INTRODUCTION

   DDR5 RAM may already count several months in the market but due to severe shortages (primarily in regards to high-end/clocks models) and incompatibilities with certain motherboard models it hasn't exactly been the huge success some were hoping for (same as DDR4 when it was first introduced in the market roughly 8 years ago). On top of that my Z690 test rig is still not quite complete (the EVGA Z690 DARK motherboard has yet to arrive) so these two combined with the fact that most of your requests are for DDR4 RAM kits have been more than enough for me to gather a good number of such kits in the lab. The first such kit is probably among the most interesting ones I’ve gathered here and is no other than the V10 RGB 16GB 3600MHz CL14 Dual-Channel kit by HP (BIWIN).

   HP ranks annually among the world's most recognized and valuable brands. Fuelled by innovative research and distinctive marketing, the HP brand is famous as a world leader in personal computers, printers, and other IT products. Under an official worldwide license, HP personal storage (SSDs, DRAM, and memory cards) products are designed, built, marketed, and sold by BIWIN Storage Technology. All trademarks are property of the respective brand owners.

   The V10 RGB line of DDR4 RAM by HP is currently available in dual (2x8/2x16GB) and quad (4x8GB/4x16GB) kits at 3200/3600/4000MHz frequencies, timings as low as CL14 (3200/3600MHz CL14, 3200/3600MHz CL16, 4000MHz CL18) and voltages ranging from 1.35V (3200/3600MHz) and up to 1.45V (3600/4000MHz). Under the silver and black aluminum heatspreaders HP has placed a total of 8 RGB LEDs (compatible with all the leading motherboard ARGB/RGB sync technologies including ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light and ASRock Polychrome Sync) and according to the popular Thaiphoon burner software the 3600MHz 1.45V 16GB kit which i have here with me today is based on single rank, single B-die 8GB modules by Samsung (needless to say the kit is XMP 2.0 certified with timings set at 14-15-15-35-50). Finally, HP covers the entire V10 RGB line of DDR4 kits with a 5-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The V10 RGB kit arrived inside a light grey and blue box that has a product picture at the front right under the company logo and above the design and Red Dot awards and of course the kit capacity.

At the rear we find the product specifications, compatible motherboard ARGB/RGB technologies and the serial numbers and barcodes.

Along with the V10 RGB modules inside the box you'll also find a product notices paper and the installation guide.

THE V10 RGB 16GB 3600MHZ CL14

HP (BIWIN) won both the Design and Red Dot Awards for the year 2021 so chances are you'll like the black and silver combination of these aluminum heatspreaders (can't say i like the large HP logo in the middle however).

As usual a small sticker at the rear informs you of things like frequency, timings and voltage.

Beneath the plastic bar located at the top HP has placed a total of 8 RGB LEDs.

The Acer Predator Apollo (51.4mm tall) is yet another kit made by BIWIN so i thought a direct comparison with the HP V10 RGB (47.3mm tall) was in order.

In terms of RGB lighting the V10 RGB indeed looks nice.

Thanks to Thaiphoon Burner you can check more in-depth information about this V10 RGB 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/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 1.47V and 1.51V I pushed the V10 RGB kit to 3800MHz and 4000MHz respectively (CL14 of course).

CONCLUSION

   The Acer Predator Apollo RGB kits by BIWIN have been some of the best DDR4 kits I’ve used to date and more or less the same applies for the HP V10 RGB 16GB 3600MHz CL14 kit. Yes, the 1.45V stock voltage could be a bit much for some people (not to mention motherboards) but Samsung B-Die IC’s come second to none for demanding users, enthusiasts and of course overclockers. This means that not only you can easily hit 4GHz with CL14 at just 1.51V (just like I did) but you should easily climb even higher if you’re into overclocking. In terms of design, I really have no serious complaints from the V10 RGB kit, yes, the large HP logo might not look great (at least not for me, I do understand why BIWIN took this route however) but the 8 RGB LEDs on top more than make up for it.

   The V10 RGB DDR4 kits by HP (BIWIN) were announced last month and right now the 16GB 3600MHz CL14 model retails for USD149.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) a price tag which is clearly a tad more than what I was expecting. That being said availability is far from great so price could drop further after a few months (if availability improves that is). At the end of the day the HP V10 RGB 16GB 3600MHz CL14 Dual-Channel kit may not be the best choice for casual users but it’s a great choice for enthusiasts and overclockers who are always looking to squeeze as much as they can from their hardware and that’s why this kit gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Performance (Up to 4000MHz CL14)
- Build Quality (Samsung B Die)
- Overclocking Potential (Samsung B Die)
- Design (Design & RedDot 2021 Awards)
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Dual & Quad Channel Kits
- RGB Lighting (8 LEDs)

CONS

- 1.45V Base Voltage
- Price (For Some)
- Current Availability