Team Group became my favorite looking RGB RAM since they released the Night Hawks RGB which we reviewed as well. This time around we are looking at their Xcalibur line which also promises, besides good looks, blazing fast performance since they use Samsung B-sie memory IC chips. So strap in guys and let’s see them in action because the ‘lowest’ kit, starts at 3600 MHz !
First about, Team Group
TeamGroup Inc. was founded in 1997 in Taiwan. TEAMGROUP Inc. possesses professional research and development capabilities, high quality products, rapid productivity, a tightly-knit global sales network and complete customer services. TEAMGROUP mainly produces its own brand of memory modules, memory cards, USB flash drives, solid state disks, peripheral series, mobile accessories and industrial applications. Gaming competitions have drawn worldwide attention in the recent years, so TEAMGROUP integrated its gaming memory modules into “T-FORCE” product line which is specifically designed for people who pursuit extreme high speed and excellent performance.
Prices and Availability
The Xcalibur line comes in variations of twos. What I mean is that you can choose from two size options (8GB or 16GB), two speed ratings (3600 MHz or 4000 MHz), two RGB exterior designs (plain or with totem designs) and two timing sets (18-20-20-44 1.35V or 18-22-22-42 1.35V). Thus the prices are as follows:
*10.02.2020 Update* – Check the video review as well !
Presentation and Specification
*Courtesy of their website.*
T-FORCE XCALIBUR has full-color RGB LED illumination that glows from throughout the top of the unit at an ultra-wide angle of 120°. In addition, the light guiding panel is embellished with unique totem designs, empowering you with the invincibility of the true Excalibur!
Selected high quality SAMSUNG original IC and having undergone the most stringent of tests, T-FORCE XCALIBUR stands out in terms of both quality and functionality. Moreover, with stability and compatibility, you have the power of the true Excalibur!
T-FORCE XCALIBUR offers full-color, variable, synchronized lighting. The lighting and synchronization are controlled with T-FORCE BLITZ or ASUS Aura Sync, and after being synchronized, there are 8 built-in light display modes to choose from. You may also control the lighting and some synchronization effects with GIGABYTE’s RGB Fusion or MSI’s Mystic Light Sync or ASRock’s Polychrome Sync. Besides, you can express yourself by customizing your own lighting display. No matter which you choose, it is sure to look cool.
Specification:
– CPU Compatibility: Intel & AMD
– RGB: Supports ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync and ASRock Polychrome Sync
– Chipset: Intel & AMD
– Capacity: 16GB (8GBx2)
– Dual Channel kit: Yes
– Tested Speed: DDR4-3600 MHz (PC4-28800)
– Data Transfer Bandwidth: 28,800 MB/s
– Tested Latency: 18-20-20-44
– Tested Voltage: 1.35V
– Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
– Error Checking: Non-ECC
– Type: 288-pin UDIMM
– SPD Speed: 2133 MHz
– SPD Voltage: 1.2V
– Warranty: Lifetime
– Heat Spreader: Aluminium
The fact that they use Samsung Memory ICs means that they should OC like mad or tweak the timings even better. Also they are full RGB compatible with all of the major motherboard vendors.
Visual Inspection and Installation
They come in a very nice all black package with the actual product nicely displayed on the front. Can’t mistake the Xcalibur RAM for anything else since there is a big sword, reminiscent of the legendary tale – hence the name of the product line. All the branding is in the top part while on the right corner we have a tag with all the main specs like the capacity, speeds and timings for the RAM.
The back gives us info about the company and that there are two design options for the light-bar.
As seen before, they are protected in this hard plastic tray. You can also see the accessories which are kept to a minimum, consisting of a sticker and small user’s guide.
So here they are ! We can already see the big light-bar on the top which descents gradually in height and it is hold into place by a metal bracket reminiscent of a sword’s tang guard. Also the heat-spreaders are from aluminium and have a brushed finish.
Zooming in to the sticker, we find out the main specs of the memory modules, which have 8GB per stick and are rated for 3600 MHz at CL18-20-20-44 latency @ 1.35v.
To open up the kits, you need to remove this 6-star torqx screw.
The T-Force branding is present on the light bars and should make the writing pop out even more when the RGB lights are on.
As for a size perspective, even in their lowest point, they are taller than a kit of Trident Z RGb Royal kits. At their tallest point they measure 48 mm in height.
When installed, they kinda look like a futuristic abstract sword.
RGB wise, they look amazing ! Given that 120 degrees wide angle lighting, you can clearly enjoy more of the lightshow. Full RGB control is accepted and compatible with all of the big motherboard vendors.
Here is a quick video as well. Mind you, in real life they look even better.
Testing methodology
We will employ a run of synthetic benchmarks at their stock D.O.C.P value of 3600 MHz for 1.35v. After that we tried to OC’d them but unfortunately we ran into limits since our B450 motherboard with a 2nd gen Ryzen CPU can officially work up to 3600 MHz which is exactly what these samples can do out of the box. After some fiddling with the timings, we manged to make them to boot at 3800 MHz for 1.40v but failed to perform in any benchmarks. These being said, these RAM might have extra performance that awaits to be discovered but our test system is the bottleneck in this case. So we decided to tighten the timings. We manged to get 17-19-19-44 2T but with 1.45v which is on the high side for daily use. Thus we will proceed with the testing and include only the stock numbers and see how they compare with similar RAM kits.
Hardware used:
– CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700 AM4 – 8c/16t @ 65W TDP
– CPU Cooler: Noctua L9i chromax.black
– Noctua AM4 adapters: Noctua L9i chromax.black
– Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B450-i Gaming mITX @ BIOS 2901 AGESA 1.0.0.3
– Boot SSD: Samsung M.2 970 PRO 2TB TLC
– Video card(s): EVGA GTX 1080 FTW 8G
– PSU: Corsair SF600 SFX Gold
– Case: Dan A4-SFX V4
– Case fan: Noctua NF-A9x14 HS-PWM chromax.black
Competition RAM:
– 32GB DDR4 G.Skill Trident Z Royal RGB Silver 3000 MHz
– 16GB DDR4 Crucial Ballistix Elite 3600 MHz
– 16GB DDR4 T-Force Vulcan Z 3200 MHz
– 16GB DDR4 T-Force Night Hawk RGB 3000 MHz
– 16GB DDR4 G.Skill Trident Z RGB Silver 3600 MHz
Software:
– OS: Windows 10 Pro x64 Version 1909
– CPU-Z v1.86 – To verify the CPU’s and RAM’s statistics
– Aida64 Extreme v5.98 – Memory analysis and Benchmark suite
– Cinebench R15 – Popular CPU benchmark
– Cinebnech R20 – The new revised version optimized for the newer multi-core CPUs
– 3D/Game(s) – Witcher 3 v1.32 set at FHD, with everything at Max quality Settings, no V-Sync
– NVIDIA Drivers – 441.66
Testing, Results and Analysis
We start with the integrated memory benchmark from AIDA64 so we can inspect the overall read, write and copy bandwidth. Also we will compare the numbers with other kits. In this one, the Xcalibur takes the first place of our charts !
Next up we have the CPU intensive benchmark – Cinebnech’s R15. We see good numbers here as well, only the Crucial kit does a bit better because of the lower timings.
We see a similar story in R20 since this one scales even better with the newer multi-core CPUs and platforms. Here the Crucial Elite again takes the lead while second place is taken by the regular Trident Z and Xcaliber at very close 3rd place.
Now for a gaming session. We know that the Witcher 3 is a highly optimized game when it comes to RAM and here as well we see a similar scale in performance as the speed increases.
So, performance wise they are up there and solid numbers across the board. Since out test platform was the bottleneck, we couldn’t push them further to put those Samsung B-die memory ICs to work, so expect some more free performance from these kits. No wonder they also do a 4000 MHz variant with the same timing s ! The design is very cool and futuristic and that light-bar works excellent as a diffuser.
Conclusion
These RAM kits deliver as promised, despite the fact that on paper those timing might look slower but with a latest gen motherboard and CPU you can tweak them even further. They are very cool to look at if you are into this angled design theme. Not much more to say that given the current RAM prices, if you want guaranteed Samsung B-die memory ICs, these T-Force Xcalibur kits should be on your radar.
The good:
+ Great performance out of the box
+ Unique futuristic design
+ Great value
+ lifetime warranty
+ Full RGB software compatibility
+ Very good light-bar diffuser
+ Aluminium heat-spreaders
The bad:
– On the tall side
– Stock timings one step behind the competition
Glob3trotters “Amazing!” Award 4.5 out of 5
A lot of thanks to Team Group for supplying us with this kit !
