INTRODUCTION

   DDR5 is finally here and with it brings speeds starting from 4800MHz with just 1.1V all the way up to an impressive 6400MHz at 1.35V (at least for now). In reality however DDR5 currently doesn't represent a significant jump in performance, primarily due to its rather increased CAS latency numbers compared to DDR4 (DDR5 modules usually start from CL38). This means that even an 3600MHz DDR4 kit with low CAS latencies (CL16 for example) can compete with an 5000MHz DDR5 kit (and perhaps even higher than that). On top of that there are a select few DDR4 kits in the market with speeds all the way up to 5000MHz and above which with CAS latencies of just 19 they can probably surpass what DDR5 has to offer today, at least performance-wise (I’ll be testing that myself soon). Neo Forza recently released just that, a FAYE DDR4 RAM kit clocked at 5000MHz which landed on my test bench roughly 3 weeks ago.

   We are a professional team, studying in computer memory and storage devices industry for more than 10 years. In order to meet the rising demand on speed and capacity of the high-end gaming market players, we created Neo Forza, a new generation of ultra-standard overclocking module, SSD and other related storage device designing brand. Neo represents from virtual to reality, showing our core value for product innovation. Forza shows our strength and determination to meet gamers every need. Neo Forza possess strong resources, focus on core technology. From research & design, specific production to exceed the testing benchmark; Neo Forza keep pushing over technical boundary, providing top-notch performance and quality, providing gamers / game players extraordinary using experience.

   Once again for their entire FAYE line of DDR4 modules Neo Forza pairs high quality aluminum heatspreaders with 10-layer PCB's for increased overclocking potential and stability. The FAYE line is currently available in black and red colors and includes single (8/16/32GB), dual (2x8/16/32GB) and quad (4x16GB) channel kits at 3000/3200/3600/4000/4400/4600/5000MHz frequencies, timings as low as CL15 (3000MHz CL15, 3200MHz CL16, 3600MHz CL18 and 4000/4400/4600/5000MHz CL19) and voltages set at 1.35V (3000/3200/3600MHz), 1.4V (4000MHz), 1.45V (4400MHz), 1.5V (4600MHz) and 1.6V (5000MHz). The 5000GHz 16GB (2x8GB) kit I’ll be testing today sports single-rank and single die 8GB modules by SK-Hynix and is XMP certified with timings set at 19-26-26-46-72. Finally, just like in the past the FAYE line of DDR4 RAM modules/kits is also covered with a rather generous lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Once again, the FAYE RAM kit arrived inside a small blister package which allows the consumer to actually see the front of both modules.

A few words about the FAYE series of DDR4 RAM kits can be seen at the rear.

Typically, just the two modules are inside the package.

THE FAYE 16GB 5000MHZ

Neo Forza is using thin black (and red) aluminum heatspreaders with their FAYE modules.

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 modules are open at the top for improved cooling for the heatspreaders.

As always in order to have a better idea about their size (42.1mm top to bottom) I placed the FAYE module right next to the Acer Talos (review soon), XPG D45 (review soon) and the Acer PREDATOR Apollo modules.

With the FAYE line of modules Neo Forza focuses on performance not looks so not much to see once the modules are mounted.

Thanks to the popular Thaiphoon burner software we get detailed information on the kit.

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

I was able to climb to a stable 5200MHz just by upping voltage to 1.63V but unfortunately even with 1.68V i was unable to climb any higher, at least with these timings. 

CONCLUSION

   Even though the FAYE 16GB 5000MHz kit by Neo Forza can easily take on anything DDR5 can currently throw at it (and in the near future possibly) it's not quite as versatile. For one such high frequencies can only be used in 8GB modules, something which may limit potential buyers with need for high capacities. Then there's also the fact that not every motherboard out there can handle such frequencies (5000MHz) with ease, at least not at these timings. The same of course can be said about DDR5 since currently only Z690 motherboards are compatible with such modules and since they are the very first ones to do so i suspect that they may not be taking full advantage of that technology (also there seems to be a serious shortage of DDR5 modules surpassing 5000MHz at the moment). So, if the best possible performance is your thing, then it's clear from all the charts that the FAYE 5000MHz 16GB kit delivers just that and then some.

   At the time of this review, I was able to track the FAYE 16GB DDR4 5000MHz kit for USD179.99 only inside the USA (Newegg) a price tag which is actually fair for one of the fastest DDR4 kits in the market today. Unfortunately, global availability is less than satisfactory but honestly the same can be said for every 5000MHz kit. At the end of the day if performance is what you're looking for the FAYE 5000MHz kit is without doubt among the best out there and for that it deserves the Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (10 Layer PCB)
- Thin Heatspreaders
- Top Of The Charts Performance (5000MHz CL19 - Up To 5200MHz CL19)
- Limited Lifetime Warranty

CONS

- Current Availability