INTRODUCTION

   When DDR5 was first unveiled to the world back in 2020 some of us hypothesised that it could easily hit 8GHz and beyond (compared to the 6.4GHz officially stated back then) and well, that's already happened. What not many of us thought back then however was that CAS latency timings would also get optimized and they have, by a lot. Worth mentioning is that the very first DDR5 kits clocked at 4.8GHz came with timings ranging from CL40 and above whereas today people can get their hands on 7.2GHz kits with timings as low as CL34 and even 8GHz kits with timings as low as CL38. One such model is the brand new Trident Z5 RGB by G.SKILL and today with me i have the 32GB dual-channel kit.

   Established in 1989, G.SKILL specializes in high-performance memory and provides PC component and peripheral products designed for PC gamers, professionals, overclockers, and enthusiasts around the world. Combining technical innovation and rock solid quality through our in-house memory testing lab and talented R&D team, G.SKILL continues to create ultra-performance overclock memory for each platform generation.

   The Trident Z5 RGB is among the highest performance series of DDR5 RAM by G.SKILL which is available in 3 different color combinations (black, white and silver) and is in dual (2x16/24/32/48GB) channel kits. These kits are currently available with frequencies going all the way up to 8400MHz (5200/5600/6000/6400/6600/6800/7200/7600/7800/8000/8200/8400MHz), timings as low as CL28 (5600MHz CL28 - 6000MHz CL30 - 6000/6400MHz CL32 - 6600/6800/7200MHz CL34 - 5200/5600/6000/6400/7200/7600/7800/MHz CL36 - 7600/8000MHz CL38 - 5200/5600/6000/6400/8000/8200/8400MHz CL40) and voltages ranging from 1.1V and all the way up to 1.45V (5200MHz 1.1/1.2/1.25/1.35V - 5600MHz 1.2/1.25/1.35V - 6000MHz 1.3/1.35/1.4V - 6400MHz 1.35/1.4V - 6600MHz 1.4V - 6800MHz 1.35/1.4V - 7200MHz 1.35/1.4V - 7600MHz 1.35/1.4V - 7800MHz 1.45V - 8000MHz 1.35/1.45V - 8200MHz 1.35V - 8400MHz 1.4V). Past the aluminum heatspreaders of the XMP 3.0 compatible Trident Z5 RGB 7200MHz CL34 kit G.SKILL has placed single die modules by SK Hynix and just like every other line by G.SKILL it's also covered by a limited lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

G.SKILL uses a black box to ship the Trident Z5 RGB the front of which is taken by 2 product pictures and has a small opening from where you can actually see part of one of the modules.

At the rear we find two openings from where you can check the information stickers located at the rear of both modules.

Along with the two RAM modules inside the box you'll also find a G.SKILL sticker and a small piece of paper with troubleshooting information.

THE TRIDENT Z5 RGB 32GB 7200MHZ CL34

The black matte aluminum heatspreaders of the Trident Z5 RGB look really nice.

Measuring roughly 44mm in height the Trident Z5 RGB are pretty much identical to the Kingston Renegade series.

As usual a small sticker at the rear contains information about the kit such as the date of manufacture (this month), capacity, speed, timings and of course the serial number and a barcode.

Under the plastic bar on top G.SKILL has placed a total of 8 ARGB LEDs.

The Trident Z5 RGB may not have the largest LED bar but it looks really nice (TikTok & YouTube video is also available).

Some information on the kit from AIDA64.

TRIDENT LIGHTING CONTROL

Via the lighting control software, you can change the color of each of the 8 LEDs or of all of them together.

There are 13 available effects for users to choose from (plus default) for which you can also adjust brightness and speed.

Of course, you are also able to use a different effect with each module or sync it for both.

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

Just by upping voltage to 1.45V I was able to hit 8GHz stable at the same timings, not a bad number.

TEST RESULTS – FORZA HORIZON 5

CONCLUSION

   G.SKILL has been behind some of the best RAM kits to hit the market as far back as I can remember and the Trident Z5 RGB 7200MHz CL34 Dual-Channel Kit is no exception. Stock performance is very good and as for overclocking headroom 8GHz at 1.45V is a great result, especially with these timings (since from this review i moved from the Radeon RX 7900 XT i've been using to the GeForce RTX 4070 i also added Achieved FPS in my Forza Horizon 5 charts). Being able to choose between 3 dozen or so kits available in black, white and silver color (alas not all of them) is also a great thing G.SKILL has going for their Trident Z5 RGB line. Now if i had to nitpick my sole concern would be that this kit is only XMP 3.0 compatible so it may not be ideal for AMD systems (EXPO) but i did test it on my X670E Taichi/Ryzen 7900X rig and it worked without issue (still that might not be the case with every motherboard out there).

   With a current price tag placed at USD129.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 156.37Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the Trident Z5 RGB 32GB DDR5 7200MHz CL34 Dual-Channel Kit by G.SKILL is priced extremely well. At the end of the day I really can’t find anything wrong with the Trident Z5 RGB kit at hand, performance is very good at stock, overclocking headroom couldn’t be better really and as for price G.SKILL has once again done their best and so the Golden award is in order.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Top Of The Charts Performance
- Overclocking Headroom
- RGB Lighting (14 Effects)
- Available In Black, White & Silver Colors
- Available Kits
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Not AMD EXPO Certified