Today, we’re going to do an unboxing and review of the XPG Spectrix D60G RAM Kit, a memory module that has one of the largest surface area when it comes to RGB illumination, and it does perform quite well out of the box too! Where going to do some benchmarks and discuss its overclocking potential and see if this is going to be your next RAM kit. These are actually the same memory modules that I used on my mini-ITX build which you can check out here. With that being said, let’s get into it.

MY EARLY BREAKDOWN

Pros: Affordable, Largest RGB surface area, Gorgeous design, Decent performance

Cons: Poor overclocking performance at least for this particular kit, No thermal sensor

SPECIFICATIONS

Model: PC4-28800
Capacity: 8GB x 2
Frequency: 3600Mhz
Latency and Timings: CL18-20-20
Voltage: 1.35V
More RGB per mm²
Diamond-Cut Design
Stable, Durable and Reliable
Overclocking with Intel^® XMP 2.0
Programmable RGB Lighting

WHAT’S IN THE PACKAGE

Alright, so right here I have the packaging for the XPG Spectrix D60G and what we have here is the 16GB kit. So it is dual 8GB modules with up to 3600MHz frequency, and, of course, it is compatible with almost all motherboard software like ASUS’ Aura Sync, Gigabyte’s RGB Fusion, MSI’s Mystic Light, and Asrock’s Polychrome Sync. And as you can see in front, we have a preview of the product with tons of real estate for RGB illumination partnered with some nice diamond designs all over the shroud.

And then at the back of the box, we can see a preview of the specifications like the frequency, latency, timings, and voltage.

FULL REVIEW

Design, Construction, and Parts Overview

Alright, so inside the box, of course, we have the memory modules themselves and at first look, it definitely looks unique as you won’t see any RAM kit out in the market with this massive plastic diffuser that actually spans across the entire module especially including the bottom part.

I also appreciate the design elements with the combination of different materials used such as plastic and aluminum and with different neutral colors as well that compliments each other alongside the edgy polygonal diamond design.

Aside from the design on both sides, we also have a subtle XPG logo on the top side.

Overall, in terms of the design and construction, the XPG Spectrix D60G is absolutely gorgeous and there’s no denying that like I said, it has one of the most unique design when it comes to memory modules.

Frequency, Latency, and Timings

As for the specifications, what we have here again is a 16GB Kit with up to 3600MHz frequency and with a CAS latency of CL 18 and timings of 20-20-42, not the tightest timings but understandable especially at its price point.

Now, looking deeper into its specifications for those of you who care, using the free Thaipoon Burner software, we can see here the complete specifications. What’s important here in terms of overclocking potential is the manufacturer which is Hynix and the type of die which is C-Die.

Usually, Hynix is seen on most budget memory modules and is generally harder to manually overclock, but at this price point, this is no surprise.

The XPG Spectrix D60G is actually one of the cheapest if not the cheapest 16GB 3600MHz kit out in the market right now. On the other hand, a Samsung B-die memory module is a much better option when it comes to overclocking flexibility but those modules are significantly more expensive and are kinda hard to get as well.

Now, with all that being said, the question is, can the XPG Spectrix D60G actually perform or is it just an eye candy? Let’s find out with some benchmarks, shall we?

Test System Specifications

But before that, it is worth noting that the performance of a RAM highly varies depending on a lot of conditions and parameters such as frequency, latency, timings as well as motherboard compatibility and overall host system performance. As for our test system, below are the complete specifications.

Let’s start with the standard DOCP settings which are essentially the same as Intel’s XMP. The DOCP profile available for our RAM kit right here is 3600MHz with 18-20-20-42 DRAM timings and 1.35V. Later will discuss the overclocking potential but for now, let’s see how it performs out of the box.

Let’s start with some synthetic benchmarks.

The XPG Spectrix D60G was able to battle it out against a couple of Gskill Trident Z kits that I have. But what’s interesting here is that the Gskill Trident Z 3200MHz with tighter timings was able to keep up with two 3600MHz RAM kits with looser timings, so later we’ll try to tighten the timings of the XPG Spectrix D60G and see if there will be a significant boost in performance.

3DMark TimeSpy

3DMark TimeSpy Extreme

3DMark FireStrike

3DMark FireStrike Ultra

Now in Cinebench R15 and R20, it is essentially the same story with the RAM kit with tighter timings edging the two RAM kits with higher frequencies.

Cinebench R15

Cinebench R20

Now in AIDA64’s Memory benchmark, which measures the maximum achievable memory data transfer bandwidth on a system, the XPG Spectrix D60G performed well and almost on par with the Gskill Trident Z Neo.

Aida64 Extreme

As for the latency, again using the AIDA64’s memory benchmark, which also measures the typical delay when the CPU reads data from the system memory, the XPG Spectrix D60G has the least amount of latency compared to other kits that we have right here.

And if you look at these synthetic benchmarks results overall, it’s actually quite close and in my opinion, any of these kits are a pretty good option.

Gaming Benchmarks

Now, let’s move on to our real-world performance test which is for gaming and the results are actually quite interesting. The difference in performance varies depending on a particular game and for the most part, all our RAM kits here performed quite similar to each other except in CS: GO where the Gskill Trident Z with tighter timings performed significantly better and in Call of Duty Warzone where the Gskill Trident Z Neo falls significantly behind. Other than that, they are neck in neck with each other.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Apex Legends

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Call of Duty: Warzone – Battle Royale

Rainbow Six Siege

And due to our initial results, I got curious about how the XPG Spectrix D60G will perform once we try overclocking it or at least tighten the timings. So let’s discuss briefly about overclocking.

RAM Overclocking

Now, overclocking a RAM is honestly one of the most tedious things you can do with your system because there’s a lot of factors to consider for a successful overclock. And one of those factors is the manufacturer and as I said, a Hynix memory module is one of the hardest to overclock and it was certainly the case here with our XPG Spectrix D60G.

I spent lots of hours trying to overclock it using the DRAM calculator by 1usmus but to no avail even with a slight adjustment to 3666MHz. I can boot the system but I can not get it to stabilize even at 1.4v and following the exact settings using the DRAM calculator.

By the way, If you want to learn more about the DRAM calculator, Hardware Unboxed made a tutorial on how to use it which you can check out here.

It is a super easy to understand tool and makes RAM overclocking much easier with lesser trial and error because overclocking a RAM involves a lot of trial and error especially with manual timings and other sub configurations.

With that being said, after hours and hours of trying to overlock the XPG Spectrix D60G to a higher frequency, I ultimately gave up and decided to just try and tighten the timings with the same 3600MHz frequency. And thankfully, I was able to do so using the safe preset of the DRAM calculator and I was able to tighten it up to CL 16-20-20-36 at 1.4V.

DRAM Calculator by 1usmus

Now, tightening up the timings even at the same 3600MHz actually yields significantly better results as you can see here. The XPG Spectrix D60G with 3600MHz and manual timings of CL 16-20-20-36 was able to edge out all of our prior results in these synthetic benchmarks which are actually cool and interesting.