Crucial Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 UDIMM 6400MHz CL38 Black Heat Spreader Support Intel XMP AMD Ryzen for Desktop PC Gaming Memory CP2K16G64C38U5B

I still remember the difference that upgrading RAM made the first time I did it…jumping from 8 to 32 was a game-changer. Suddenly, Windows was immediately more responsive, my games loaded much faster and stuttered less, and I could finally install the latest and greatest PC game I picked up a week earlier - Quake II.A lot has changed in 30 years but the old adage of “you can never have too much RAM” still rings true. Today we put more emphasis on speed and timing as yet another highly overclockable part of high-end desktop PC builds, but ultimately DDR5 shares a lot of the basics with the 32MB EDO RAM upgrade I alluded to in the previous paragraph. Crucial’s Pro OC Gaming DDR5-6400 32GB UDIMM memory kit felt very similar…once installed, it just worked as I ... MoreI still remember the difference that upgrading RAM made the first time I did it…jumping from 8 to 32 was a game-changer. Suddenly, Windows was immediately more responsive, my games loaded much faster and stuttered less, and I could finally install the latest and greatest PC game I picked up a week earlier - Quake II.A lot has changed in 30 years but the old adage of “you can never have too much RAM” still rings true. Today we put more emphasis on speed and timing as yet another highly overclockable part of high-end desktop PC builds, but ultimately DDR5 shares a lot of the basics with the 32MB EDO RAM upgrade I alluded to in the previous paragraph. Crucial’s Pro OC Gaming DDR5-6400 32GB UDIMM memory kit felt very similar…once installed, it just worked as I expected it to and hit the speeds it promised. Nothing fancy, just a good quality option for my build - and now I can finally install the latest and greatest PC game I picked up a week ago - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.An important note for novice PC enthusiasts: memory kits like this are sold barebone - there is no included documentation for how to install or configure this memory in your system. If you aren’t comfortable with upgrading your PC yourself, speak to a Geek Squad associate prior to purchase for recommended installation and support services.- Unboxing and SetupShipping in a cardboard blister pack, the Crucial Pro OC Gaming RAM is packaged about as minimally as possible, reducing waste and eschewing physical documentation. Installation of the DDR5 kit is as easy as any memory standard before it - seat the memory in the channel and push to click both retaining ends in place. Some motherboards will have retaining clips on one side that don’t move; simply line up and seat that end first before pushing down the opposite.As a reminder, consumer-class motherboards with more than 2 DIMM slots will usually have their channels arranged A/A/B/B, not A/B/A/B. You will want to check your motherboard’s labels or documentation to make sure you’re installing these in opposite memory channels for best performance.The Crucial Pro OC memory kit is a no-frills, low-profile set that should seat in all but the tightest of small form factor builds. Indeed, the heat spreader barely rises a few millimeters past the memory’s PCB and left me with tons of clearance to access the memory even with a beefy air cooler installed on my CPU. Measured height is 35mm.- PerformanceOnce installed in my system and first booted, the RAM (like any kit on first install) ran at its baseline (JEDEC) specification, which is DDR5-4800MHz with very loose timings. Crucial includes two onboard memory profiles for accessing its binned and validated performance ratings - Intel XMP (6400MHz, CAS 38) and AMD EXPO (6000MHz, CAS 36), either of which can be selected in your motherboard’s BIOS settings. As an AMD user, I chose to run the EXPO profile as most modern AMD CPUs struggle to run memory at speeds higher than 6200MHz without altering other settings that greatly sacrifice performance.Paired with my 9800X3D on an X870 motherboard, the Crucial Pro OC DDR5 kit runs flawlessly on its AMD EXPO profile. It’s difficult to determine where the memory may be a bottleneck in any performance application, but nonetheless it handles everything I ask my machine to do with aplomb. Faster memory with tighter timings may improve minimum framerates when gaming or invoke less stutter in professional and production applications, but beyond 6000MHz diminishing returns kick in all the same.- Bottom LineThis is a quicker review for me than usual since there isn’t too much to say - desktop RAM is one of the most straightforward PC components out there with little to differentiate them unless you’re going for world record benchmarks. The 32GB Crucial Pro OC DDR5-6400 kit gets a leg up with its dual Intel/AMD profile support and quality Micron memory, while its svelte heat spreaders keep a low profile both literally and figuratively. Perhaps slightly pricier than some other options on the market, but it’s right in line with expectations and Crucial’s reputation is worth the premium. Recommended!

Let's get the overclocking out of the way first. I do not buy RAM for its overclocking ability. I don't know what it is, but I've never had any luck getting my systems to stay stable and crash-free after enabling XMP or EXPO settings. This RAM was no exception to this rule, however, for what it's worth, it wasn't unbearable like it sometimes is. Like, I didn't feel the need to switch overclocking off to count my system as usable. I wasn't having hourly or daily crashes. It was relatively low on the annoyance chart. I did get more stability with overclocking disabled, however. I should also note that my system is on the canary channel in the Windows Insider program, so I'm probably not the best judge of stability anyway.That out of the way, I like this RAM. I ... MoreLet's get the overclocking out of the way first. I do not buy RAM for its overclocking ability. I don't know what it is, but I've never had any luck getting my systems to stay stable and crash-free after enabling XMP or EXPO settings. This RAM was no exception to this rule, however, for what it's worth, it wasn't unbearable like it sometimes is. Like, I didn't feel the need to switch overclocking off to count my system as usable. I wasn't having hourly or daily crashes. It was relatively low on the annoyance chart. I did get more stability with overclocking disabled, however. I should also note that my system is on the canary channel in the Windows Insider program, so I'm probably not the best judge of stability anyway.That out of the way, I like this RAM. I usually go for RGB RAM, but I actually rather like the design of these DIMMs. I've been moving away from fancier and more detailed parts to ones with simpler designs lately, and these fit right in. I'll also admit I'm rather thrilled that these don't require me to have extra software installed to control them, unlike my RGB RAM. When overclocking is off, these don't appear to cause any additional crashes - they appear to be perfectly stable to me. I've also noticed that multitasking appears to be running pretty smoothly - I haven't had any issues with freezing when playing a game and running other tasks at the same time, which has been an issue on some other DDR5-based systems I've used.So, overall, I like these and would recommend them. I can't really advise you on the overclocking abilities of this RAM just because I have the foulest luck imaginable with overclocking in general, but for looks and non-OC function these are pretty great and I would absolutely recommend them unless RGB is a must-have.

Overall: I was able to overclock this memory in my Asus gaming system using the Ai Tweaker in bios without issue. My stock ram was running at 5600 mhz which is the standard max for the Intel i7 14700 processor. Using the Ai Tweaker I was able to set the DRAM speed to 6400 mhz and then I ran several cpu test as well as some stress test. All the test passed and the computer worked great. In my testing I saw a latency of 11.9 ns having 38-40-40-84 timings. This is about a 3 ns improvement over the stock ram that came with my system. How much of that translates to real life increases is yet to be determined. To say I noticed an enormous increase in frames per second or increase in processing speed would be a stretch but what I can say is that this memory seems to be ... MoreOverall: I was able to overclock this memory in my Asus gaming system using the Ai Tweaker in bios without issue. My stock ram was running at 5600 mhz which is the standard max for the Intel i7 14700 processor. Using the Ai Tweaker I was able to set the DRAM speed to 6400 mhz and then I ran several cpu test as well as some stress test. All the test passed and the computer worked great. In my testing I saw a latency of 11.9 ns having 38-40-40-84 timings. This is about a 3 ns improvement over the stock ram that came with my system. How much of that translates to real life increases is yet to be determined. To say I noticed an enormous increase in frames per second or increase in processing speed would be a stretch but what I can say is that this memory seems to be very stable at 6400 mhz and the heat sink/spreader is certainly an improvement over my stock ram. Note that this ram does run at 1.35 v which is higher than my stock ram that ran at 1.1 volts.A word of caution to those who aren’t familiar with their computer’s bios capabilities. Some Pre-built computer manufacturers while supporting XMP 3.0 still will not allow you to set the actual DRAM speed or they limit the maximum speed. They do this to keep you from creating an unstable system. Although these memory sticks will work without XMP 3.0 turned on you will not be able to get the higher speeds or optimized performance without it. I experienced this when I installed this ram into an Acer gaming computer. The memory worked but the bios would not allow me to set the ram speed even though XMP was enabled so speed was limited to 5600 mhz. I highly recommend you check your system’s bios capabilities to verify that it will support and let you configure DDR5 6400mhz ram otherwise you may end up frustrated and returning the memory.As soon as I opened these memory sticks I was impressed by the size and quality of the heat sinks/spreaders. The sinks are designed to give good heat transfer without interfering with the adjacent memory slots or being too tall which could interfere with some cpu coolers. Because you can overclock this ram and that they run at a higher voltage at 1.35v the beefer heat sink/spreader is a welcome addition. The other plus side of these heat sinks is that they give you plenty of areas to grip the sticks when installing them without putting your fingers on the actual chips. Some may find the lack of RGB lighting is a downside but I already have RGB lighting strips inside the case and in the fans so it was not important to me. For someone who does not have the ability to increase their DRAM clock speed I also tried these sticks in another pc and they down sped to 5600 mhz and ran just fine. You still get the benefit of the solid heat sinks and the benefits of stable memory even at that lower speed.