INTRODUCTION

   Capacity/amount, followed by frequency and timings are the very 3 things that really matter when looking to get a new ram kit (regardless of standard, i expect the same to apply even if we ever see DDR7 modules). You can debate all you'd like these things but the reality is that ram requirements grow every day and so amount always comes first in my book followed of course by frequency and then timings. To some people however looks and more specifically RGB illumination also matter and even though i clearly put this last (if you can find a kit that combines them all sure why not) I’m always interested in seeing what manufacturers have to offer. Neo Forza is a relatively new name in the market but since their parent company (GoldKey) has been the OEM of several well established companies i decided to take a look at their products starting with their MARS 16GB 3600MHz CL18 DDR4 kit.

   We are a professional team, studying in computer memory and storage devices industry for more than 10 years. In order to meet the rising demand on speed and capacity of the high-end gaming market players, we created Neo Forza, a new generation of ultra-standard overclocking module, SSD and other related storage device designing brand. Neo represents from virtual to reality, showing our core value for product innovation. Forza shows our strength and determination to meet gamers every need. Neo Forza possess strong resources, focus on core technology. From research & design, specific production to exceed the testing benchmark; Neo Forza keep pushing over technical boundary, providing top-notch performance and quality, providing gamers / game players extraordinary using experience.

   The MARS line of DDR4 RAM modules by Neo Forza is available in two colors (red and gray) and includes single (8/16GB) and dual (2x8GB/2x16GB) kits at 2666/3000/3200/3600MHz frequencies, timings as low as CL15 (2666MHz CL16, 3000MHz CL15, 3200MHz CL16 and 3600MHz CL18) and voltages set at 1.2V (2666MHz) and 1.35V (3200/3600MHz). Always according to the popular Thaiphoon burner software the 3600MHz 1.35V 16GB kit which i have here with me today is based on single C-die 8GB modules by SK-Hynix and is XMP certified with timings set at 18-19-19-39-58. Also, even though Neo Forza is a new player in the retail industry they also cover their entire MARS line of DDR4 RAM modules/kits with a rather generous lifetime warranty. So, let’s see if Neo Forza has what it takes to survive in this somewhat saturated market.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The MARS RAM kit arrived inside a cardboard box that has a small clear plastic opening from where you can see the center area of one of the two modules.

At the rear we find the features and specifications of the MARS modules (regardless of what this table states there's no 4GHz model in this line, not currently).

Just the modules are placed inside the box and even though a company sticker wouldn't make any difference i would had liked to see one.

THE MARS 16GB 3600MHZ

For their MARS line of DDR4 RAM modules Neo Forza used thick gray aluminum heatspreaders which look quite nice.

At the rear of each module, we find the usual sticker which contains information such as frequency, timings, voltage and of course the serial number and barcode.

From top to bottom the MARS modules by Neo Forza measure roughly 47mm and to showcase that i placed them next to the Crucial Ballistix Gaming modules.

Now i don't know just how many RGB LEDs Neo Forza has placed under the plastic bar at the top (will update if i learn) but according to the features list these are compatible with all motherboard RGB sync technologies (ASUS Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync and ASRock Polychrome Sync).

Unfortunately, the Z390 DARK motherboard by EVGA doesn’t support the above technologies but even at the default effect the MARS look very nice (the rainbow effect seems to be selected by default).

Here you can see what the Thaiphoon Burner software says about the MARS 16GB 3600MHz kit by Neo Forza.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Thanks to XMP (2.0) profiles the only thing one needs to do in order to run this RAM kit at its advertised frequency, timings and voltages is to choose/enable it from within the Bios and reboot. That being said if you're into overclocking you may not wish to use the main XMP profile but instead to choose your very own frequency, timings and voltages to achieve even higher performance numbers and that's exactly what we'll also be doing during our DDR4 tests. To be more specific aside testing each kit with its XMP profile we will also be upping the voltages (up to 1.4V max – even though most kits can function at higher voltages I don’t recommend doing so) and frequencies (200MHZ increments) until we find the maximum achievable stable frequency. We also thought about upping voltages and reducing timings instead of increasing the frequency of the modules as high as it can go (always stable and without going over 1.4V) but the end results are pretty much identical.

   As for the how we'll be testing each DDR4 Quad/Dual-Kit to arrive in our lab well there aren't that many benchmark programs that only test RAM (or at least RAM and CPU without anything else coming into play) but we got most of them and so you will be seeing results from following benchmarking programs, AIDA64 Engineer Edition, Cinebench Release 20, MaxMemm2 (because we are getting low performance numbers this doesn't seem to play well with our test rig - probably because of the X299 architecture - but we decided to include it regardless), Passmark Performance Test 9, Sisoftware Sandra Titanium and WPrime v1.55. All tests are performed on a fresh Windows 10 Pro installation (complete with all updates until the day of this review) and are repeated a total of 6 times after which the average numbers get recorded into our charts.

* In addition to Quad-Channel tests since March 2020 I’ll also be using the brand new Z390 test rig (check above) for Dual-Channel RAM tests.
** Since May 2020 three game benchmarks (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, GEARS 5 and Metro Exodus tested on the X299 system at 1080p resolution and with the ASUS ROG RTX2060 OC set at Gaming Mode) have also been added in the charts.

TEST RESULTS - XMP PROFILE / DUAL CHANNEL

TEST RESULTS - OVERCLOCK / DUAL CHANNEL

By just upping the voltage to 1.37 I was able to hit 3800MHz at the default timings (CL 18-19-19-39). Unfortunately, however even at CL21 and 1.4V I was unable to get higher than that. Still very good performance results regardless.

CONCLUSION

   GoldKey (parent company) has been the OEM manufacturer behind several award winning RAM kits over the years so building their very own brand (and RAM lines) was just a matter of time really. Of course, I have no idea as to the why they haven’t released 3800/4000MHz models yet in their MARS line but the 3600MHz kit performed very well and can easily reach 3800MHz even at 1.365V (depends on the motherboard of course but at 1.37V every model out there should be able to hit that). Also, as some of you have certainly noticed even though on the box and online the MARS kit is said to be at CL19 it’s not so its XMP profile set that at CL18 which needless for me to say is obviously a lot better (I tested that on both my Z390/Z490 DARK motherboards with the same results). As for looks well the MARS may not be the best looking modules out there but they do feature RGB illumination and their heatspreaders look nice so what more can one ask?

   Due to extremely low stock in the global market (just like with most PC hardware) currently the price of the MARS 16GB 3600MHz kit by Neo Forza has increased slightly and so it currently retails for around USD110 inside the USA and 115Euros inside the EU. This is however the state of the global market right now but if we leave price out the MARS 16GB 3600MHz CL18 DDR4 kit combines very good performance with good looks, lifetime warranty and for all of the above it gets highly recommended.

PROS

- Very Good Overall Performance
- Lifetime Limited Warranty
- RGB Lighting
- Available Capacities
- Available In Two Colors (Red & Gray)

CONS

- Dual Channel Kits Only
- Overclocking Headroom
- Available Frequencies (Up To 3600MHz)