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In order to get the most out of the latest AMD and Intel processors, it's important to give careful consideration to system memory. The best DDR5 RAM is recommended for Intel chips and is a requirement for AMD ones. G.Skill makes kits for both platforms, supporting Intel XMP and AMD Expo. These are essentially manufacturer-configured overclock profiles to boost the speeds of the memory modules and improve overall system performance.
Today, we're quickly looking at G.Skill's Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 for Intel processors with XMP support. This kit is one of the company's more expensive offerings with faster modules already released that hit 8000MT/s. DDR5-7200 is still extremely fast and is actually far beyond what's supported by AMD Ryzen 7000 processors at the time of writing. However, in our testing, we found the G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 32GB kit to be a fantastic addition to 13th-generation Intel processor PC builds.
G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 CL34
G.Skill is known for producing some of the fastest RAM kits out there and this Trident Z5 RGB kit is fantastic for the latest Intel processors. The out-of-the-box DDR5-7200 speeds offer excellent performance if the motherboard and CPU will allow such XMP speeds to be set.
- Brand
- G.Skill
- Size
- 32 GB
- Technology
- DDR5
- Speed
- 7200
- RGB
- Yes
- Latency
- CL34
- Amazing performance
- Overclocking potential
- Not the cheapest
G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200: Price and availability
The price of the G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 is $182 for 32GB capacity. It's possible to pick up a DDR5 kit with similar speed ratings for around $20 less, but there are some kits that cost almost $30 more, so it depends on the brand and other specifications. We feel this is still a fair chunk to pay for 32GB of DDR5 RAM, but it's worth it if you're able to make the most of the available performance.
Design and features
Simple with a little flair
The design of G.Skill's Trident Z5 RGB modules doesn't quite have the "Wow!" factor its Trident Z Royal series had with gold and silver colors, but they're still attractive components that should fit with most PC build themes. The modules are available with silver or black heat spreaders (we received the black version for this review). There's a strip of RGB lighting on each module, but it's not as bright as other RAM. This could be positive or negative, depending on personal preference.
I'm a fan of the diffuser, which makes the RAM look amazing inside a PC chassis. If you've ever looked at and handled RAM, the new G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5 range will feel very familiar. The height of the modules is 43mm, so not exactly low-profile, but you shouldn't have too much trouble installing most CPU coolers on the market.
Performance
Overkill for AMD, great for Intel
We tested the G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 with the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero motherboard, Intel Core i9-13900K processor, and an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. We did install the kit on an AMD Ryzen 7000 series system and managed to hit speeds of 6400MT/s with some form of stability with playing games and performing memory tests. This is to be expected with AMD and its weaker RAM support but does mean this kit is largely overkill for AMD systems.
With Intel XMP enabled, DDR-7200 performed well in tests, and we were able to push the kit up to 7600MT/s with slightly increased timings to actually get the system to boot and not crash when running some tests in the desktop environment. With 7600MT/s locked in, one can expect to set timings of around 36-46-46-112 at 1.45V to achieve stable operation. Still, it's amazing to see just how far one can push these modules beyond their XMP settings. We'd recommend most owners stick with XMP speeds, however.
Should you buy the G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200?
You should buy the G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 if:
- You have a 13th-generation Intel processor and a powerful motherboard
- You don't mind spending more than $150 on DDR5 RAM
- You're comfortable playing around in the BIOS with the XMP and clock settings to achieve stability
You shouldn't buy the G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 if:
- You don't want to mess around with BIOS to try and enjoy marketed speeds
- You don't have a motherboard that's capable of hitting such memory speeds
- You have an AMD Ryzen processor (slower kits would be a better buy)
Just like other DDR5 memory modules that are capable of hitting speeds of up to 7,200MT/s (if not higher), this G.Skill DDR5 kit is impressive. So long as your PC components are capable of reaching such speeds, you'll have access to some seriously fast memory for gaming and other heavy workloads. It's important to bear in mind that DDR5 is still in its infancy and as such, it may be required to spend some time booting into BIOS to play with memory settings for the system to be stable.
G.Skill's Trident Z5 RGB DDR5 series of RAM is incredibly powerful without much tweaking.
In our testing with an Intel Core i9-13900K and Asus ROG Strix Z790 Maximus Hero, we were able to achieve advertised speeds and then some. The kit performed extremely well with very little in the form of tweaking, only when attempting to push the kit beyond DDR5-7200 did we encounter issues with stability. It's not cheap, but with 32GB of capacity and a latency rating of CL34, you'll struggle to find better performance without spending considerably more.
G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 CL34
G.Skill is known for producing some of the fastest RAM kits out there and this Trident Z5 RGB kit is fantastic for the latest Intel processors. The out-of-the-box DDR5-7200 speeds offer excellent performance if the motherboard and CPU will allow such XMP speeds to be set.