INTRODUCTION

   Capacity versus speed (frequency) has always been the number 1 conflict for most people when out to get a brand new RAM kit but lately another factor has been added by gamers, CAS latency. CAS latency has always been a thing really but it was always after capacity and frequency but since some game titles seem to do better with reduced timings (even though that also means reduced frequencies) some people have begun to put it before everything else. Still, I’ve always been of the belief that it's better to have more RAM (capacity) and never need it than need it and not have it so even though it seems (haven't tested this myself however) that RAM CAS latency matters quite a bit in some games that doesn't really change anything for me. Team Group released their T-CREATE Expert line of products late last year and so finally i was able to get my hands on their 64GB DDR4 3600MHz CL18 Dual-Channel Kit.

   Team Group Inc. was founded in 1997 in Taiwan. To aim at the global layout of R&D technology and manufacturing in memory products, the chairman of the board, Mr. Danny Hsia established the headquarter in 1997 in Taipei. Team Group Inc. possesses professional research and development capabilities, high quality products, rapid productivity, a tightly-knit global sales network and complete customer services. In addition to ranking among CommonWealth Magazine’s top 1000 enterprises, it has also become one of the fastest growing 3C product manufacturer and a world’s leading brand in recent years. Team Group Inc. has been publicly listed on the Emerging Stock Market since October 2010. Team Group Inc. also listed company at stock exchange market in January 2019. (Stock code: 4967).

   Team Group aims their T-CREATE Expert line of products towards professionals and that's probably why currently this DDR4 line only includes 16/32/64GB dual-channel kits at just 3200/3600MHZ frequencies, timings as low as CL14 (3200/3600MHz CL14 - 3200MHz CL16 - 3200/3600MHz CL18) and voltages up to 1.45V (3200/3600MHz 1.35V – 3600MHz CL14 1.45V). Of course, since these kits have professionals as their target audience Team Group has equipped them with 10-layer boards (PCB) that feature improved anti-interference/noise shielding and high-temperature resistant capacitors. As for what chips Team Group uses for their T-CREATE Expert line well past the gunmetal grey aluminum heatspreaders our sample features Micron 16GB single die (B-Die) dual-rank ones (always according to Thaiphoon Burner - other models may use different brand chips). As expected Team Group covers the entire T-CREATE Expert line of DDR4 memory kits with a limited lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Team Group uses a small cardboard box to ship the modules in the front of which has a large product picture, their logo and the main product features along with its frequency and capacity.

Another product picture can be seen at the rear of the box along with two small openings from where you can check the part number, capacity, timings, serial number and barcode of each of the two modules.

A T-CREATE sticker and the installation manual are also placed inside the box.

THE T-CREATE EXPERT 64GB DDR4 3600MHZ CL18

The gunmetal grey aluminum heatspreaders of the T-CREATE Expert line are not only thick but also short thus from top to bottom each module measures just 32mm.

As always to give you all a better understanding about the height of the RAM modules at hand i placed the T-CREATE Expert right next to the Neo Forza FAYE, Kingston FURY Renegade and the Acer PREDATOR Apollo.

At the rear of each module, we find the usual sticker which contains information such as frequency, timings, voltage and of course the serial number and barcode.

The model line is also printed on top of the thick heatspreaders.

This kit may not feature RGB lighting but it does look very nice as you can see from the above shot.

Information on this kit is available thanks to the popular Thaiphoon Burner software.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Thanks to XMP (2.0) profiles the only thing one needs to do in order to run this RAM kit at its advertised frequency, timings and voltages is to choose/enable it from within the Bios and reboot. That being said if you're into overclocking you may not wish to use the main XMP profile but instead to choose your very own frequency, timings and voltages to achieve even higher performance numbers and that's exactly what we'll also be doing during our DDR4 tests. To be more specific aside testing each kit with its XMP profile we will also be upping the voltages (up to 1.4V max – even though most kits can function at higher voltages I don’t recommend doing so / RAM modules that use 1.4V-145V will be tested up to 1.5V and kits that run with 1.5V up to 1.55V) and frequencies (200MHZ increments) until i find the maximum achievable stable frequency. I also thought about upping voltages and reducing timings instead of increasing the frequency of the modules as high as it can go (always stable and without going over 1.4V) but the end results are pretty much identical.

   As for the how I'll be testing each DDR4 Quad/Dual-Kit to arrive in the lab well there aren't that many benchmark programs that only test RAM (or at least RAM and CPU without anything else coming into play) but I’ve got most of them and so you will be seeing results from following benchmarking programs, AIDA64 Engineer Edition, Cinebench Release 20, MaxMemm2 (because we are getting low performance numbers this doesn't seem to play well with our test rig - probably because of the X299 architecture - but we decided to include it regardless), Passmark Performance Test 9, Sisoftware Sandra Titanium and WPrime v1.55. All tests are performed on a fresh Windows 10 Pro installation (complete with all updates until the day of this review) and are repeated a total of 6 times after which the average numbers get recorded into the charts.

* In addition to Quad-Channel tests since March 2020 I’ll also be using the brand new I9-9900K+Z390 DARK test rig (check above) for Dual-Channel RAM tests.
** Since May 2020 three game benchmarks (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, GEARS 5 and Metro Exodus tested on the X299 system at 1080p resolution and with the ASUS ROG RTX2060 OC set at Gaming Mode) have also been added in the charts.
*** In September 2021 i replaced the Intel I9-9900K+Z390 DARK test rig for a brand new Intel I9-11900K+Z590 DARK one (you can access all the Z390 DARK based tests here).

TEST RESULTS - XMP PROFILE / DUAL CHANNEL

TEST RESULTS - OVERCLOCK / DUAL CHANNEL

Increasing the frequency of the T-CREATE Expert to a stable 3800MHz was possible with 1.38V, after that however even with 1.4V I was unable to hit 4000MHz (not with these timings).

CONCLUSION

   Whenever I test something, I always take into account its target audience, so for example if gamers or enthusiasts are the target audience of a RAM kit, I look at speeds (performance) and looks (RGB lighting in particular). The target audience of the T-CREATE Expert 64GB DDR4 3600MHz CL18 kit by Team Group however is professionals and even though speeds do matter capacity matters even more and 64GB is a good amount. Quality also matters but I can’t really say that I noticed any differences when testing this kit as opposed to every other, I have to date. Of course, differences in build quality may take a while to show and testing RAM kits for a year prior to posting a review is not realistic. The low-profile aluminum heatspreaders are certainly a plus since not only are they thick enough (cooling efficiency) but they should reduce possible clearance issues.

   Right now, the T-CREATE Expert 64GB DDR4 3600MHz CL18 kit by Team Group retails for USD248 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 394Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price which is quite higher than expected on this side of the Atlantic. Price aside however I have no complaints from this T-CREATE Expert kit, yes, it’s far from the fastest in the market today but we’re still talking about a high quality 64GB dual-channel kit with low profile heatspreaders and a lifetime warranty. Yes, this may not be the ideal choice for gamers or even enthusiasts but for everyone else this could be a great fit and that’s why i highly recommend checking it out if you're in the market for a new DDR4 kit.

PROS

- Good Overall Performance (Up To 3800MHz CL18)
- Build Quality (10 Layer PCB)
- Low Profile Heatspreaders
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Price (USA)

CONS

- Dual Channel Kits Only
- Price (EU)
- Limited Selection (3200/3600MHz)