Adata XPG Spectrix D41 DDR4-3200 RGB

Adata is an industry leader in memory and storage manufacturing. They make some of the best memory modules on the market. The Spectrix D41 modules were available for purchase for the first time in January 2018. It has tall heat spreaders and is packed up to the brim with RGB lighting. The RAM modules come in capacities of 8 GB and 16 GB. The lack of availability of 4 GB modules is quite appreciated on XPG’s part. XPG sells two variants of the D41 modules: a red variant and a grey variant. The grey variant looks better in both black and white builds than its sibling.

The Spectrix D41 memory modules are based on Micron’s E-die. E-die is Micron’s best, and they overclock like crazy. They are rated for 3200 MHz at 16-20-20-39 (tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS). However, the RAM modules run at DDR4-2667 at 19-19-19-43 (tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS) out of the box. It achieves the advertised frequencies and timings only if XMP is turned on. The RAM modules support XMP 2.0 and come with two pre-programmed XMP settings. The first profile is DDR4-3200 at 16-20-20-39 (tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS), and the second profile is DDR4-3000 at 16-18-18-39 (tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS). The RAM modules ran 50 loops of Linpack Extreme copying 4 GB of data in each while on the first XMP profile, and it was an all pass. Thus, the XMP settings are well tested and are rock stable.

However, the memory sticks did not overclock well. We overclocked the RAM modules using an Intel Core i5-10400 on an MSI MPG B560i Gaming Edge Wifi motherboard. ITX motherboards are the best for memory overclocking because the DIMM slots are the closest to the CPU IMC. Although` the Core i5-10400 does not have a very decent IMC, the D41 sticks struggled at any frequency over 3400 MHz, with consistent error reports in Linpack Extreme. We got the system to boot at up to DDR4-4134 at a very loose timing of 26-26-26-43-2 (tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tCR). At DDR4-4266, the OS got corrupted.

The XPG Spectrix D41 sticks have seen a sharp fall in pricing as XPG has introduced newer RAM SKUs like the D50 and the D60. They are available for around $50 these days. Thus, it is an RGB tonic for cheap. The RGB is very soothing to look at, and it is very bright. However, the performance is sub-par. It scores 46,529 MB/s reads, 47,521 MB/s writes and 37,845 MB/s copy speeds in the AIDA64 memory and cache benchmark while running at DDR4-3200 at 16-20-20-39 (tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS). Just for comparison, the older and much worse D40 DDR4-2400 kits scored 42,825 MB/s reads, 45,898 MB/s writes, and 35,546 MB/s copy speeds in the same test on the same setup while running at DDR4-3200 at 25-25-25-42 (tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS). The gains are almost negligible as the timings on the older D40 sticks were very loose.

I would not recommend the Spectrix D41 sticks to anyone, even if you are on a tight budget. It just looks good from the outside. There are several better options available in the market. Please consider them.

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