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Is It Worth It?
Review Summary
The Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-8000 CL38 is G.Skill’s latest addition to their EXPO DDR5 lineup. It follows the same design as previous kits from this lineup, with a mirrored silver/gold finish and a crystalline light bar. It’s capable of running at DDR5-6400 CL28 with a latency of just 8.75ns, a configuration at which it can beat any kit in the market with speeds ranging from 6000-6400 MT/s. All this comes at a towering price tag of $179, though.
Hours Tested: 4
Overall
-
Performance - 10/10
10/10
-
Value - 8.5/10
8.5/10
-
Design - 9/10
9/10
-
Features - 9/10
9/10
Pros
- High-end performance (can run at DDR5-6400 CL28)
- Iconic design
- Limited lifetime warranty
Cons
- Price
- 43mm height can be problematic for some air coolers
G.Skill recently launched a new set of DDR5 memory for AMD CPUs as part of their Trident Z5 Royal Neo lineup. This is, of course, G. Skill’s top-of-the-line offering, promising a luxurious design and top performance. We’ve also looked at the Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-6000 CL28 variant in the recent past, and if that’s anything to go by, this one will be special, too. This kit clocks in at 8000 MT/s with AMD EXPO, the fastest in the lineup so far! Let’s dive in and take a look.
Key Takeaways
- The G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-8000 CL38 is a high-performance memory kit with an attractive design and a fairly steep $179 price tag.
- You should get the kit if you want no compromise on performance and/or are a fan of the luxurious design approach.
- Don’t buy the kit if your budget is limited and/or you have an Intel CPU (no XMP support).
Here are the specifications:
| Serial No. | F5-8000J3848H16GX2-TR5NG |
| Tested Speed | 8000 MT/s |
| Tested Latency | CL38 |
| RGB | Yes |
| Color | Gold, Silver |
| Memory Voltage | 1.45V |
| Rated Speed (JEDEC) | 4800 MT/s |
| XMP | No |
| EXPO | Yes |
| ECC | No |
| Warranty | Limited Lifetime |
| MSRP | $179 |
With its EXPO profile, the memory has an impressive true latency of 9.5ns. This non-ECC kit is offered in two configurations, 2×16 (32 GB) and 2×24 (48 GB), and two themes: Gold and Silver.
What Makes This Kit Different?
The G. Skill Trident Z5 Royal stands out in both design and performance. It has a fancy design with silver/gold mirrored finish on the heatsinks which looks special when it reflects the other components inside the PC case. Moreover, the crystalline light bar, with it’s diamond-like design, lights up to complete the look. We don’t think there’s any other kit that can really stand out inside a PC case quite like this one.
You’d also expect a kit that looks like this to back itself in performance, and it certainly does! We clocked it to 6400 MT/s at CL28 and saw outstanding numbers in all the benchmarks, with this Z5 Royal Neo variant beating all other kits without a sweat.
Packaging and Unboxing
This Trident Z5 Royal Neo kit comes in essentially the same packaging that we saw in previous kits of the lineup, like the DDR5-6000 CL28 variant.
The kit arrives in a black box resembling a jewelry box to remind you that this memory comes from their premium lineup. Looking at the backside, we see some compliance symbols, and there’s a sticker with memory info and QR codes on it.
Inside, the memory is surrounded by protective foam. There’s a G.Skill sticker and a card with important notes regarding the memory’s usage.
Design
This EXPO-enabled G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo kit uses the same design as previous models. It features a Gold, mirrored finish on the aluminum heatsinks through electroplating. The aluminum heat-spreaders are “CNC-cut to precision,” according to G.Skill. You have the “Trident Z5 Royal” text on the right-hand side. The RAM stands at 44mm tall, like all other Royal Neo DDR5 models.
The memory’s second major design aspect is, of course, the iconic crystalline light bar resembling small diamonds to complete the royal look. RGB on this light bar can be controlled through G.Skill’s lighting control software or through ASUS’ Aura Sync, Gigabyte’s RGB Fusion, MSI’s Mystic Lighting, or ASRock’s Polychrome Sync software.
At the back, we get a sticker with the serial number and other information about the RAM. Inside the kit is a 10-layer PCB on which the memory ICs lie.
Test Bench
Above are some pictures from our test bench. The RGB on the kit looks absolutely stunning. This is our updated test bench; we’ve switched over to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D with MSI’s MEG X870E GODLIKE motherboard:
- CPU Cooler: DeepCool Mystique 360
- CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D [Auto, Stock]
- Motherboard: MSI MEG X870E GODLIKE
- GPU: Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC
- Storage for OS: Western Digital SN850 Black 500GB NVMe SSD
- Storage for Software: Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB Gen4x4 NVMe SSD
- Storage for Games: Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 4TB Gen4x4 NVMe SSD
- Power Supply: Corsair HX1200i ATX 3.0 Platinum
- Operating System: Windows 11 Pro Build 23H2
We tested the memory in three different configurations:
- DDR5-8000 CL38 (Default EXPO Profile) – Latency: 9.5ns
- DDR5-8000 CL36 (Tuned EXPO Profile) – Latency: 9ns
- DDR5-6400 CL28 (Tuned EXPO Profile) – Latency: 8.75ns
Since the memory controller of AMD’s Ryzen 7000 and 9000 CPUs cannot sync with the memory beyond 3200 MHz (6400 MT/s for the memory), we decided to reduce the speed to 6400 MT/s and tested to see how much the CAS latency could be tightened. We got 6400 MT/s at CL28, which gives us a latency of 8.75ns, much lower than the stock EXPO profile. We also tested and tightened the DDR5-8000 setting to CL36 to see the performance difference. Let’s dive into the results!
Test Results
We’re comparing the kit, tested in three different configurations, to the following other DDR5 kits:
- XPG Lancer ROG DDR5-6600 CL32
- G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5 2x 16GB @6400 CL30 (AMD EXPO)
- G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo DDR5 2x 16GB @6000 CL30 (AMD EXPO)
- G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5 2x 16GB @6000 CL30 (AMD EXPO)
- G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5 2x 16GB @6000 C30 (AMD EXPO)
- Corsair Dominator Titanium RGB DDR5 2x 16GB @6000 CL30
- Corsair Dominator Titanium RGB DDR5 2x 16GB @6000 CL30 (AMD EXPO)
- Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 2x 16GB @6000 CL30
The benchmarks show that the kit, running at 6400 MT/s and CL28, easily outperforms the other configurations and kits in our list. At 8000 MT/s and CL36, the kit stood second in read and write benchmarks and fell just behind in the copy benchmark. This is ignorable, of course, and performing the test again would likely show a win for the CL36 kit.
The latency benchmark tells a different story, though, and this, of course, is primarily because the memory operates in a 2:1 configuration at 8000 MT/s. So, the configurations with 8000 MT/s (CL36 and CL38) fell behind DDR5-6000 CL30 ones despite the latter having higher real-world latency because the memory controller isn’t able to catch up which introduces “secondary” latency, so to speak.
The major takeaway is still the kit’s performance in the 6400-CL28 configuration, as it shows a significant lead over all other kits and configurations.
In the multi-threaded Cinebench R23 run, there’s a minor difference between all the kits, with the DDR5-6400 CL28 configuration narrowly coming out on top again.
Should You Buy It?
Let’s break it down.
Buy It If:
✅You need the BEST kit for your AMD Ryzen CPU: This G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo can clock 6400 MT/s at a CAS latency of 28 for an ultra-low 8.75ns true latency. If you want top performance, there’s no better kit.
✅You prefer a premium aesthetic: The kit has a luxury-focused design, mirrored silver/gold heat spreaders, and a crystalline light bar resembling diamonds.
Don’t Buy It If:
❌Your budget is limited: With a price tag of $179, this G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo kit is one of the more costly kits, and plenty of cheaper options are available.
My Thoughts
The G.Skill Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-8000 CL38 is a high-end kit designed for AMD’s Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 9000 series CPUs. It has the same “luxurious” design as the other Royal Neo kits, with a mirrored finish on the heatsinks in gold or silver and a fancy crystalline light bar for RGB. It looks brilliant, and if you want a kit that really enhances your PC’s look, this is it.
Our tests with the kit showed it is a top performer compared to the other DDR5 kits in our list. There’s no surprise there since it is a much faster kit than the others, but there is the fact that it runs at 2:1 with the memory controller. The real magic is seen when we ran the kit at 6400 MT/s with a CAS latency of just 28. With a real-world latency of just 8.75ns, the kit was the fastest across all of the AIDA64 Engineer benchmarks by a mile.
Since we know that the Ryzen 7000/9000 memory controller can only keep up with the RAM at 3200 MHz at best, it’s better to run the RAM at 6400 MT/s to get that sweet 1:1 ratio. The speed will be lower, but so will the latency, and the performance boost is incredible. For anyone looking for a wicked-fast kit with a stand-out design, the Trident Z5 Royal Neo DDR5-8000 CL38 stands tall (literally and figuratively).
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[Hardware Reviewer]
Hi! I’m Ali Tauseef, and I have been writing for Tech4Gamers since 2022. I love all things computer hardware but am particularly fond of CPUs and motherboards, and I like to stay up-to-date about the latest advancements in these worlds, and when possible, write about it. When I’m not doing that, I like to get into a little FPS action in CS2 or get lost in the vast world of RDR2.
Get In Touch: ali@tech4gamers.com
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