Lexar ARES RGB 32GB DDR5-6000 Kit Review - PAGE 1

Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 6000 MHz Introduction

Lexar has long been known for their storage-based memory products, and lately they have been making headway into the RAM market. Up for review today is the newest version of Lexar's ARES series, the 2x16GB ARES RGB DDR5-6000 kit. This dual channel kit comes at a sweet spot in speed for both AMD and Intel, and is ready out of the box for both systems by having XMP and EXPO timings. Not all manufacturers include settings for both camps, so that is a big plus for the company and consumers!

A matte black aluminum heat spreader helps cool the Lexar ARES RGB DDR5, while a translucent light bar allows the RGB lighting to shine through for side-window eye candy. Timings for the DDR5-6000 kit are CL34-38-38-76, with support for 1.2V-1.3V, while the DDR5-5600 kit has CL32-36-36-68 timings. All Lexar RAM memory comes with a Lifetime limited warranty. Amazon prices the ARES RGB DDR5-6000 kit (model LD5FU016G-R6000GDGA) for $149.99 USD currently. The DDR5-5600 kit (model LD5AU016G-R5600GDGA) is a little cheaper on Amazon at $139.99 USD.

Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 6000 MHz Closer Look

The packaging for the Lexar ARES kit is consistent with the prior releases. The front has a sticker at the bottom right showing the kit capacity of 32GB, with 2x16GB sticks at 6000 frequency, with both XMP and EXPO timings. The top right confirms that you can customize the RGB lighting with multiple motherboard lighting solutions. Flipping the packaging over, we get a couple paragraphs summarizing the information from the front of the box in multiple languages, with instructions to go to the Lexar website for more information. The bottom half of the box has some minor specifications, as well as confirmation of the limited lifetime warranty. The memory modules are safely stored in a clamshell package, with plenty of room for adequate protection during shipping.

The Lexar ARES RGB memory modules have decorated matte black aluminum heat spreaders, with designs painted on and ornate indentations on both sides. The metal is cut out in shapes all over, while a translucent plastic diffuser cover shows the RGB evenly. The RGB covers are painted along the sides in black with the ARES moniker, giving a nice side profile.

Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 6000 MHz Features

Information Courtesy of Lexar @ https://www.lexar.com/en/product/lexar-ares-rgb-ddr5-desktop-memory/

Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 6000 MHz Testing

To test the Lexar ARES DDR5-6000 2x16GB memory kit, we will use the latest Intel Raptor Lake i9-13900K CPU on an MSI Z790 Carbon WiFi motherboard. Testing is done with XMP settings first, and then with overclocked settings that push for what users can reasonably expect to achieve with this kit.

Testing Setup

• Case: Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB
• Motherboard: MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi
• CPU: Intel i9-13900K
• CPU Cooler: Thermaltake TOUGHLIQUID Ultra 360
• GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Hybrid
• RAM: Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 6000 2x16GB
• OS SSD: XPG Atom 50 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4
• OS: Windows 11 Pro
• PSU: EVGA Supernova 1600 P+

The Lexar ARES RGB DDR5-6000 2x16GB kit comes with good timings out of the box! Users can easily set the default XMP/EXPO settings and be happy, although there is plenty of headroom left on this ARES RGB kit. These modules use SK Hynix memory ICs, which are capable of tight timings at good frequencies. Some of the secondary timings are looser than I would like, so latency is higher than expected. I was able to easily tighten timings and overclock the frequency to CL30-37-37-30 at DDR5-6400, but the system didn’t wasn’t stable at DDR5-6600 until I relaxed the timings back to XMP speeds. I wasn’t able to go much faster than that with 1.4V+, although I may have been able to go higher by further loosening the timings. I am confident that sub-60 ns is achievable with more sub timing adjustments; sub-50 ns is also likely possible, but nonetheless the results as they stand are fantastic.

Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 6000 MHz Conclusion

The Lexar ARES RGB 2x16GB DDR5-6000 kit is a fantastic performer with a great limited lifetime warranty. The timings are fairly tight out of the box at CL34-38-38-76 on XMP, and the fact that Lexar includes EXPO settings for compatibility with AMD systems is a nice bonus. Tastes differ between users but I feel that the ARES design strikes a good balance between simplicity and decoration, so they should look great in any build. The RGB diffuser cover does a great job of blending the colors together so you can hardly see the individual LEDs.

The Lexar ARES RGB 2x16GB DDR5-6000 kit (model LD5FU016G-R6000GDGA) is available now at Amazon for $149.99 USD, or you can roll with the slightly slower DDR5-5600 kit for $139.99 USD. For those that don’t want or need RGB, you can get the non-RGB kit that I reviewed previously that operates at DDR5-5200 for only $95.99 USD currently, but this model doesn’t feature the EXPO timings.

If you want a fast set of memory that looks great and has a lifetime warranty, it’s hard to beat the Lexar ARES RGB DDR5-6000 kit.