Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB 16GB 3600MHz Memory Review

Thermaltake is trying to take over the whole PC Component/Hardware industry. Their ranges of products span from cases to coolers with some memory, power supplies, accessories and more thrown in for good measure. If you’ve not personally owned one of their products, there is a good chance you have at least seen some of them in person. While their main Headquarters is in Taiwan, they actually have bases or what I like to call Mini-HQ’s all over the world! This allows them to better help their customers and really get to know what the local industry is like. Today we are taking a look at the Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB 16GB 36500MHz kit to see just how it can stack up on today’s systems. If 3600MHz, isn’t enough for you, they do offer higher frequencies but I would first say, wait and see the overclock results before you jump to any conclusions on what speeds you need!

Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB 16GB 3600MHz

I want to say this RAM is a bit more toned down looking than the previous TOUGHRAM kits but I am not sure it is! It does look a bit classy, though, in my opinion. Even though they have classed it up a bit, worry not as it still features plenty of RGB to help keep that disco in your PC going strong. The design has changed quite a bit overall and I for one can not wait to see some of the PC MODs that will come out using this ram as I reckon we are in for some pretty good looking builds.

Key Features

• 16.8M RGB colour across 10 super-bright addressable LEDs for stunning RGB illumination
• TT RGB PLUS, TT AI Voice Control, Razer Chroma, and Amazon Alexa RGB sync compatible
• 10-layer PCB construction for enhanced overclocking performance and stability
• High-performance brushed aluminium heat spreader for optimal heat dissipation
• Real-time temperature, frequency and performance monitoring.
• 5V Motherboard RGB sync ready
• Intel XMP 2.0 ready
• Limited lifetime warranty

For in-depth specifications, please visit the official Manufacturer Motherboard product page here.

Looking to purchase? Check it out on Ebuyer: Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3600MHz

What Thermaltake Had To Say

“Built with the highest quality of components to the highest of standards, the TOUGHRAM RGB delivers outstanding gaming performance with stunning RGB lighting maximized for effortless sync with your RGB ecosystem.”

Specifications

A Closer Look

While I don’t mind it, the overall design does leave me a bit curious. You can almost say it looks like it comes in 3-pieces now as there is a black side, grey side and a bit of a mirrored part right in the middle. It does look rather nice but would love to know why they didn’t just make two different sets, one with all black and one with all of the grey area?

The heatsink is quite thick and has a nice thermal pad connecting it to the actual memory modules. The sort of crisscross design should add a nice effect to your system and help add that little extra bit of flare to things.

As you can imagine, the middle mirrored but is prone to fingerprints so make sure to give it a little wipe down before installing it into your system!

Thermaltake loves their branding and while it’s not massively overdone on the TOUGHRAM XG RGB I would like to see less of it! The TT on the top is fine but as we have seen on the main side there is a bit of branding as well. What would have been nice is if maybe the main TT/thermaltake logo was part of the RGB and in my opinion, they could just do with getting rid of the model name branding, but hey, that’s just my opinion. Let us know in the comments what you think of the branding on the TOUGHRAM XG RGB and if it is too much or not?

One thing I can say is that the RGB effects are quite nice if you are into that type of thing. The kind of scrolling effect it started off with was nice and the colours look absolutely brilliant, something that is just so hard to show off in photos and really needs to be seen in real life to appreciate it.

How We Test

Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of graphics card, CPU, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Therefore, your experience may vary.

Testing Your Own System

Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you’re looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using our benchmarks and settings where possible. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware we tested to give you a ballpark figure of how much an upgrade this will provide you with.

Test System

• Motherboard – Gigabyte B560M AORUS Elite
• Processor – Intel Core i9-11900K @ Stock
• CPU Cooler – Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.black
• Power Supply – Corsair HX750
• Main Storage Drive – Seagate Firecuda 5101TB
• Operating System – Windows 10 64-bit

Software Used

• CineBench R15 (download)
• AIDA 64 Engineer (download)
• WPrime (download)
• 3DMark Fire Strike Physics (download)
• PCMark 10 Productivity (download)
• HWMonitor (download)
• CPU-Z (download)

Methodology

In our RAM reviews, we keep things relatively simple. We put the RAM kit that is being tested into our test system and benchmark it at its first XMP profile using a variety of benchmarks and tests. Once complete, we apply a reasonable overclock where possible and benchmark the same software with the overclocked values. The CPU clock speed is set to default for both runs.

Standard Performance

When running our standard tests using the XMP 1 profile, the TOUGHRAM XG RGB was on par with the other kits we had on test. Looking at the AIDA64 results and the TOUGHRAM XG RGB even came out on top when running on stock settings with no overclock, this is rather impressive!

Overclocked Performance

Now for the fun part, this kit of TOUGHRAM XG RGB overclocked absolutely amazingly. I was able to add a 1,000, MHz overclock! This is just NUTS! Normally, when you overclock RAM you don’t see a massive performance improvement but if you look at the AIDA64 read/write/copy results you can see that this overclock adds quite a bit of extra performance to the system. Considering this extra performance is technically free, it is well worth doing and can be achieved fairly easy. For our tests, I just happened to have the Gigabyte B560M AORUS ELITE motherboard on my bench with a 11900K in it and thought what the heck, let’s see how this RAM does on an Intel system. I got to say, I am still blown away by the results and at this point, I am going to let the charts do the talking. While I attached a screenshot of CPU-Z below, the ram was running at 4600MHz 18-25-25-42 with 1.65V.

CineBench R15

AIDA64

WPrime

3DMark Fire Strike

PCMark 10 Productivity

How Much Does It Cost?

Currently available for £131.99 at Ebuyer, the TOUGHRAM XG RGB is definitely at the higher end of the price scale. However, for the performance you are getting, I would class this more on an enthusiast kit, something for which you will always pay an extra premium for. But when it comes to the overall price, you’ve got to be willing to pay that bit extra if you want the best of the best.

Overview

The Thermaltake TOUGHRAM XG RGB 3600MHz kit of RAM is one hell of a memory kit! It looks amazing and has incorporated RGB in a tasteful manner. Performance-wise, it would be hard to beat this and I’ve got to say, I don’t see too many other kits of memory overclocking as well as the TOUGHRAM XG RGB does. While there is a bit of a premium to pay to get your hands on it, this can currently be down to several things and really shouldn’t take away from all that this memory has to offer.

Design

Design is always subjective but it is nice to see Thermaltake go a different direction with this kit over its predecessor. Thermaltake has definitely spent a bit more time with the design of this kit and it shows and while it is not overly intricate, it definitely doesn’t look blocky like it belongs in Minecraft as in previous versions. I still feel like there is room for Thermaltake to release some v2 designs of this kit to help prolong its longevity while they no doubt work on their next kit of RAM. Thermaltake hasn’t been in the RAM game for that long now and they are hitting hard, coming with all they have and releasing some pretty impressive kits in terms of design both aesthetically and technically.

Performance

While our testing wasn’t overly extensive this time around, we did compare it to two other kits, both of which it beat at standard settings. Where the real amazing performance comes in is when you overclock the TOUGHRAM XG RGB as it just goes absolutely HAM on the competition! Being able to easily add an extra 1000MHz within a matter of mere minutes really is just something else. I personally have never had a kit of RAM overclock this well so effortlessly so if you hadn’t notice by now, I am a bit blown back by it. You can not at all for one-second fault the performance that the 3600MHz kit of TOUGHRAM XG RGB has to offer.

Should I Buy Them?

While the price may be a bit higher than other kits from competitors, I would ask if their kits perform as well or offer as much overclocking headroom as the TOUGHRAM XG RGB does. Honestly, do they? I highly doubt that most other kits do and if that is the case, the extra premium is well worth it for those looking for a more enthusiast-level kit of RAM for their build. If you are looking for some of the best performing RAM and like to play with overclocks, this is surely the kit for you and will come highly recommended!