Final thoughts

Going into this review, I was sure it would be as simple as dropping the new DIMMs on our AM5 test rig, running a few benchmarks, and of course taking pictures and writing it all down. But that wasn’t the case at all, as memory overclocking – EXPO or otherwise – has become an exercise in frustration with our particular sample motherboard and processor.

I’d love to think I’m doing something wrong, but the news of possible problems with the voltages involved in EXPO on AM5 seems too close to home. I’m really scared to look at the pads on the Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 7950X3D, both of which I ran with memory voltages over 1.3V for long periods of time.

But this isn’t a review of Ryzen memory overclocking, as it’s instead a look at a memory kit from Lexar that happens to be EXPO certified on the packaging. While I couldn’t confirm compatibility with AMD’s overclocking profile, I was able to pop these DIMMs into an Intel board and have them run flawlessly at rated speed and latency with a single click.

The sky seems to be the limit with DDR5 frequency at Intel, with even 8000 MT/s kits available from many vendors. But for AMD users, I think 6000 MT/s is as high as they’ll ever need to be because of the whole FCLK / Infinity Fabric thing, and here’s hoping there’s no barrier to entry for prospective buyers like Lexar has put these in 1.3 volts with the EXPO profile – the practical limit for a memory OC on AM5, it seems.