INTRODUCTION

   With single DDR5 sticks already available in 48GB and soon climbing to 64GB it's important not to forget that people who require such large amounts of RAM make up less than 1% of all users and so it makes sense that not every manufacturer out there is in a hurry to release such models. The same of course goes for high-speed DDR5 RAM sticks and so it's no wonder that we rarely see newly released kits with speeds surpassing 7000MHz. Again, however just a small portion of all users globally have such requirements and so when Lexar released their latest THOR OC 32GB DDR5 6000MHz Dual-Channel Kit 3 months back, well taking that route just made perfect sense.

   For more than 25 years, Lexar has been a trusted leading global brand of memory solutions. Our award-winning lineup includes memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers, solid-state drives and DRAM. With so many options, it’s easy to find the right Lexar solution to fit your needs. All Lexar product designs undergo extensive testing in the Lexar Quality Labs with more than 1,100 digital devices, to ensure performance, quality, compatibility, and reliability. Lexar products are available worldwide at major retail and e-tail stores. For more information or support, visit www.lexar.com.

   Lexar released their THOR OC line of DDR5 RAM to include just two dual (2x16GB) channel kits compatible with both Intel's XMP 3.0 and AMD's EXPO profiles running at 5600/6000MHz with CL36/32 timings and 1.25/1.3V voltages. Both kits feature low-profile (40.8mm), 1.6mm thick black and gold heatspreaders made out of aerospace-grade anodized aluminum (non RGB lighting) inside which Lexar has placed SK Hynix modules (probably a-die ones) with on-die ECC (error correction code) and PMIC (power management integrated circuits). Needless to say, Lexar typically covers their THOR OC line of DDR5 RAM kits with a limited lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE THOR OC 32GB 6000MHZ

As expected, the front of the black box has the company logo, product name, capacity and speed and a picture of the kit at its front.

A few words about the new THOR OC kits along with numerous certifications and both the serial number and barcode are all placed at the rear.

Just the two RAM sticks are placed inside the box and in regards to looks yes, thanks to their design and the markings on the corners these look like they were taken out of Norse mythology.

Typically, a sticker at the rear of each stick has the serial number, barcode, frequency, timings and voltage.

From one end to the other the heatspreaders measure 7.6mm so they are quite thick (strangely enough air doesn't seem to get out from the top).

The lack of ARGB/RGB lighting means this kit doesn't standout much when mounted (which shouldn't be a bad thing for many people).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Thanks to XMP 3.0 and EXPO profiles the only thing one needs to do in order to run a brand new 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/EXPO 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 DDR5 tests. To be more specific aside testing each kit with its XMP profile I'll also be upping the voltages (up to 1.4V for 1.35V kits – 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 (those results will be entered into the OC charts). 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 using 0.5-1V over stock) but the end results are pretty much identical.

   As for the how I'll be testing each DDR5 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 23, MaxMemm2, Passmark Performance Test v10.1, Sisoftware Sandra Titanium and WPrime v2.11. All tests are performed on a fresh Windows 10 Pro x64 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.

* Since you all decided for me to use the Intel Core I9-13900K for graphics cards tests I’ll also be using that for DDR5 tests (5.8GHz P-Cores / 4.7GHz E-Cores / RING 4.9GHz) and in order to showcase potential gains between stock and overclocked clocks/frequencies I’ll also be using Forza Horizon 5 (1080p/Extreme Graphics). Still do keep in mind that i can't dedicate a high-end GPU solely for DDR5 reviews so each time i review such a kit I’ll be using a different chart (the card used will be listed above).

TEST RESULTS - XMP 3.0 PROFILE

TEST RESULTS – OVERCLOCK

TEST RESULTS – FORZA HORIZON 5

CONCLUSION

   32GB and 6000MHz may not seem as much to demanding users such as professionals and enthusiasts (even some gamers) but with just 0.6v you can rather easily push the THOR OC to 6800MHz CL32 and that’s not a bad number. Even at stock speed however the THOR OC kit does very well so performance is not really an issue. The lack of ARGB lighting may also disappoint some gamers but on one hand Lexar didn’t really release the THOR OC kits for gamers (according to them the RGB models are meant for gamers) and on the other I really like the design of the aluminum heatspreaders (as will most Norse mythology and/or LOTR fans out there). My sole concern with the THOR OC is the number of available kits and with just 2 I seriously doubt Lexar can cover a big enough piece of the market.

   With a retail price currently set at USD94.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 105.37Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the THOR OC 32GB DDR5 6000MHz CL32 Dual Channel Kit by Lexar is priced well. Again, I do think that Lexar should had released more models under the THOR OC product line but that aside the kit does deliver where it should and for that it deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Very Good Performance
- Overclocking Headroom
- Low Profile Heatspreaders
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Only 2 Available Kits
- Lack Of RGB Lighting (For Some)