Review of Team TF6D416G3600HC18EDC01 memory of the T-Force Xcalibur RGB series and 16 GB. Excalibur under the color of the rainbow

Recent trends in the computer market are characterized by the penetration of RGB backlighting into all segments, in whose products elements of lighting effects can be integrated. If earlier everything was limited to motherboards with support for remote LED strips, now “fireflies” can be found everywhere, from cases to SSD drives. NVMe solutions did not stand aside either. All this light presentation can be combined into a single system controlled from a single application, which allows you to synchronize all devices to a PC and peripherals, thereby setting the backlight as you wish.

In this material, we will consider one of these devices, namely a memory kit from a well-known manufacturer, Team Group, equipped with RGB backlighting.

Team T-Force Xcalibur RGB TF6D416G3600HC18EDC01

The novelty belongs to the T-Force Xcalibur RGB series presented last year, which includes two sets with a frequency of 3600 and 4000 MHz, made on the basis of Samsung chips. We got the youngest representative of this line.

The modules are delivered in a dark box with their image on the front side, moreover, two versions of the decorative diffuser are indicated. Additionally, the slats are enclosed in a transparent blister, so you don’t have to worry about their safety during transportation.

In addition to two RAM modules, the user will find instructions and a sticker with the T-Force series logo in the kit.

The slats are made on black textolite and covered with aluminum radiator plates of the same color on each side. A plastic diffuser is installed on top, resembling a part of a sword, with the original “ritual totem” ornament, which was eloquently indicated on the package by the Special Edition mark. Without ornament, the model comes with a General Edition mark.

An additional decorative metal element is installed on the light guide of each module, similar to the folded T-Force logo. The memory height is about 53 mm, which can be a problem when using overall CPU coolers.

The entire structure is held together by “double-sided tape” applied in the area of ​​the memory chips and on one side of the light guide. There are only eight memory chips on the board, and on the reverse side, instead of them, a gasket made of porous material is glued to the half of the heatsink, which increases the overall rigidity of the module. On each side of the PCB, at the top edge, there are five RGB LEDs.

As the manufacturer promised, the kit in question uses Samsung chips, in this case marked K4A8G085WB-BCPB, which are designed for a frequency of 2133 MHz with timings of 15-15-15. On the other side of the PCB, you can find the SB3572U backlight controller.

Each bar has a sticker with its characteristics. The model, size, memory standard and working timings with voltage are indicated, only the Command Rate is missing.

The SPDs of the modules have standard JEDEC frequencies and one XMP profile. When the system starts by default, the memory will start at a frequency of 2400 MHz with delays of the form 16-16-16-39-2T and a supply voltage of 1.2 V. To bring it to the nominal mode, you will have to manually activate the XMP profile in the UEFI motherboard. Then it will already operate at a frequency of 3600 MHz with timings of 18-20-20-44-2T and a voltage of 1.35 V.

The backlight smoothly shimmers with different shades, creating very beautiful effects. At the start, it functions synchronously on both bars, but over time, desynchronization occurs. Given the smoothness of its work, this can hardly be considered a minus.

Backlight control is compatible with software from motherboard manufacturers, namely ASUS Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync and ASRock Polychrome Sync. There is also support for T-Force Blitz proprietary software.

Test configuration

The memory was overclocked on a system with the following configuration:

• processor: Intel Core i5-8600K (4.3 GHz);
• motherboard: ASUS Maximus X Apex (Intel Z370);
• video card: GeForce GTX 1080;
• Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems;
• storage: Kingston SSDNow UV400 480GB (480GB, SATA 6Gb/s);
• power supply: Seasonic X-650 (650 W).

Testing was carried out in the Windows 10 x64 environment. To check the stability of the overclocking of the modules, the LinX 0.7.3 program was used for 15 passes, the amount of memory in which was set at 6144 MB.

The maximum possible memory operation mode was determined at nominal timings and the minimum delays at the operating frequency.

Test results

So, the memory at nominal timings and voltage was able to function at 4300 MHz without any problems. To further increase the frequency, it was necessary to raise the voltage on the modules to 1.45 V and IO / SA to 1.25 / 1.275 V, respectively. For native 3600 MHz, we managed to reduce delays to the level of 14-16-16-39-2T, but for this we also had to increase the memory supply voltage to 1.45 V.

Command Rate 1T obeyed only at a frequency of 3500 MHz with a voltage of 1.4 V, and the timings could be left minimal. The frequency limit with the delay formula of the form 16-18-18-39-2T and 1.4 V was 3866 MHz, while with the native voltage it could be limited to only 3733 MHz.

conclusions

The tested Team TF6D416G3600HC18EDC01 T-Force Xcalibur RGB memory kit is worthy of becoming the choice of gamers and enthusiasts who assemble a system with RGB backlighting and CBO with its spectacular appearance alone. Support for various third-party software for setting up lighting effects will allow you not to limit yourself in the choice of LED operation modes, and the ability to overclock modules up to 4000 MHz with just a hand movement will increase system performance without any problems. Achieving even higher frequencies will require a more thoughtful approach to setting delays and voltages. Fans of the AMD platform will be a little disappointed in the form of the inability of the kit to operate at the nominal frequency with Command Rate 1T. But if you want to build a PC based on Ryzen processors with T-Force Xcalibur RGB memory, then you can limit yourself to 3466-3533 MHz.