Model: Crucial DDR5-5200 and 5600 Desktop Memory
Manufacturer: Crucial
Provided By: Crucial
Crucial is a global brand of Micron Technology, Inc., one of the largest memory and flash storage manufacturers in the world. The company's product lineup includes award-winning solid state drives (SSDs) and computer memory upgrades (DRAM) for more than 50,000 systems. These products have been qualified and approved by major original equipment manufacturers and every single module has been rigorously tested at the component and module level. Each SSD also undergoes over a thousand hours of prerelease validation testing and hundreds of qualification tests to ensure optimal reliability and performance.
With the launch of Intel's Raptor Lake and AMD's Ryzen 7000 series processors, the need for high speed DDR5 memory is greater than ever. To meet this demand, Crucial recently introduced DDR5-5200 and 5600 memory for desktop and laptop computers. Available in 8, 16 and 32GB densities, the DDR5-5200 memory can transfer data up to 1.63x faster and deliver up to 1.97x more bandwidth than DDR4, resulting in shorter load times, file transfers, downloads, lag time and improved refresh rates. Crucial's DDR5-5600 memory is available in additional densities, including 24GB and 48GB, and offers faster bandwidth and data rates. Both memory types also support Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO and feature voltage regulation on the module through a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) for better power regulation and increased efficiency.
For this review, Crucial sent us 32GB (16GB x 2) of both the DDR5-5200 and 5600 desktop (UDIMM) memory. The specs are below:
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Instead of a box, Crucial's second-gen DDR5 memory comes packaged in a plastic clamshell. The sticker on top shows the model, capacity and speed rating of the memory. Also take note that Crucial's DDR5 memory is sold individually as well as in pairs. While you can get away with using a single stick, you'll want to buy them in pairs for the best performance.
Physical Features:
Crucial's second-gen DDR5 memory is available in configurations for both laptops (SODIMM) and desktops (UDIMM). For this review, the company sent us the desktop version of the memory. While lacking a heatsink, the DDR5-5600 memory sports a great looking, black PCB. There's also a sticker sporting the crucial logo as well as the model number, capacity, rated speed, voltage and timing.
The 16GB version of Crucial's DDR5-5600 memory is equipped with Micron's 2WG45 D8DDZ memory chips. Using the part number (MT60B2G8HB-56B:G), we can determine that they are 16Gb chips in a 2Gig x 8 configuration with a speed grade of 5600MT/s at a latency of CL46.
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Crucial's DDR5-5600 memory offers a couple of XMP profiles for Intel processors as well as a couple of EXPO profiles for AMD processors. As you can see below, the XMP and EXPO profiles are fairly similar with only a few differences in the timings table.
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Crucial's DDR5-5200 memory looks very similar to their DDR5-5600 offering. If it weren't for the label showing the model number, rated speed and timing, you'd have a hard time telling them apart.
The 16GB version of Crucial's DDR5-5200 memory is equipped with Micron's 2UG45 D8DDZ memory chips. At this point, it is not clear how they differ from the 2WG45 chips in the DDR5-5600 sticks. As far as Micron is concerned the two have the same part number.
Crucial's DDR5-5200 memory also offers both XMP and EXPO profiles. Here too, there are a few slight differences in the timings table between the XMP and EXPO profiles.
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The test system used in this review is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 7900x CPU, Gigabyte B650E AORUS master motherboard, 32GB (16GB x 2) of Corsair Vengeance 5200MT/s DDR5 memory, Samsung 990 Pro 2TB SSD and a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G graphics card. For the operating system, I used the latest version of Windows 11.
To test the performance of Crucial's DDR5-5200 and 5600 desktop memory, I ran a series of benchmarks using AIDA64 Extreme and PCMark 10. For comparison, I've also included test results from Corsair's VENGEANCE 32GB DDR5-5200 C40 memory kit.
AIDA64 Extreme 6.85.6300:
First, I ran a few quick tests using AIDA64. Among other things, this benchmark measures the read, write and copy speeds of your system's memory as well as the latency.
There were no real surprises here. As you'd expect, Crucial's DDR5-5600 memory was the top performer here, having the fastest read and write speeds as well as the best latency.
PCMark 10 Extended Benchmark:
The PCMark 10 Extended benchmark is a longer benchmark that covers a wider range of activities. It contains tests that cover the wide variety of work encountered in a modern office from everyday essentials and productivity applications to demanding work with digital media content. The benchmark also includes a gaming test that focuses on real-time graphics and physics.
Crucial's DDR5-5600 memory again took the top spot in this test. Oddly enough, both the 5200 and 5600 rated memory performed better when using the XMP profile, even though the test system is AMD based. Nevertheless, the difference in performance between the two profiles was less than 1%.
Crucial's DDR5-5200 and 5600 memory doesn't come with a heatsink so overclocking is probably not something that you'll want to do with it. In fact, your warranty will be voided if you overclock them beyond their rated speeds and timings. Not one to be deterred by such things, I wanted to see how much performance I could gain without increasing the operating voltage (1.1V).
To begin, I first increased the data rate by 200 MT/s. In both cases, the DDR5-5200 and 5600 memory was rock solid. I was able to run various benchmarks without any problems. After that, I started tweaking the timings (CAS Latency, tRCD, tRP, and tRAS). Starting with the EXPO profile, I reduced the timings by a couple of clock cycles.
While not a huge overclock by any means, I was pleasantly surprised by these results. I saw a 2-4% improvement in read and write speeds by simply increasing the data rate. Tweaking the timings didn't get me much more in regards to speed but, as you can see, the memory's latency dropped by a few milliseconds.
Final Thoughts:
Crucial's DDR5-5200 and 5600 memory is a great choice for the consumer looking for fast, yet affordable, memory for their desktop or laptop computer. While lacking the eye catching heatsinks and RGB lights found on many gamer-oriented sticks, the memory will look right at home in most PCs thanks to its black PCB. Also, with its built-in power management integrated circuit (PMIC) and support for both Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO, consumers can take this memory, pop it in their computer and know that it will perform well without sacrificing stability. The downside here is that with their fairly conservative timings, Crucial's DDR5-5200 and 5600 memory isn't the fastest on the market. Nevertheless, they both offer a lot of bang for your buck and, at the end of the day, will more than satisfy the needs of the average consumer.
Price-wise, Crucial's DDR5-5200 and 5600 memory are nearly the same. A 16GB stick of each currently goes for $58 on Crucial.com. Otherwise, a 32GB kit (16GB x 2) will set you back about $115.
