INTRODUCTION

   If performance is your primary concern when out to get any PC hardware component then you probably have little need for features like RGB lighting. For good or bad RGB lighting has established itself in the electronics market in general so in a few years it might be very hard to get something that doesn't have that specific feature (regardless of what degree it does). For now, however there are some manufacturers who still focus their resources in non-RGB products, not only to reduce costs (which transfer to you, the consumer) but also in order to cover all those who don't need or just don't want that particular feature. Mushkin is among those said companies and today I’ll be reviewing yet another of their Redline kits, the 32GB 3600MHz CL16 Dual-Channel one.

   For over 25 years, Mushkin has been dedicated to helping Gamers, digital artists, IT managers and professionals alike enhance their computing experience by providing reliable, high-performance products. Mushkin’s products include a complete selection of USB, SSD and Memory Module upgrades for both the consumer and enterprise industries. Since the company’s founding in 1994, Mushkin has received numerous awards and commendations for quality, reliability and technical excellence.

   At the time of this review Mushkin currently has a total of 33 Redline Black, 35 Redline White and 25 Redline Red RAM kits featuring their very effective (yet low profile) FrostByte heatspreaders. These kits are currently available in dual (2x4/8/16/32GB - Redline Black, White and Red) and quad-channel (4x4GB - Redline Red) kits with frequencies going all the way up to 4133MHZ (2400/2666/2800/3000/3200/3466/3600/4000MHZ), timings as low as CL14 (3200/3600MHz CL14 - 2400/2666/3000MHz CL15 - 2666/3000/3200/3466/3600MHZ CL16 - 2800MHZ CL17 - 3466/3600/4000MHZ CL18 - 4133MHz CL19 - 3200MHz CL20) and voltages set from 1.2V and all the way up to 1.5V (2400/2666MHz 1.2V - 2666/2800MHz 1.25V - 3000/3200/3466/3600/4000MHz 1.35V - 3200/3600/4133MHz 1.4V - 3600MHz 1.5V). Past the black aluminum FrostByte heatspreaders of the 32GB 3600MHz CL16 dual-channel kit i'll be testing today Mushkin has placed 16GB single rank and die ECC (error correction code) chips manufactured by no other than Micron together with thermal sensors by Giantec. As with most of their DDR4 kits Mushkin once again covers the entire Redline (FrostByte) line of DDR4 memory kits with a limited lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE REDLINE 32GB 3600MHZ CL16

The Redline Black DDR4 RAM kit is placed inside a blister package from where you can actually both modules.

Moving at the rear we find the mounting/installation instructions, 2D barcode and a small sticker with the serial number and barcode.

Just the two RAM modules are placed inside the box.

As usual at the rear of each module we find a small sticker with the capacity/amount, frequency, timings and voltage.

The FrostByte heatsinks/heatspreaders are low-profile ones but even so i do think Mushkin could further reduce their height.

I placed the Redline right next to the Patriot Viper Elite II, XPG D45 and the Crucial Ballistix Max RGB.

These modules may not have RGB lighting but they look very nice when mounted.

Thaiphoon burner has every detail on this kit (aside the module manufacturer which is Micron).

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/1.45V/1.5V will be tested up to 1.45V/1.5V/1.55V respectively) 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

With the voltage set at just 1.42V and 1.44V I pushed this Redline kit to 3800MHz and 4000MHz respectively.

CONCLUSION

   Mushkin has released countless high-performance RAM kits over the years and as you can all tell from the charts the Redline 32GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 dual-channel kit which I reviewed today is certainly one of them. Not only does it perform very well for its frequency and timings but it’s also very easy to push it to 4000MHz. Unfortunately, 1.4V stock is something that may “deter” potential buyers especially since Mushkin has much faster kits in their DDR4 lines but that’s something many manufacturers are currently doing to achieve a better price/performance ratio for their kits. The fact that Mushkin has almost all their DDR4 Redline kits available in 3 different colors (black, white and red) and that this kit features ECC RAM are certainly things we don’t see a lot in the market and should attract even more consumers.

   Priced at around USD230 inside the USA and 160Euros inside the EU (availability could be currently better however) the Mushkin Redline 32GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 dual-channel kit is priced properly for what it has to offer, at least on this side of the Atlantic. At around the same price point you can of course also find the new Redline Lumina modules that feature RGB lighting (lack however ECC) but that comes down to whether or not you’d like to spend a tad more for that feature. Overall, the Redline 32GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 kit by Mushkin delivers on everything one could hope from such a kit and for that it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Performance (Up to 4000MHz CL16)
- Build Quality (Mushkin/Micron)
- ECC RAM
- Lifetime Limited Warranty
- 33 Available Redline Kits
- Available Colors (Black / White / Red)
- Price (EU)

CONS

- Dual Channel Kits Only
- No RGB Lighting (For Some)
- Price (USA)