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AMD’s Ryzen 7 9700X is in the market, promising plenty of improvements from AMD, including more power efficiency. When we tested the 9700X, we were also quite impressed by how it handles its consumption. However, for optimal performance, we also tested a variety of DDR5 memory kits with it. So, if you’re looking for the best memory for your new Zen 5 CPU, here are our best picks!
See how our top picks come with each other:
Here are our other recommendations for the 9700X to ensure you build the most optimal PC.
Best RAM For Ryzen 7 9700X
Here’s a peek at our picks For Ryzen 7 7900x RAM.
- Best Overall: G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-6000 CL28
- Best Value: G.SKILL Flare X5 DDR5-6000 CL30
- Best Performance: XPG Lancer RGB DDR5-7200 CL34
G. Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo
Best Overall RAM For Ryzen 7 9700X
Specifications: Memory Type: DDR5 | Capacity: 32GB (2x 16 GB) | Frequency: 6,000MHz | Latency: CL28 | Latency (Nanoseconds): 9.3ns | Voltage: 1.40V | RGB: Yes
Pros
- Beautiful design
- Superb latency out of the box
- Good cooling
- Limited lifetime warranty
Cons
- Pricey
The Trident Z5 Royal Neo is a perfect blend of performance and looks. You’ll find that it immediately stands out in terms of looks, with its shiny crystalline lightbar and mirrored aluminium heat spreaders. This also means that its fairly high heat output is controlled effectively. At 9.3 seconds, the memory has one of the lowest latency numbers we’ve seen, and it certainly proved itself when I put it to the test. You can use our RAM Latency Calculator to measure the latency of any DDR5 kit.
With a default speed of 6000 MT/s and a great cooling design, this G. Skill kit has plenty of overclocking room. We easily got it to 7200 MT/s at CL34 and saw a decent improvement in read/write speeds following that.
When I tested this beautiful kit, here’s what I said:
The G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-6000 CL28 is a high-end kit that comes with a lot of performance under the hood. G.Skill has truly gone overboard with this kit. Top-notch performance combined with one of the best-looking lighting effects, this kit has been designed for gamers, designers, and professionals who won’t settle for anything but the best, of course, given that they can afford its premium pricing.
What Makes It The Best Overall RAM For The Ryzen 7 9700X?
If you want no compromise on memory in your Ryzen 7 9700X system, the Trident Z5 Royal Neo is easily the best option, beating out many other popular options in our testing. Its most distinct feature is the design, but that’s not the only department where G. Skill paid attention: it comes with mighty low latency out of the box, which I managed to lower even further with some manual overclocking.
| Performance: 9.5/10 | Value: 8.5/10 |
| Features: 9/10 | Design: 9.5/10 |
G.SKILL Flare X5 DDR5-6000 CL30
Best Value RAM For Ryzen 7 9700X
Specifications: Memory Type: DDR5 | Capacity: 32GB (2x 16 GB) | Frequency: 6,000MHz | Latency: CL30 | Latency (Nanoseconds): 9.3ns | Voltage: 1.350V | RGB: No
Pros
- Minimalistic design
- Affordable
- Decent overclocking potential
- Low-profile design
- Limited lifetime warranty
Cons
- No RGB
We chose the Flare X5 in the value department, and you can tell it’s a budget kit with a quick glance at its design. The memory comes completely covered in its black heatsink, with no RGB elements in sight and a low-profile design. Personally, I like this minimalistic design, and while RGB would have been nice, it would also drive up the kit’s cost. For specs, the kit supports an EXPO profile of DDR5-6000 at 1.35 volts.
The honeycomb design helps nicely in heat dissipation, but you’ll want to make sure the airflow in your case is good for any overclocking. We managed to get our memory to 6800 MT/s by tightening the timings slightly, and I was certainly impressed at its overclocking potential.
After a thorough review, I found this to be one of the best-value DDR5 kits I have tested so far:
The G.SKILL Flare X5 DDR5-6000 CL30 is a great choice for PC builders on a budget, especially if you’re working with an AMD setup. It’s designed for those who want a solid, entry-level build without breaking the bank. If you’re looking to keep costs down while still getting reliable performance, this RAM is a perfect fit.
What Makes It The Best Value RAM For Ryzen 7 9700X?
For a $105 price tag (for the 2×16 kit), the RAM surprisingly manages to tick most of the boxes. It runs at 6000 MT/s (with XMP) with a latency of just 10ns, and there’s room for some overclocking as well. The lack of RGB may bother some users, but its design is a treat if you don’t like flamboyance in your RAM.
| Performance: 9/10 | Value: 9.5/10 |
| Features: 8.5/10 | Design: 9/10 |
XPG Lancer RGB DDR5-7200 CL34
Best Performance RAM For Ryzen 7 9700X
Specifications: Memory Type: DDR5 | Capacity: 32GB (2x 16 GB) | Frequency: 7,200MHz | Latency: CL34 | Latency (Nanoseconds): 9.3ns | Voltage: 1.40V | RGB: Yes
Pros
- Great, balanced design
- Beautiful RGB
- Fantastic performance
- Height sits in the intermediate range
- Overclocking room is available
- Limited lifetime warranty
Cons
- Costly
- No PMIC thermal pad
The XPG Lancer has an intermediate form factor with black and white heat spreader options. Most of the aluminum here has a brushed texture, while the remaining area is plain with grey stripes. Up top, we have a cutout for the RGB; overall, this is a perfect, balanced design. The RAM can operate at 7200 MT/s with EXPO at CAS34 out of the box. Performance was excellent in our synthetic and gaming benchmarks.
The kit, with its high-end SK Hynix A-Die ICs, is capable of a fair bit of overclocking. We managed to get it to 8000 MT/s while pushing the voltage to its limits at 1.5V. With that, we saw improved numbers in our testing and stable performance.
Our senior hardware reviewer Nauman Siddique had plenty of positives to speak of with the XPG Lancer RGB kit:
The XPG Lancer RGB 32GB DDR5 kit delivers exceptional performance, rivaling binary DDR5 kits. Its impressive overclocking capabilities, dual-platform support, and error correction function make it an excellent choice for enthusiasts.
The XPG Lancer RGB is a powerhouse for those who want fast memory without any hassle. Couple that with its eye-pleasing design and RGB lighting that can be customized with all major motherboard syncing software, and you have a great package.
– Mussab Ali
What Makes It The Best Performance RAM For The Ryzen 7 9700X?
The XPG Lancer RGB model we’ve picked is its most premium offering, so you get superb performance even if you’re not looking to tune anything manually. It looks quite good, too, and there’s still some overclocking potential if you want to push the kit further.
| Performance: 10/10 | Value: 8/10 |
| Features: 9/10 | Design: 9/10 |
Our Test Results
We have tested all of these kits against different productivity and gaming benchmarks. You can check our RAM Comparison Tool to see a list of all of our tested DDR5 kits.
Specifications Comparison
Take a look at the key comparisons between our three picks:
| Kit Model | G. Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo | G. Skill Flare X5 | XPG Lancer RGB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed (MT/s) | 6000 | 6000 | 7200 |
| CAS Latency (clock cycles) | 28 | 30 | 34 |
| RAM Latency (ns) | 9.3 | 10 | 9.4 |
| Voltage (V) | 1.40 | 1.350 | 1.40 |
Kits That Missed Out
It wasn’t easy for us to narrow it down to just three picks! Here are the memory kits that almost made it:
- Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 CL30: A good-looking kit that performed well in our tests, but we weren’t impressed with its overclocking potential.
- T-Force Delta RGB DDR5-7200 CL34: It is a good kit, but the lack of EXPO profiles meant we had to skip it.
Important RAM Terms To Know
Here are the terms that you may want to be familiar with:
- Transfer rate (MT/s): Since the emergency of double data rate (DDR) memory, this unit has replaced frequency. It measures the amount of data that can be transferred per second, and its value is 2x the frequency.
- CAS latency: This measures the number of clock cycles it takes for the RAM to access data from one of its columns so it can then be read.
- JEDEC Speed: This is the factory speed your memory will run at before you enable EXPO (if supported), standardized by the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council. Typical DDR5 JEDEC speeds are 4800, 5200, and 5600.
- AMD EXPO (Extended Profiles For Overclocking): These are automatic overclocking profiles designed by AMD to give your memory speed a boost. If your memory supports EXPO, enable it (unless you’re manually overclocking).
How We Tested And Reviewed These Kits
We test all our kits in detail and consider a number of factors before making our final picks:
- Performance: This is always our biggest consideration; we ensure that the memory kit holds up well in a variety of tests, including gaming benchmarks, at stock settings.
- Price: We pick the memory that best suits our categories but not before comparing prices and the value of different kits. For example, we wouldn’t pick the absolute fastest kit from our tests for the Performance category if it’s a lot costlier than the next best RAM in the list.
- Thermal Design: We avoid picking memory with unsatisfactory heatsink designs. This is, of course, if the memory fails to sustain thermal efficiency during our intensive load testing, and it has an all-important implication for overclocking.
- Overclocking Capabilities: RAM that allows for some overclocking room is prioritized. In our testing, if the kit can’t push beyond EXPO speeds, it is filtered out.
- Looks: We also consider the RAM’s overall design, presence/absence of RGB (and its implementation, and form factor (kits that present overwhelming clearance issues aren’t preferred.
FAQs
DDR5-6000 is the sweet spot for the Ryzen 9000 series CPU, while the “upper limit” is DDRt-6400.
No. The Ryzen 7 9700X, like all other Ryzen 9000 CPUs, only supports DDR5 memory.
16GB of RAM may prove inadequate in many AAA games and for video editing, so it may end up bottlenecking your system. We recommend 32 GB of RAM.
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