Teamgroup DARK Z FPS DDR4 Memory Review

With today’s highly demanding AAA titles and increased resolutions/refresh rate monitors, any extra FPS can be the difference between a smooth gaming experience or a choppy mess. Not everyone can afford the latest and greatest GPU for those frames, so they start to look at their other components to pick of the slack. TeamGroup may have just want you are looking for to gain those vital extra FPS with its new Dark Z FPS memory kit. This memory kit features a great SciFi-looking heatsink, low CL16 latency, and a blistering speed of 4000MHz. This kit only comes in a single configuration of 2x8 GB rated at speed of 4,000MHz and can be purchased on Amazon for $179.99. We would like to thank TeamGroup for sending us the Dark Z FPS kit to review. Features: Specifications: Module Type 288 Pin Unbuffered DIMM Non-ECC Capacity 8GBx2 Frequency 4000 Data Transfer Bandwidth 32,000 MB/s (PC4 32000) Latency CL16-18-18-38 Voltage 1.45V Dimensions 43.5(H) x 141(L) x 8.3(W)mm Heat Spreader Aluminum heat spreader Warranty Lifetime warranty A Closer Look Much like TeamGroup’s other offerings the Dark Z FPS arrive in a slim box with the memory modules secured in a blister pack. Also included with the memory are a T-Force case badge and a warranty booklet. The Dark Z FPS sports an all-black heatsink which is accented with a white sci-fi design and branding in both lower corners. Looking in the center of the module we find an embossed T-Force logo which has a shiny metallic finish. Like its predecessor the Dark Z, these modules also sport top cutouts to giving them a futuristic look. What I like about the aesthetics of the Dark Z FPS is that it is not over the top, chooses a neutral color palette, and excludes RGB. This makes the Dark Z FPS match pretty much any build theme. Spinning the module 180 degrees we see the white sci-fi lines are continued on the back with the token warranty sticker in the center. Included on the sticker are the module's capacity, speed, and serial number with ours being a 4000MHZ 8GB module with timings of CL16-18-18-38 running at 1.45v. Look to the top of the memory there some more branding with the “T-Force” written in the center. System Installation & Performance Testing The test system we are using to benchmark our 2 x 8GB Dark Z FPS memory kit is: Open Test Bench Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro Motherboard Intel 9900K Processor at Stock Corsair H115i Platinum Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC GPU Corsair HX750 PSU Microsoft Windows 10 Professional Due to a limitation of our test bench, we were unable to achieve the advertised 4000MHz and were only able to hit 3600MHz. Therefore, all tests below run at 3600MHz with timings of CL16-18-18-38. For testing, we benchmarked with the following pieces of software: CPU-Z AIDA64 Extreme Edition Passmark Performance Test SiSoft Sandra 7-Zip Super Pi Modded 1.5 7-Zip "This form allows you to measure the performance of your computer. The benchmark shows a rating of MIPS (million instructions per second). The rating value is calculated from the measured speed, and it is normalized with the results of Intel Core 2 CPU with multi-threading option switched off. So if you have a modern CPU from Intel or AMD, rating values in single-thread mode must be close to real CPU frequency. There are two tests: compression with the LZMA method and decompression with the LZMA method. Once the total passes reach 100, the score is taken.” In 7-Zip the Dark Z FPS sits in the middle of the pack and about 2000 points higher than its little brother Dark Z. AIDA64 Engineer Edition “AIDA64 Engineer has a hardware detection engine unrivaled in its class. It provides detailed information about installed software and offers diagnostic functions and support for overclocking. As it is monitoring sensors in real-time, it can gather accurate voltage, temperature, and fan speed readings, while its diagnostic functions help detect and prevent hardware issues. It also offers a couple of benchmarks for measuring the performance of individual hardware components or the whole system. It is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit Windows editions, including Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.” In AIDA64’s bandwidth test, the Dark Z FPS does extremely well pretty much matching the scores of the other Dark Z memory. In the AIDA latency benchmark, the Dark Z FPS finds itself near the top of the charts with an extremely snappy 46.2ns. Passmark Performance Test - Memory Mark - Threaded “Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing and benchmarking. PassMark PerformanceTest ™ allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.” In the Passmark benchmark, the Dark Z FPS again sits in the middle of the pack but does greatly improve over the original Dark Z’s. SiSoft Sandra “SiSoftware Sandra provides a robust package of diagnostic tools for testing your system and teasing out its problems--or potential headaches.” In SiSoft, again we find the Dark Z FPS nearing the top chart with scores of 32.17/32.08/32.26 in aggregate/integer/float. Super Pi Modded 1.5 “On August 1995, the calculation of pi up to 4,294,960,000 decimal digits was succeeded by using a supercomputer at the University of Tokyo. The program was written by D.Takahashi in collaboration with Dr.Y.Kanada at the computer center. This record should be the current world record. (Details are shown in the windows help.) This record-breaking program was ported to personal computer environments such as Windows NT and Windows 95. In order to calculate 33.55 million digits, it takes 3 days with a Pentium 90 MHz, 40 MB main memory and 340 MB available storage.” Dark Z FPS excelled in SuperPi finishing with a fast time of 7 minutes and 7 seconds. Overclocking Now with the stock benchmarks completed, let us see how far we can overclock the Dark Z FPS memory kit. In stock configuration, this kit is advertised to run at a speed of 4000MHz at a voltage of 1.45v with CL16-18-18-38 timings. Unfortunately, due to the limitation of our test bench we were only able to get the kit to run at 3600MHz with CL16-18-18-38 timings. Since we know we can’t get the Dark Z FPS to run any fast than 3600MHz we are going to try and tighten the timings a little. With only a slight bump of 0.01v to 1.46v, we successfully booted and stabilized the kit with timings of CL16-16-16-36. With the overclock applied we only slight changes in read/write/copy speeds which are within a margin of error but we did see a reduction in latency of 0.8ns. Re-running the SuperPi benchmark with the new timings we were able to shave off just over a second with a final score of 7 minutes and 5.8 seconds. Final Thoughts and Conclusion TeamGroup produces another solid memory kit with its newest addition the Dark Z FPS. Even though we could not hit its blistering 4000MHz speed on our testbench it still performed great with a 3600MHz clock. In our benchmarks, the Dark Z FPS found itself among the top of the pack or comfortability in the middle. In addition to great scores in the AIDA/SiSoft bandwidth benchmark, it also posted an incredibly snappy 46.2ns latency. In the aesthetics department, the Dark Z FPS does not disappoint with its all-black design and white sci-fi accents. Since TeamGroup stuck with neutral colors black, white, and silver the Dark Z FPS can easily match many themes whether it be off the wall RGB or something clean/professional. I like the fact TeamGroup excluded RGB from the Dark Z FPS which makes them perfect for many different-looking builds. So if you’re looking in the market for a new memory kit that performs great and looks good doing it, be sure to check out TeamGroup’s Dark Z FPS Great Job, TeamGroup!

Teamgroup DARK Z FPS DDR4 Memory Review

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