INTRODUCTION

   It's no secret that I’ve always placed RAM capacity/amount before frequency, timings and looks because it matters not how fast or good looking a RAM kit is if it's not enough to run specific applications and/or games. There are of course some people who disagree with me on this but when i keep seeing people purchase fast RAM kits only to find themselves purchasing more shortly after (like a friend of mine who recently got a dual 16GB DDR4 4GHz kit and had to get another one cause some programs like Photoshop needed at least 32GB to run properly) my stance will probably never change. So today I’ll be testing a 64GB dual-channel kit and more specifically the FAYE DDR4 3200MHz by Neo Forza.

   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 FAYE line of DDR4 RAM modules by Neo Forza features 10-layer PCB’s, is currently available in two colors (black and red) and includes single (8/16/32GB) and dual (2x8/16/32GB) channel kits at 3000/3200/3600/4000/4400MHz frequencies, timings as low as CL15 (3000MHz CL15, 3200MHz CL16, 3600MHz CL18 and 4000/4400MHz CL19) and voltages set at 1.35V (3000/3200/3600MHz), 1.4V (4000MHz) and 1.45V (4400MHz). Always according to the popular Thaiphoon burner software the 3200MHz 1.35V 64GB kit which i have on my test bench today is based on single die 16GB modules by SK-Hynix and is XMP certified with timings set at 16-18-18-36-62. Also, just like with their MARS line of DDR4 RAM modules/kits the FAYE line is also covered with a rather generous lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The Black FAYE RAM kit arrived inside a plastic blister package which allows the consumer to actually see both modules.

A few words about the FAYE series of DDR4 RAM kits can be seen at the rear.

Just the two modules are placed inside the package (again, even a company sticker would be nice to have).

THE FAYE 64GB 3200MHZ CL16

This time over Neo Forza has used rather thin black aluminum heatspreaders.

To have a better idea about height I placed the 43mm tall FAYE DDR4 module right next to the MARS (again by Neo Forza), Ballistix Gaming by Crucial and the Fury RGB by HyperX modules.

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.

The modules are open at the top for improved cooling for the heatspreaders.

Now since this is yet another non-RGB kit don’t expect much in terms of looks, at least not when mounted on your motherboard.

Here you can see what Thaiphoon burner says about the Neo Forza FAYE 64GB DDR4 Dual-Channel Kit.

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

Hitting 3400MHz at default timings with 1.37V was easy, unfortunately however up to 1.4V and even CL17 I was unable to go to even 3600MHz (should be doable with CL18 but that would hardly result in any performance benefits).

CONCLUSION

   The FAYE DDR4 RAM kit by Neo Forza may not be the best looking or the fastest one to ever arrive in the lab but thanks to its rather low CAS latency and high capacity/amount it actually did very good in many of the tests. Unfortunately, overclocking headroom up to 1.4V is not great especially since I don’t recommend going over that for daily use. Still even at stock this kit does very well and even though I imagine gamers and enthusiasts alike may opt for an RGB kit this could be the ideal choice for professionals. Also, worth pointing out is that Neo Forza will be updating their lines by the end of summer with up to 5500MHz models for people who may need something even faster than the current top of the line model (4400MHz).

   Retailing currently for USD346.99 inside the USA (Newegg.com) the FAYE 64GB DDR4 3200MHz CL16 kit by Neo Forza (NMUD432F82-3200DG20) is priced just a tad higher than i was expecting (probably due to availability issues which Neo Forza obviously needs to address). Performance however is very good for a 3200MHz kit, the heatspreaders are very thin (easier to mount and remove) and the lifetime limited warranty adds an extra layer of safety and so for all of the above (and as long as you care not about overclocking) i strongly recommend checking the FAYE line by Neo Forza out.

PROS

- Build Quality (10 Layer PCB)
- Thin Heatspreaders
- Good Performance (Up To 3400MHz CL16)
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Available In Black & Red

CONS

- Dual Channel Kits Only
- Overclocking Potential (For Some)
- Current Availability