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Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 4400MHz 16GB Review

Our 2020 Review Of The Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 4400MHz 16GB

Updated: Oct 19, 2023 11:53 am
thermaltake toughram 4400MHZ DDR4 RGB RAM review 1

While Thermaltake is more widely recognized for its impressive range of cases and cooling options, those aren’t the only two fields this brand excels in. Today we’ll be taking a closer look at one of their impressive new RAM modules, the TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 4400MHZ 16GB RAM kit.

As we enter into a new decade, the RAM marketplace might be at it’s most potent and competitive – showcasing high-performance, value for money options across the entirety of the price spectrum. So, it’ll be interesting to see what this affordable RGB offering can bring to the consuming public.

We’ll be putting the TOUGHRAM DDR4 kit through its paces to see how it performs in a number of scenarios including gaming and multi-tasking workflows. We’ll also be comparing it with leading contenders such as Corsair’s Vengeance LPX and G.SKILL’s Trident Z RGB memory kits.

So, without further ado, let’s waste no time and dive straight into it!

Specifications

For the purposes of testing the Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RGB kit, we’re going to be performing each of the benchmarks on two other RAM kits. This will give us a better idea of how well (or not so well) Thermaltake’s TOUGHRAM kit performs.

Below are the kits we’ll be running:

Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RGBG.SKILL Trident Z RGBCORSAIR Vengenace LPX
ModelR009D408GX2-4400C19AF4-3600C16D-16GTZRCMK16GX4M2B3000C15
Capacity16GB (2x8GB)16GB (2x8GB)16GB (2x8GB)
Data Rate4400MHz3600MHz3000MHz
Timings19-25-25-45 (1T)16-16-16-36 (1T)15-17-17-35 (1T)
DRAM DieSK Hynix DSamsung BSK Hynix MFR
Voltage1.45V1.35V1.35V

Our Testing Rig

Like always, to ensure the RAM benchmarks are both fair and unskewed, we’ve put together a high-performance system to ensure all RAM kits have an equal chance.

Below is the benchmarking rig we decided to use:

Before we discuss the benchmarking results, it’s worth mentioning that our in-house hardware tester was impressed that 4400Mhz worked with the Ryzen platform. He says “I know Zen 2 has greatly improved the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) but I was expecting to have to dial the frequency back to get it stable, but nope, just set the XMP and away we went.”

He carries on to say, “In our case, it may be a combination of a well-binned CPU and a good motherboard. Always remember to check the motherboards’ memory QVL to make sure your RAM is compatible. Funnily, the ASUS TUF X570-PLUS doesn’t list Thermaltake’s TOUGHRAM but it worked anyway.”

From an overclocking standpoint, the TOUGHRAM was less than co-operative, to say the least. “I was pushing the voltage up and up, just trying 4600Mhz and loosening the timings as far as they would go but it wouldn’t post. I decided to set everything back and try tightening the timings instead but that wouldn’t post either. Furthermore, not even the DRAM calculator for Ryzen could provide any postable timings.”

Ultimately, with the TOUGHRAM, you get what you get, there isn’t much wiggle room to be had – if any.

DSC05629

Performance Of Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 4400MHz 16GB

To test the RAM kits we decided to run a number of games and synthetic benchmarks to get a wider understanding of what the RAM is capable of. We started off by playing a range of games that vary in terms of graphical demand and finished off with some synthetic benchmarks.

Before starting, the XMP (or D.O.C.P.) was loaded in the BIOS/UEFI, and secondary timings were dictated by the motherboard. If you don’t know, secondary timings (and tertiary timings) are chosen by the motherboard and these will vary between manufacturers, meaning an MSI board might choose tighter timings than an ASUS one.

Gaming Performance

Far Cry 5

FAR CRY 5 1

FAR CRY 5

The first game we decided to benchmark was Far Cry 5. It’s an interesting game Far Cry 5 because even though it makes decent use of four cores, it seems to thrive on single-core performance. As Intel is still king when it comes to single-core performance, it would have been nice to see the difference between the two. However, on this occasion, we only had the AMD rig at hand.

As you can see from the results, Far Cry 5 raised some very interesting figures, even after our several repeat benchmark runs. Whilst the TOUGHRAM 4400MHz RAM seemed to showcase fairly standard results for average FPS, it actually had the worst 0.1% lows of the three RAM kits.

Our benchmark extraordinaire Chris, notes that he was unimpressed by the results, carrying on to say that while other kits would occasionally provide abnormal 0.1% lows, but the TOUGHRAM constantly produced them.

Rainbow Six Siege

TOM CLANCYS RAINBOW SIX SIEGETOM CLANCYS RAINBOW SIX SIEGE 1

Rainbow Six Siege is the modern-day equivalent of my beloved CS:GO, a game I personally use to benchmark the performance of many peripherals. We’re using competitive settings at 1080p and 1440p to try and take the GPU out of the equation, meaning performance deltas are due to the CPU and keeping it fed with instructions (so higher memory bandwidth should be key here).

The performance results are the polar opposite of the Far Cry 5 results, showcasing highs across the board for the TOUHGRAM 4400MHz RAM. While the average FPS is rather generic for all three RAM kits – likely a GPU bottleneck – you’ll notice the 0.1% and 1% lows are far superior for Themaltake’s TOUGHRAM.

Total War: Warhammer II

TOTAL WAR WARHAMMER II 1 1

TOTAL WAR WARHAMMER II 1

Next up is the fairly demanding Total War: Warhammer II. This Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game is still popular today and even more so than the newer Total War: Three Kingdoms which is why it’s part of our benchmark suite.

First we looked at 1080p Medium settings to take the GPU out of the equation and observe any performance differences that are due to memory. As you can see from the results, performance in Total War: Warhammer II excels when using the well-balanced G.SKILL memory, with the TOUGHRAM producing similar results to Corsair’s 3000MHz CL15 kit.

Next we ran our custom benchmark pass at Ultra settings, because despite it putting a greater demand on the GPU, it increases CPU and memory intensive aspects like unit size – meaning it’s equally taxing on all parts. We’re fairly GPU limited here even with an RTX 2060 Super at 1080p, but the TOUGHRAM kit provides a slight advantage in 0.1% lows and outputs the best figures for 1% lows an average framerates also.

 Red Dead Redemption 2

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 2

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 1

Finally, and to finish off the gaming section, we have Red Dead Redemption 2.

RDR2 is our open-world title. We looked at 1080p Medium and High settings (High is fairly GPU limited but increases asset quality, population density, LODs, and other CPU-taxing settings). You’ll be streaming in assets constantly as you traverse the world so greater memory bandwidth should improve performance, theoretically.

The results showed that medium settings were kindest to the 4400MHz TOUGHRAM, with it yielding the highest average framerate and 0.1% lows. However, on High settings, the results were pretty much even for averages and 1% lows. The TOUGHRAM did lose out on 0.1% lows, but that’s no surprise at this stage.

Synthetics

PCMark 10

PCMARK 10

The first synthetic benchmark we looked at was PCMark 10. This should give us a general understanding of how well the system performs with each RAM kit in daily tasks and productive scenarios.

In a strange turn of events, the 3000MHz kit from CORSAIR wins all but the “Essentials” category in the PCMark 10 benchmark, where it loses out to Thermaltake. Essentials cover things like web browsing, playback of videos, and word processing – meaning the TOUGHRAM objectively makes the system faster than the other two kits in these tasks. Having said that, the results are quite close overall so how much of an impact that has on real-world performance is debatable.

AIDA64

AIDA 64 MEMORY BANDWIDTH

AIDA 64 LATENCY

Next up was AIDA64. Whilst there are a number of different tests we could have done using AIDA64, we looked specially at Memory Read, Write and Latency.

The results of these tests give us a general indication of the RAM’s performance; Memory with higher bandwidth and lower latency can manipulate the stored data and feed the CPU with instructions quicker resulting in a faster system. So, with that in mind, let’s have a look at memory bandwidth first.

The frequency of the memory pretty much determines memory bandwidth. We can see performance of the 4400MHz RAM is ahead of the 3600MHz G.SKILL kit in reads and even more so in writes. Both kits outclass the cheaper 3000Mhz memory by about 20%.

Timings are measured in clock cycles and the TOUGHRAM’s 19-25-25-45 timings are quite a bit higher than the G.SKILL’s 16-16-16-36 and Corsair’s 15-17-17-35. So you might be asking, “Why doesn’t the Corsair kit have similar latency to the G.SKILL’s when their timings are so similar? Well, latency is affected by timings and frequency so it’s a bit of a balancing act. We can see the 3600MHz CL16 kit wins this by roughly 10ms, making it the fastest by roughly 13%.

This is mostly down to how Ryzen behaves with memory. Memory Clock (MCLK) is tied to the Memory Controller Clock (UCLK) at a 1:1 ratio up to 3600MHz. With the TOUGHRAM running at 4400MHz, the ratio drops to 2:1, so the system incurs a latency penalty. This just how things works with the Zen 2 microarchitecture. Further, memory manufacturers have to sacrifice timings to get those fabled “4400MHz” speeds plastered on the box and looser timings increase latency.

Z-ZIP

7 ZIP BENCHMARK

Next up is 7-Zip – a free, open-source file archiver. You might not use 7-Zip, maybe you use WinRAR or just Window’s file extractor, but you will have archives that need extracting (decompression) and ones that need making (compression) so the results here are academic but also have real-world implications. We ran the built-in benchmark for 10 passes and measured the compression and decompression values in Millions of instructions per second (MIPS).

Results are very close here, the TOUGHRAM just about manages to beat the 3000C15 kit but you can see that fine balancing act coming into play here again as the 3600C16 kit wins this handily.

Handbrake 4K Encoding

HANDBRAKE 4K HDR 60FPS ENCODE Taking a 4K HDR 60FPS clip, we re-encode it using x264 and the newer, more efficient x265 encoders.

On the whole, results are pretty tight once again, but the TOUGHRAM offers the fastest time in both tests. If you render videos using software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Davinci Resolve then you’ll likely see quicker render times with the TOUGHRAM, but by a few seconds at best.

Corona

CORONA BTR SCENEThe Corona renderer is a physically-based renderer that draws a computationally intensive photorealistic scene with no hardware acceleration – it’s done entirely in software. We ran this test with all three kits to see if there were any performance differences between them. As you can see, the RAM actually had zero impact on the results of this test with all three posting the exact same render times.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it, our comprehensive review of the Thermaltake TOUGHRAM DDR4 4400MHz RAM kit (UK buyers click here). While many will simply dismiss this RAM kit as being a flashy RGB showpiece that prioritizes looks over performance, that isn’t exactly true.

The TOUGHRAM showcased decent performance in both the gaming and synthetic benchmarks, although beaten marginally by the high bandwidth and low latency of the G.SKILL Trident Z 3600MHz kit. The G.SKILL memory also utilizes Samsung B-die, meaning unlike the TOUGHRAM, you can also have a great overclocking experience with this RAM kit, be it tightening timings or increasing frequency.

Gaming saw a mixed bag of results for the TOUGHRAM, with the G.SKILL (once again) coming out on top. Whilst Far Cry 5 wasn’t too kind to the 4400MHz kit, other games yielded decent results on average, 1%, and 0.1% lows. The biggest increase in performance was found when playing Rainbow Six Siege – a game that thrives on high-frequency RAM. So if you play competitive eSports titles like CS:GO, Overwatch and Rainbow Six Siege that demand the highest framerates, you’ll definitely want to give this kit a look.

So, the bottom line is this – If you value aesthetics and performance equally, we feel the TOUGHRAM does both well and is suitably priced. There are cheaper alternatives with similar performance, but this is the only kit that showcases fully customizable RGB and Alexa voice integration. Ultimately, it’s not the greatest RAM kit you’ll ever find, but certainly not the worst either.

Thermaltake TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 4400MHz 16GB Review

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