Asus has shared a beta BIOS build on its ROG forums, adding AMD EXPO Ultra Low Latency (ULL) support to its ROG Crosshair X870E motherboard series. Based on AMD’s AGESA ComboAM5 1.3.0.1b, this update debuts compatibility with upcoming ULL DDR5 kits, which carry additional timing parameters in their EXPO profiles.
EXPO ULL is a new, more detailed implementation of AMD’s original EXPO memory profile tech. These profiles reside inside each memory module and can be read by your motherboard to easily apply the fastest frequency and timings officially certified on that kit/module.
The original EXPO implementation contained information such as operating frequency, voltage, and primary timings, but lacked sub-timings. The new EXPO ULL fixes this limitation to some extent by adding secondary and tertiary timings, improving latency and performance.
According to AMD, EXPO ULL kits can provide a 4% average increase in frame rates across 30+ games and a 4% boost in 1% lows across 25+ games, compared to regular EXPO kits, using a Ryzen 7 9700X. AMD also claims that EXPO ULL improves performance by up to 15% compared to JEDEC DDR5 memory, but this is an unfair comparison, as the frequency is often much lower at standard JEDEC settings, meaning we’re no longer measuring the benefits of EXPO ULL alone.
During its Computex announcement, AMD indicated that several memory makers will offer EXPO ULL kits, and we’ve already seen G.Skill ULL memory, with new modules coming from Kingston, Klevv, Lexar, TeamGroup, V-Color, Adata, and Origin Code. These kits should start appearing this June, but you will need to update your motherboard BIOS to use them.
While these EXPO ULL kits look potentially neat, their timing (no pun intended) is extremely bad. Considering how expensive DDR5 RAM kits have become, a 4% extra performance won’t change much. What’s more, the DDR5 market will take two years to recover, according to AMD.
For now, Asus is testing the new EXPO ULL BIOS update on its premium ROG Crosshair series, but the rest of its AM5 stack will follow sometime next week.
