KLEVV CRAS 3000MHz 16GB DDR4 Memory Kit Review

Introduction

Memory, the most vital part of any computer that gets overlooked the most. There’s not a lot to say about RAM apart from its expensive and very confusing. DDR4, the newest iteration of RAM is currently the fastest version of the consumer RAM, with speeds exceeding 3333MHz. RAM kits now come in a variety of shapes with the basic bare modules, right up to the simply stunning Ripjaws series.

Today we will be looking at the newly introduced KLEVV CRAS memory kit. This has already been released in other parts of the world and consumers are adoring the high-end finish and amazing performance on offer.

KLEVV was established in just 2014 by the parent company Essencore Limited (or just Essencore), but having close ties within the memory community has allowed the company to quickly gain traction and is quickly rising to contend for the top spot. The CRAS memory modules are an extremely high-end, they are fitted with huge solid metal heat sinks that not only keep these extremely cool, but also provide excellent aesthetics and strengthening properties. This particular memory kit comes out of the box with a speed rating of 2133MHz, however, a simple BIOS tweak to enable the XMP profile brings the modules up to the rated 3000 MHz advertised speed; which is something that you have to remember when buying high speed memory kits.

“Employing the most current and high-level IT developments, KLEVV, the vanguard of technological advance, brings PC enthusiasts the highly advanced KLEVV Cras DDR4 Memory. Ready to Beat’em Up? Your adventure is just beginning.”

That’s enough talking, let’s jump into testing.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

The packaging on these is top class, solid outer casing with individual pockets for each module ensures the product gets to you in working order; well in most normal cases anyway.

A Closer Look

These are some seriously stunning modules, a black PCB wrapped in solid metal heatsinks with a brushed metal band sealing everything together.

Motherboard Installation Pictures

RAM is a very overlooked part of the system, but it’s always nice to see how it looks when installed into a motherboard. Here is the set installed into our base motherboard, the ASUS Rampage V Extreme X99. This memory kit fits in very well with the red and black theme; especially when turned on.

Test System and Procedure

Methods & Tests

In our RAM reviews, we keep things relatively simple. We put the RAM kit that is being tested into our test system and we benchmark it at its primary XMP profile using a variety of benchmarks and tests. Once complete we then overclock the kit to see how far we can push it in raw frequency terms, then benchmark it again using the same combination of tests with a CPU-Z validation of the overclock.

• Cinebench R15 Multi-threaded Test
• AIDA64 Engineer Edition Memory Bandwidth and Latency Test
• SiSoft Sandra Tech Support (Engineer) Memory Bandwidth Test
• WPrime 32M Calculation Test
• 3DMark Fire Strike Physics Test

Before we delve into any testing we would like to take this opportunity to review our test system.

Test System (Intel X99 DDR4)

• Motherboard – Asus Rampage V Extreme X99
• Processor – Intel Core i7 5960X at Stock With Turbo Enabled
• RAM – Varies By Review
• Graphics Card – Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X 4GB Graphics Card
• CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 AIO unit with Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste
• Power Supply – be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 850W
• Main Storage Drive – Cruical MX100 256GB SSD over SATA III interface
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 8.1 64 Bit

Software Used

• SiSoft Sandra Tech Support Engineer
• AIDA 64 Engineer
• 3DMark
• WPrime
• CPU-Z

Overclocking and Performance

The Overclock

When we overclock memory kits in our reviews we go for all out frequency, this is primarily done by tweaking the DRAM frequency presets in the BIOS. Once we top out at the highest stable frequency divider we see if any more frequency can be had by increasing the base clock, or by changing the base clock (particular relevant for X99). Typically we set timings as the JEDEC profile recommendations for the frequency we are going for if this does not work we allow auto-timings to be calculated by the motherboard. Normally we will only make small adjustments to the BCLK and timings to keep the system stable, we will also not use more than 1.65 volts for DDR3 and 1.5 volts for DDR4 as this is not recommended for 24/7 operation.

Overclocking was limited on this memory kit, despite every possible action, I couldn’t achieve higher than 3000MHz and a timing set of 15-15-15-35; which is the rated XMP profile settings.

Cinebench

CINEBENCH is a real-world cross-platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s CPU performance. Cinebench R15 is a totally free utility and is available for download here. Cinebench is fairly sensitive to changes in memory frequency and timings.

AIDA64

AIDA64 implements a set of 64-bit benchmarks to measure how fast the computer performs various data processing tasks and mathematical calculations. Memory and cache benchmarks are available to analyze system RAM bandwidth and latency. A free version of AIDA64 is available for download here.

SiSoft Sandra

The SiSoft Sandra memory benchmark is based on STREAM. STREAM is a popular memory bandwidth benchmark that has been used on personal computers to super computers. It measures sustained memory bandwidth not burst or peak. Therefore, the results may be lower than those of other benchmarks. Download a free trial version of SiSoft Sandra here.

WPrime

wPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton’s method for estimating functions. wPrime is a free utility that is available for download here. WPrime is influenced by memory timings and frequency.

3DMark Fire Strike

3DMark Firestrike is Futuremark’s latest creation for testing the GPU performance of high-end gaming PCs using Direct X 11 graphics. You can download a free basic version of 3DMark here. We use only the Physics score as this is most sensitive to memory frequency and timing changes.

Final Thoughts

Pricing (accurate at the time of writing)

Due to KLEVV being a new release into the European region, prices are very scarce; this article will be updated once prices become available. In the US, the KLEVV CRAS memory kit is available from Newegg for $327.99 + shipping.

Summary 

Today I had the pleasure of testing a brand new memory kit, not just to the UK, but to Europe and I can safely say I love this RAM. It has everything you want from a memory kit and does the inside of your computer case justice; it is about time a new company arrived on the market to shake up the competition.

The overall quality of this product is second to none, two modules weigh more than my phone (Galaxy S6). The precision of the metal cut-outs is exact and give adequate spacing to allow for good heat dissipation. Once overclocked, these modules really come to life, with timings set to 15-15-15-33; this brought the performance up massively.

Due to the ‘out of the box’ speed rating being so low, I have tested at 2133MHz; however, as I stated in the introduction, these are not rated at 2133MHz, they are 3000MHz and only required a small BIOS tweak with the XMP profile to bring the performance to where it should be; a very good option for the high-end market segement.

Pros

• Lifetime warranty
• Easy to achieve high speeds
• Extremely high-end quality
• Low power consumption, even at 3000MHz

Cons

• Timings are still high on the DDR4 memory range
• Red LEDs can limit the potential audience

“These are extremely high-priced, but with the price comes lashings of quality and a product you know will last. Finally a competitor to take on Corsair head to head!”

KLEVV CRAS 3000MHz 16GB DDR4 Memory Kit Review

Thank you to KLEVV for providing this sample.