Released together with the XD80 NVMe SSD in April 2021, the Zenith RGB DDR4 RAM is the latest addition to the XPOWER lineup, Silicon Power’s gaming-focused division. It appears to have a more simplistic and refined heatsink design than the XPOWER Turbine RGB.
Unboxing
The XPOWER Zenith RGB is shipped inside a plastic clamshell packaging, which cannot be easily-opened without a pair of scissors or razer blade. We would love to see a more user-friendly and recyclable packaging in the future. Short descriptions in 14 languages are listed on the back, alongside the contact information about Silicon Power’s service center.
Our particular sample is a dual-channel 16 GB kit (SP016GXLZU320BDD), which includes two 8 GB memory sticks at 3200 MHz (SP008GXLZU320BSD). Single stick capacity ranges from 8 GB to 32 GB, with corresponding dual-channel kits up to 64 GB. You can choose to have frequency at 3200 MHz, 3600 MHz or 4133 MHz.
Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith RGB DDR4-3200 16GB Kit
The Zenith RGB DDR4 RAM sports a similar heat spreader design as the XD80 SSD, which is made from aluminum, painted in dark grey with a brushed metal finish. It covers most of the black printed circuit board (PCB) underneath, apart from the 288 golden pins at the bottom for data and power. The memory module will draw 1.35 volts for the 3200 MHz and 3600 MHz models, but 1.4 volts for the 4133 MHz model (in XMP profiles). The memory stick is 133.4 mm long, 38.5 mm tall and 8.0 mm thick, which is relatively low profile for a RGB RAM, about 7.2 mm higher than bare PCB.
A RGB LED light bar spans across the top of the memory stick, with a full-length translucent plastic diffuser. The tiny XPOWER logo is printed at the center.
Review
Testing Methodology
To evaluate the performance of the particular memory kit, we use a total of five benchmarking software. AIDA64‘s internal “Cache and Memory Benchmark” and MaxxPI²’s MaxxMem² are used to determine the read, write and copy speeds, as well as the latency. Cinebench R15 and Cinebench R20 are perfect for testing how the memory kit affects CPU performance. SiSoftware Sandra can show the total bandwidth. The memory kit will be tested in two different settings/profiles.
- Default: 2666 MHz at 19-19-19-43 @ 1.20 V
- XMP 2.0 Profile 1: 3200 MHz at 16-18-18-38 @ 1.35 V
Test Bench Setup:
- CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K @ 4.80 GHz @ 1.30 V (~150W TDP)
- Motherboard: ASRock Z370 Killer SLI
Performance
The Zenith RGB was able to beat both the XPOWER Turbine RGB and AirCool RAMs at 2666 MHz in AIDA64. While it was only winning by a slight margin in the read and write test, it was about 15.7% to 16.6% faster in the copy test. The Turbine RGB retook the crown at 3200 MHz, leading the Zenith RGB by around 200 MB/s in all three categories.
The Zenith RGB is the best-performing RAM kit at 3200 MHz in the MaxxMem2 benchmark. It achieved over 26400 MB/s in read, 35800 MB/s in write and 29900 MB/s in copy. It was about 0.12% to 2.09% better than the Turbine RGB.
In SiSoftware Sandra, the available bandwidth increased from 25.34 GB/s to 29.78 GB/s (+17.5%), by bumping up the frequency to 3200 MHz. It was lower than the Tubrine RGB and HyperX Fury RGB.
We could observe a significant reduction in latency when the XMP profile was applied to the memory. In AIDA64 and MaxxMem2, it decreased from 55.9 ns and 62.8 ns to 48.3 ns and 55.1 ns.
RGB Lighting
The Zenith RGB’s lighting effects can be customized with the majority of motherboard software, including ASUS Aura Sync, ASRock Polychrome Sync, MSI Mystic Light Sync and GIGABYTE RGB Fusion.
The RGB lighting is sharp and vivid with smooth effect transitions. The LEDs are bright, but hotspots can be seen, due to just five LED modules on the PCB, same as the Turbine RGB.
Conclusion
The Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith RGB had comparable performance as the Turbine RGB, which is significantly faster at 2666 MHz and almost identical (within the tests’ margin of error) at 3200 MHz. No instability was discovered after applying the XMP profile to the memory. The overall style and design of the heat spreader is minimalistic and neutral, that should make the RAM kit fit in most PC builds’ color scheme.
The Zenith RGB is priced at around $72.97 USD for the 16 GB (3200 MHz) kit, at the time of this review. Compared to other memory kits in the market, the G.Skill Trident Z RGB, Kingston FURY Beast RGB and GeIL Orion RGB costs about $82.99 USD, $79.99 USD and $72.99 USD (MSRP) respectively. The Zenith RGB is in fact one of the cheapest memory kits with onboard RGB lighting, which is perfect if you are on a tight budget.
You can purchase the memory from your local/online retailers or the links below from Amazon and Newegg.
- Amazon US: Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith RGB DDR4-3200 RAM
- Newegg US: Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith RGB DDR4-3200 RAM
- Newegg CA: Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith RGB DDR4-3200 RAM
Thanks Silicon Power for providing us the memory for review. (Review Sample)
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