your desired effect. In some of the effects each zone can be assigned a different colour and together with the fact that modules can be set up together or act as individual units offers a wealth of scheme options.
If you want the modules to blend into an existing scheme then Asus Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0, MSI Mystic Light Sync, and ASRock Polychrome RGB are all supported.
The X-shaped lightbar that Thermaltake has designed for the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 covers 16 high-lumen addressable LEDs in eight zones, six in the conventional position along the top of the module and two in the gaps formed by the X shape.
Intel: Testing Methodology
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:
Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-5600 C36 64GB
Corsair Dominator Titanium DDR5-6000 C30 64GB
Corsair Vengeance DDR5-5200 C38 32GB
G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-7200 C34 32GB
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 DDR-7600 CL36 48GB
Teamgroup T-Force Delta RGB DDR5-6400 C40 32GB
Teamgroup T-Force Vulcan a DDR5-6000 C40 32GB
Thermaktake ToughRAM RC DDR5-5600 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
Final Fantasy XIV-Dawntrail
Cyberpunk 2077
Memory Benchmarks
AIDA64
When tested with the memory bandwidth test in AIDA64, the DDR5-7200 model of Thermaltake's ToughRAM XG RGB D5 produced a read figure of 104,280MB/s which puts it below G.Skill'sTrident Z5 Royal RGB 32GB kit of 7200MT/s by some 2,810MB/s in the results table. However, the write performance comparison between the two kits is a lot closer.
The CL36 timings don't appear to hold the memory back too much in the AIDA64 benchmark especially when it comes to write performance.
Compute and Productivity Tests
7-Zip
In the 7-Zip Compressing benchmark, the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 Compressing score of 176 GIPS sees it in 5th position on the results chart, just behind Klevv's Cras V RGB DDR5-7600.
Cinebench 2024
Thermaltake's ToughRAM XG RGB D5 memory doesn't seem to handle Cinebench 2024 multi-core test very well, ending up with a score of 1894 which places it in the penultimate place on the results chart.
Encoding
Handbrake
In a similar vein to the Cinebench 2024 result, the Handbrake result sees the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 in the last but one place on the results table. But in truth, there is only a 13fps difference between it and G.Skill's Trident Z5 Royal DDR5-6400 sitting in the top spot.
Office Productivity
PCMark 10
Essentials
Productivity
Digital Content Creation
Thermaltake's ToughRAM XG RGB D5 memory produced a mix of results in the PCMark 10 benchmark. It's the fastest kit we've seen to date in the Productivity tests by a fair margin, middle of the pack in the Essentials test and in the Digital Content Creation group of tests, it ends up in the bottom half of the table.
Gaming (1080p)
Total War Pharaoh – Battle
In the Total War Pharaoh Battle benchmark, the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 memory kit sits in the top five in the results chart using Ultra settings but oddly sits near the bottom of the Low settings chart. However, truth be told there's hardly anything in it between any of the modules in this test.
Final Fantasy XIV-Dawntrail
Using the Maximum quality settings the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 memory ends up in the bottom half of the table with its average fps result of 113.474. However, its 1% Low score is the second best we've seen to date in this test.
Switching over to the standard desktop settings sees the performance drop to last place on the results chart.
Total War Pharaoh – Battle benchmark
In the Battle benchmark of Total War Pharaoh, the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 memory sits in fifth place with the Ultra settings enabled and third from last with the Low settings on. But truth be told, for both tests there not much separating any of the modules.
Cyberpunk 2077
Regardless of the quality settings the memory handles the Cyberpunk game benchmark pretty well. It's the second fastest we've seen to date with the Ultra settings enabled but somewhat oddly drops to fifth fastest with the low-quality settings turned on.
Test System: AMD
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.
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
With a read result of 58,852MB/s, the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 sits in the lower half of the results table. However, its write result of 87,554MB/s is the fourth fastest we've for this test to date.
At 77.3n/s, Thermaltake's ToughRAM XG RGB D5 DDR5-7200 is the second slowest module we've seen to date using the AMD platform in the AIDA64 set of memory benchmarks.
Compute and Productivity Tests
7-Zip
The ToughRAM XG RGB D5 7-Zip compressing and decompressing performance is pretty solid, sitting in the top five of the results chart.
Cinebench 2024
With a test result of 1121, the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 sits in fourth place in the Cinebench 2024 results chart.
Encoding
Handbrake
The Handbrake transcoding test sees the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 slip into fifth place in the results table in between a pair of DDR5-6000 kits; Teamgroup's T-Force Vulcan α and the Cras X5 RGB from Klevv.
Office Productivity
PCMark 10
Essentials
Productivity
Digital Content Creation
Overall, Thermaltake's ToughRAM XG RGB D5 memory handles the rigours of the PCMark 10 benchmark pretty well. In the Productivity tests it's the fastest we've seen to date for this group of tests while it's the second fastest in the Digital Content Creation tests. However, when it comes the Essential series of tests the score of 12162 is only good enough for the bottom half of the results chart.
Gaming (1080p)
Total War Pharaoh – Battle
In the Battle benchmark of Total War Pharaoh's group of tests, there's nothing much to separate any of the modules at either quality setting. The ToughRAM XG RGB D5 sits in third place using the Ultra setting moving up a place when the quality settings are dropped to Low.
Final Fantasy XIV-Dawntrail
Although the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 sits in the lower half of the table using the Maximum quality settings in the Final Fantasy XIV-Dawntrail benchmark, when the settings are eased off to Standard desktop mode, the memory hits the top spot in the table. However, there's hardly anything between any of the modules in this gaming benchmark.
Cyberpunk 2077
Thermaltake's ToughRAM XG RGB D5 average frame rate score of 99.638fps is good enough to put into second place in the results chart although its 1% low score isn't as good. Switching to test the memory at Low quality sees the memory drop down a couple of places in the chart.
The ToughRAM XG RGB D5 family of DDR5 modules is Thermaltake's flagship memory range. The line-up consists of eight speeds (at the time of writing) supported by Intel's XMP technology: 5600MT/s (36-36-36-76 1.25V), 6000MT/s (36-38-38-76 1.30V), 6200MT/s (32-38-38-80 1.30V), 6400MT/s (36-46-46-96 1.40V), 6600MTs, (32-42-42-84 1.40V), 7200MT/s 36-46-46-96 1.45V), 7600MT/s (38-48-48-84 1.45V) and 8000MT/s (38-48-48-128 1.50V). Of the eight, seven come as 32GB (16GB x2) kits while the 7200MT/s is available in 32GB (16GB x2) and 48GB (24GB x 2 36-46-46-96 1.40V) kits.
Thermaltake kindly supplied us with a 32GB kit of DDR5-7200 for review. It uses a pair of single-rank 16GB DIMMs using SK Hynix A-die ICs.
Thermaltake's ToughRAM XG RGB D5 memory uses a unique design for the heatsink on the 48.35mm high module. It is formed by two interlocking plates on each side of the module producing an X shape where the plates meet. One half of the plates have a patterned silver finish while the other half is finished either in matte black (our review sample) or matte white and the design really stands out when the RGB is turned on.
The lightbars on the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 follow the X shape. The RGB lighting consists of 16 high-lumen addressable LEDs spilt into eight lighting zones, six along the top of the module and two that fill the gaps in the X shape. When switched on it certainly makes the modules stand out in the crowd. The RGB is supported by Thermaltake's TT RGB Plus lighting control software. The software has thirteen lighting effects and a wide colour palette to set up your desired effect. The modules can be set up in sync or as individual units and in some of the effects each zone can be assigned a different colour offering a wealth of scheme options. If you want to follow your motherboard/PC scheme then the RGB is compatible with MSI Mystic Light Sync, Asus Aura Sync, ASRock Polychrome Sync and Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0.
Performance-wise the ToughRAM XG RGB D5 is something of a mixed bag. It performs well in the AIDA 64 Memory Bandwidth and 7-Zip tests and it's the fastest memory we've seen to date in the PCMark 10 Productivity test (it was also the fastest when installed in the AMD test rig). That said, the Cinebench 2024 and Handbrake test results were disappointing.
We don't yet have a buy link but Thermaltake confirmed the MSRP for this kit is $199.99, or £159.99 for UK buyers.
Pros
- Overall performance.
- Build quality.
- RGB.
- Limited lifetime warranty.
Cons
- Only one XMP memory profile
- Some test results were a little disappointing.
KitGuru says: Thermaltake's ToughRAM XG RGB D5 DDR5-7200 kit that we looked at delivered a bit of a mixed bag of results although it was the fastest memory we've seen to date dealing with the Productivity tests of PCMark10. The unique design of the RGB lightbars certainly makes it stand out from the crowd when the LEDs are switched on.
