As the memory shortage continues with no relief in sight, both OEMs and regular customers have started considering Chinese-made DRAM alternatives. One of the most talked about is CXMT, which is capable of producing high-speed DDR5 chips. In order to verify if these memory solutions are any good, the folks at Hardware Unboxed bought a DDR5 kit and put it to the test.
The review showcased a retail 32GB DDR5-6000 CL36 kit from KingBank, which is an Australia-exclusive product variant featuring CXMT DRAM chips. The tests were conducted on an AMD AM5 platform powered by a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Ryzen 7 9700X CPUs plus an RTX 5090 to remove any system bottlenecks.
Hardware Unboxed compared this KingBank kit to a somewhat equivalent DDR5-6000 CL26 solution from G.Skill as well as a slower DDR5-5200 CL40 from Kingston, which are made from either SK Hynix, Micron, or Samsung memory chips. In gaming, the KingBank DDR5-6000 kit delivered similar results to G.Skill’s DDR5-6000 kit in Rainbow Six Siege, Marvel Rivals, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Cyberpunk 2077, both using the Ryzen 9700X and 9800X3D. At the same time, the CXMT-based kit was up to 17% faster than Kingston’s DDR5-5200, showing it can scale as well as the big players.
Unsurprisingly, when paired with the Ryzen 9800X3D, said difference became practically null as the extra 3D V-Cache dampened the lack of memory speed, bringing all contenders within spitting distance of each other. This test is more of a stability/validation of CXMT’s chip compatibility with consumer hardware, making sure that it can work out of the box on different setups. As for the modules themselves, they appear to be well-made, reporting 60°C underload.
Now the question on your mind is likely, how much do these kits cost? Well, Hardware Unboxed indicated that the KingBank 32GB DDR5-6000 CL36 kit was available for about 599 AUD, against 649 AUD for comparable options powered by SK Hynix, Micron, or Samsung chips. While a 50 AUD saving is welcome, it may not be sufficient to encourage customers to give CXMT a chance. The company needs to play the price game until customers become confident in its products quality.
On one side, it’s understandable that CXMT would also try to grab as much revenue as possible to develop its production capacity, which is estimated to only represent about 5% of global production. However, on the other hand, if it doesn’t manage to convince users now and build a brand image, it may find it hard to do so after the memory craze settles.
