G.SKILL Trident Z5 Royal DDR5-8200 48GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit Review

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

We can recall when our first set of Trident Z Royal sticks was sent from G.SKILL. We missed the delivery that day, and we were so excited to get our hands on them that we drove through a snowstorm to the FedEx hub to get them that day. We opened them on the way home and didn't even wait for a good backdrop. We snagged a pic and went to social media. While this was in the days of DDr4, we were blessed to receive a set of DDR4-4000 with 17-17-17 timings. Beyond the specs and glamour of the Trident Z styling, we can recall that the Trident Z Royal were chart-topping sticks that took no prisoners, and this is what we expect to see from G.SKILL with their top-tier product line.

That memory is over five years old, and many things have changed. The obvious is the move to DDR5 in that time, and for those blessed to get their hands on a 1DPC motherboard and a good memory controller get to have fun with fast toys. In steps G.SKILL, after our request to give us something speedy that might show well in the charts. Our initial request was for the 8400 MT/s kit, as it is a speed barrier we have yet to test with XMP 3.0. Unfortunately, they are out of stock, so G.SKILL sent the next best thing. On top of being speed binned for a very niche market, As Trident Z Royal has in the past, the Trident Z5 Royal gets a new set of shiny armor to don.

With the best-looking kit in the game, we are once again excited to see how well G.SKILL sticks it to the market with its top-tier offering. We hate to say it, but there is a company in our charts that needs some stiff competition, and we hope that these Trident Z Royal kits that G.SKILL has what it takes to dethrone the current king of DDR5. With all the excitement of a five-year-old with $50 in a candy shop, let us take a trip into what G.SKILL offers with their Trident Z Royal DDR5 so that you, too, can see where the market is going.

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Of all the options online at G.SKILL, we have a set that has yet to appear. The set we were sent is the F5-8200J4052F24GX2-TR5S. Within that part number, there is a lot to glean. F5 means DDR5, while 8200 denotes the MT/s, and the J40 gives us the CAS speed. F24 tells us these are non-binary 24GB sticks, and GX2 means two are in the set. The TR5S at the end means we have Trident Z5 Royal with silver or mirrored heat spreaders.

Royals can be had in either silver or gold, and the baseline set starts at 6400 MT/s C32 32GB while the other end of the spectrum ends at 8400 MT/s with C40 in 48GB density. Our set of 8200 MT/s is at the upper end of that scale, but the 40-52-52-131 2T timing set is more open than we expected. Part of that is to allow this set to run at 1.35V with the XMP 3.0 profile; the other part is that these ICs may not have been able to be binned tighter, even with more voltage. It is good to see that G.SKILL is using 5600 up bins, and if you decide to set the BIOS defaults, your RAM runs at 5600 MHz with 46-45-45-89 2T at 1.1.0V.

By far, the Trident Z5 Royal heat spreaders are the heaviest in the game at 70.3 grams per stick total weight. As many do, G.SKILL covers the Trident Z5 Royals with a limited lifetime warranty should you run into issues. Our testing kit does not currently exist in the real-world, but we were given the MSRP to pass on. Comparatively, the Trident Z5 RGB of the same spec will set you back around $269.99, and to get the much sexier Royal option with the fancy diffusers; you will need to shell out $309. Adding a bit more perspective, we can get the non-RGB X5-8200 kit we reviewed in February for $182.99. Knowing all that puts the pressure on G.SKILL to come in swinging and pushing in an attempt to hit the top of our charts. We wish them luck and hope the outcome is as pleasurable as it was when we got our grubby hands on that fancy DDR4 we remember so fondly.

G.SKILL Trident Z5 Series DDR5 RAM 48GB (2x24GB) (F5-8200J4052F24GX2-TZ5K)

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$269.99	$269.99	$269.99	$269.99	Buy
	-	-	$279.99	$279.99	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 9/17/2024 at 6:57 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Packaging and G.SKILL Trident Z5 Royal

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The high-end approach is felt as soon as the box is in hand. Thick matte black packaging with a glossier ribbon around it, sporting the G.SKILL Trident Z5 Royal name and a notation of it being DDR5, is a classy touch.

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On the back, the ribbon continues around the box, separating the G.SKILL name and logo, tech support info, and legalese at the bottom from the stickers on the right. Those stickers show each stick's part number and serial numbers at the top, while the bottom delivers the speed, density, timings, and voltage.

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G.SKILL made the box openable towards the top, where you are initially greeted with the card, the cleaning towelette, and the case badge. After removing them, you see your sexy sticks surrounded in dense foam, with layers of plastic on each side of both sticks to ensure your fingerprints are the first to get on them.

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With the move to DDR5 for the Royal name, G.SKILL didn't just put the old spreaders on. The cuts at the top right are filled now, and while the DDR4 heat spreaders were flat, the DDR5 Royal gets the new body line and indented portion near the bottom. If the sexy silver on black isn't enough, the etched Trident Z5 Royal on them takes them beyond what we typically see.

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The same diligence and styling are found on the reverse, just that this time, a sticker blocks parts of the etched-in name. The sticker shows the part number, speed, timings, voltage, density, its XMP 3.0 compatibility, and the serial number for this stick at the bottom.

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While this angle is more typical of what you might see with the Trident Z5 Royal RAM in your PC, the view seen in the reflection is not. However, this proves a point: whatever you put them onto is what color they will be, at least with the silver we have.

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The crystalline light bar, or diffuser, is similar to what we saw on the DDR4 version, but only in concept. This time, the angles seem sharper with more defined edges, and the part in the middle where the diffusers twist is wider than before.

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With the heat spreader pulled, we can see a full array of SK Hynix H5CGD0MG8DX021 M-die ICs, all powered by the unlocked Richtek 0P=BA PMIC. Looking at the inside of the heat spreader, we see the thermal tape for the memory but not the pad where the PMIC lands.

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Outside of the DDR4 Royal from G.SKILL, we have not seen a slicker-looking set of RAM. With the silver exterior, everything on the motherboard is reflected in it, making it a perfect fit for any theme. The lighting is bright through the crystalline diffusers, and the color shifts are smooth, but depending on the lighting mode, you may see hotspots.

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A quick look at Thaiphoon Burner tells us that this set of Royal DDR5 is a 5600-bin made in July of 2024. For some reason, they block out the M in the IC part number, and the XMP settings match the box.

We included all the timings that G.SKILL and the APEX Encore use to give everyone the entire picture. The primary timings are loose for a kit of this speed, and in the secondary, we see that the tRFC and tREFi are higher than we tend to see. Other changes that could be made in the following tabs would aid in improving performance, but this is what we are dealing with.

Test System Details

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To obtain the Intel CPU-Z screenshots, you will see directly following this image; this is the system we used to do it, as well as to get the results seen in the following pages. Thanks to ASUS, Intel, be quiet!, MSI, EKWB, and Sabrent for supporting us with this venture. Detailed specifications of the system can be found below.

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On a fresh boot with XMP 3.0 enabled, our Trident Z5 Royal DDR5 jumps right to 8200 MHz with 40-52-52-131 2T timings. Voltages used are 1.35V for the VDD, VDDq, and Tx, while the board sets 1.233V for the System Agent and 1.385V for the Memory Controller.

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We see no need to push the SA and MC; attempting to use more caused us issues. Upping the VDD, VDDq, and Tx to 1.45V allows us to take the timings down to 38-48-48-131 2T without much effort. CAS 36 was not in the cards, and we did see lower tRCD and tRP timings; they were not completely stable.

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Sticking with the voltages we used in the previous overclocking attempt, we used that methodology when looking for the top speed. The Trident Z5 Royal DDR5 could push up to 8600 MHz with XMP timings, so no other changes were needed. While we did see 8800 MHz in Windows, nothing we did would stabilize them.

Chad's Intel DDR5 Dual-Channel Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus Z790 APEX Encore - Buy from Amazon
• CPU: Intel Core i9 14900K - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: EK Nucleus AIO CR360 Lux D-RGB - Buy from Amazon
• Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming Trio 24G - Buy from Amazon
• Storage: Sabrent Rocket 4 PLUS-G 4TB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: Custom Thermaltake Core P3 TG
• Power Supply: be quiet! DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Home - Buy from Amazon

Intel Performance

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The Trident Z5 Royals enter the chart at 120,635 MB/s, which is not horrible but not good. Seeing kits like the X5 RGB at 8000 MHz and Narvic Black at 8200 MHz, both beating it by 1000 MB/s, is bad enough. But then, realizing how badly G.Skill gets their tails kicked in with that 124,246 MB/s read performance by a direct competitor at the top of the chart. Lowering the timings improved performance with a boost of 1259 MB/s and added speed nets 2875 MB/s more, but still could not beat the Patriot XMP 3.0 settings.

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AIDA64 write performance starts at XMP with 98,453 MB/s, just behind the TEAM Xtreme NB. With tighter timings, G.SKILL surpassed TEAM with a 1418 MB/s boost over XMP. The added speed gained the most and got close to the top of the chart, but more than 2905 MB/s improvement was needed.

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Behind the Narvic Black is where the Trident Z5 Royal lands again with the copy performance numbers. Starting at 104.382 MB/s is decent but different from what we expect from a high-speed, top-tier offering. Opting for tighter timings got us less than a thousand megabytes per second, and even with a lot of speed behind them, more than 1467 MB/s is needed to compete with what sits at the top of the chart.

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Latency is not great, but at 66.1 nanoseconds, at least they are quicker than the Narvic Black out of the box. We could get the lowest latency with added speed and XMP timings, but that 63.4ns is well behind the leaders.

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We assumed this kit would perform well in Super Pi, as it is a basic test for anyone in the niche market they are designed for. The Royals settled into the chart at four minutes and forty-eight seconds, a couple of seconds slower than the TEAM kit. Tighter timings lost us ground, and while we could knock three seconds off with more speed, the Trident Z5 Royal should be much higher in the chart.

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Oddly, PCMark 10, the efficiency metric of our test suites, adores the G.SKILL Royal kit we have. These sticks outpaced the X5 8200s and hammered the Narvic Black, but we would have liked to have found them above the MPOWER 8000s.

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We all compress files, whether hosting files online or sending emails. Whatever the need, if you do it a lot, RAM choice matters. As the chart shows, the Royal RAM sits below all its direct competition and even some slower sets. Overclocking shows its advantages, but it isn't enough to take top honors.

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If you're into transcoding files, the Trident Z5 Royal equals what we found in the Narvic Black. When we overclocked this kit, we took on some of the top dogs but fell short of beating a 7600 MHz kit.

Final Thoughts

Visually, there is none better. Of course, we could sit at the meme table with the "change my mind" sign and die on that hill. While we have always loved the look of the DDR4 Royal kits, G.SKILL has upped the ante and delivered something we feel is a defined improvement on the original concept. In our minds, the Trident Z Royal name was the top-tier, best of the best, most yearned for RAM at any given time. Some may argue it is Corsair, XPG, or TEAM for kits outside the normal boundaries while delivering in spades with style and aesthetic appeal. We go on and on about how this kit looks good with that or how the contrast is appealing, but there is no better match to a theme build than mirrored heat spreaders to deliver chameleon-like integration to any build.

Even with all the love and excitement we had to get the newest Trident Z5 Royal DDR5 in our hands, once we looked deeper at what we had, we had a feeling our desire to see the best of what G.SKILL has on order wasn't conveyed well enough. One glance at the 40-52-52-131 2T timings and use of 1.35V to power them had us flashing back to the Narvic Black, as they underperformed for the speed, and TEAM ran tighter timings. We will give it to them to think about lowering the VDIMM with all of the Intel mess going on, but we feel G.SKILL made a wrong turn somewhere.

We have some testing to confirm, but if you offer an unlocked PMIC on a set of RAM designed for, what is that line we saw? "Trident Z5 Royal is the luxury-class of extreme overclock performance DDR5 memory," that was it. Extreme overclocking without thermal control of the voltage regulation feels like something from a GPU maker years ago. There is also the word performance in their quote, but everyone has a different idea of what that means to the end user.

We get the concept of giving the customer what they want, and all the hype is for fast RAM, but AMD is on the fence with this level of speed still, and unless you own a 1DCP motherboard, this likely isn't the kit for you in the first place. That leads us to the second part. If you are going to design a niche product, it is used for performance, to get the last drop out of the system, not to play Roblox or answer emails. In such an environment, with the leaders being who they are, you should come out swinging for them, not TEAM, who could have done better at impressing us for the money involved.

Typically, you would hear about a wolf in sheep's clothing, but the opposite is true with the Trident Z5 Royal DDR5. It appears that they took some lower bin ICs that wouldn't hold up to the market and decided to go the low voltage route to claim a market share. Even when it was overclocked, limitations put on the set by G.SKILL may have been the reason we saw so much heat and instability with added voltage and higher speeds. However, that $309 price point is tough to swallow these days. We get that the market is a mess, but when you can get better performance at two-thirds the price, you have to have an unhealthy infatuation with shiny things to opt to get the G.SKILL Trident Z5 Royal over the current competition.