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- Intel has a home ground advantage thanks to its XMP application which has been around since 2007.
- AMD has a dominant share of the silicon market, but it’s still lagging behind Intel when it comes to optimized RAM Kits.
- EXPO RAM Kits’ releases have been numbered and are relatively harder to find as opposed to Intel XMP 3.0 RAM Modules.
- Team Red needs to incentivize manufacturers to immediately increase production of AMD EXPO RAM kits in an efficient manner.
Welcome aboard.
You and I are well into the action-packed third quarter of 2024 which sees Intel struggling with CPU stability issues while AMD hopes to capitalise on Intel’s shortfall with its brand new Ryzen 9000 ‘Granite Ridge’ Series CPUs built upon the Zen 5 microarchitecture that are just right around the corner.
However, even though AMD might be dominating in terms of silicon popularity, reliability, and affordability, Team Red still struggles very evidently in one particular area. RAM Optimisation.
To combat this, the brand came out with AMD EXPO, which stands for Extended Profiles for Overclocking.
Allow me to tell you all about it while I also discuss why the world needs more of these AMD EXPO RAM Kits.
AMD EXPO: What Is It & How Does It Work?
I have already taken the trouble of going over what AMD EXPO is and how it works here.
That being said, long story short, EXPO is AMD’s answer to Intel’s XMP (Xtreme Memory Profiles) 3.0 software utility.
Similar to all versions of Intel XMP, AMD EXPO works by offering you the option of choosing between a multitude of preset RAM profiles.
These RAM profiles have been meticulously tested beforehand to output the best combination of RAM performance by altering relevant parameters, such as RAM Timing, RAM Frequency, CAS (Column Address Strobe) Latency, and Voltage Delivery, to name a few.
Customization
Nonetheless, AMD EXPO, akin to Intel XMP 3.0, enables you to customize and fine-tune these settings yourselves for a completely personalized experience that’s unique to you.
Of course, you can then save these altered settings to apply them with a single click whenever you want to.
Keeping that in mind, it’s essential for me to stress that you must be very cautious while manually tweaking these settings, especially if you’re not experienced with RAM Overclocking.
If that’s the case, you would be well advised to stick to the default optimized EXPO profiles as they are guaranteed to have the highest stability while maintaining maximum performance.
Why Are AMD EXPO Kits Not As Popular?
Truthfully speaking, AMD itself is to blame for this as Team Red has been late to the game as far as Memory Overclocking is concerned.
The first AMD EXPO RAM Kits were released in September 2022 with the launch of the Ryzen 7000 ‘Raphael’ Processors based on Zen 4 as a way to signify the evolutionary characteristics of the new AM5 CPU socket.
It doesn’t help that the entire Ryzen 7000/Zen 4/AM5 Platform release was plagued with scalping and other supply chain issues at the time of launch.
This inevitably affected the availability of AMD EXPO RAM Kits, which were only 15, to begin with.
Not only that, manufacturers were using the new DDR5 Memory standard as a way to extort some additional money from you and I.
Evidently, this didn’t sit too well with AMD enthusiasts, leading to a fluctuation in supply and demand levels for EXPO RAM Kits as well.
Also, thanks to Intel XMP 3.0’s commendable expandability, seasoned gamers started to forgo AMD EXPO altogether and implement XMP profiles on their RAM Kits while pairing those with an AMD CPU and chipset, which surprisingly didn’t have any noticeable performance impacts.
What Does The Future Look Like?
For starters, DDR5 and AMD EXPO RAM Kits have been witnessing mainstream production for a while now. As a result, pricing is no longer an issue for consumers and DDR5 RAM has been normalized to the extent that there are no major supply chain issues presently.
Notwithstanding, Intel XMP’s popularity and vast compatibility still plague the effectiveness of AMD EXPO RAM Kits to this day. Why, you ask? Well, most people don’t want to bother with getting a specific EXPO Kit that’s certified for their exact CPU and motherboard. They’d rather take any random DDR5 Memory Kit and slap a default XMP profile on it as it gets the job done.
As such, AMD needs to find a way to extract faster RAM performance with its EXPO profiles in contrast to the speeds achieved by Intel XMP profiles and then heavily advertise the real-world benefit of that performance differential. That’ll surely convince the competitive gamers to switch to AMD EXPO RAM Kits as every extra bit of speed will certainly attract them.
Last but not least, a performance benefit will also pressure memory manufacturers to create more EXPO RAM Kits to sell to gamers, i.e., prospective buyers, which will ultimately increase the demand for AMD’s certified RAM.
Of course, things have started to change, we have also tested and reviewed various AMD EXPO kits now, so it’s not all too bad for Team Red:
- G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-6000 CL28 EXPO Kit Review
- CORSAIR DOMINATOR TITANIUM RGB DDR5-6000 CL30 EXPO Kit Review
- CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB DDR5-6000 CL30 EXPO Kit Review
- G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 Review
- G.SKILL Flare X5 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 Review
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[Wiki Editor]
Ali Rashid Khan is an avid gamer, hardware enthusiast, photographer, and devoted litterateur with a period of experience spanning more than 14 years. Sporting a specialization with regards to the latest tech in flagship phones, gaming laptops, and top-of-the-line PCs, Ali is known for consistently presenting the most detailed objective perspective on all types of gaming products, ranging from the Best Motherboards, CPU Coolers, RAM kits, GPUs, and PSUs amongst numerous other peripherals. When he’s not busy writing, you’ll find Ali meddling with mechanical keyboards, indulging in vehicular racing, or professionally competing worldwide with fellow mind-sport athletes in Scrabble at an international level. Currently speaking, Ali has completed his A-Level GCEs with plans to go into either Allopathic Medicine or Business Studies, or who knows, perhaps a full-time dedicated technological journalist.
Get In Touch: alirashid@tech4gamers.com
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