Final Thoughts
Going into this review I was sure it would be as simple as dropping the new DIMMs into our AM5 test platform, running a few benchmarks, and of course taking photos and writing everything up. 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 would love to think I’m just doing something wrong, but the news of possible issues with voltages involved in EXPO on AM5 feels just a bit too close to home. I’m genuinely afraid of looking at the pads on my Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 7950X3D, both of which I ran with memory voltages of over 1.3V for extended periods of time.
But this is not a review of Ryzen memory overclocking, as it is instead a look at a memory kit from Lexar that just happens to carry the EXPO certification on the package. While I was not able to corobborate compatibility with AMD’s overclocking profile, I was able to drop these DIMMs into an Intel board and have them work flawlessly at the rated speed and latency with a single click.
The sky seems to be the limit with DDR5 frequency on Intel, with even 8000 MT/s kits available from multiple vendors. But for AMD users, I think 6000 MT/s is as high as they ever need to go, because of the whole FCLK / Infinity Fabric thing, and here I hope there ends up being no barrier to entry for prospective buyers as Lexar has set these to 1.3 volts with the EXPO profile – the practical limit for a memory OC on AM5, it seems.
