Review | TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan Z 3000MHZ DDR4 Memory Kit

TeamGroup is no stranger when it comes to high performance PC hardware. They are usually trend setters and be as it may, have released some of the coolest gaming products that kept our eyes peeled for more.

Now what we have here for review is the T-Force Vulcan Z memory kit. It is one of their latest DDR4 memory kits featuring support for both Intel and AMD platforms with 2666MHz to 3200MHz of frequency. It comes at 4GB single and up to 32GB dual as well. Ours is the 16GB variant in 2x 8GB @ 3000MHz configuration with a price point of around $60 USD. This is certainly one of those value oriented T-Force products and is the complete opposite of the sub-brand’s usual offerings.

Technical Specifications

Memory
Compatibility	Intel, AMD, XMP 2.0
Type	DDR4
Capacity	16GB (2x 8GB)
Frequency	3000MHz
Timings	16-18-18-38
Voltage	1.35v
Format	NON-ECC, Unbuffered
Heatsink Material	Aluminum
Dimensions
Length	140mm
Width	7mm
Height	32mm
Weight	110g

Packaging and Accessories

The T-Force Vulcan Z comes inside your usual off-the shelf blister pack. It comes with the following bundled accessories:

• Product Warranty pamphlet
• T-Force case badge

Design, Layout and Build Quality

The TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan Z comes in two color ways: Gun Metal and Red. We obviously have the latter, which is not bad at all. The brushed aluminum finish on this one is subtle compared to others, while the anodization is just spotless. Of course, the Black PCB added a good contrast between the metallic parts as well.

Height is about 32mm, with a thickness of 7mm. That’s technically the standard profile yet it is low profile enough by this generation’s current standards. It will definitely fit on the majority of systems with tower and down draft coolers considered. Compatibility is one of its major strong points.

Each Vulcan Z stick features a single rank module. Appears to be made by TeamGroup themselves too and comes in 8 chips per rank. That’s 1GB of unbuffered non-ECC memory per chip.

All memory modules on our review has been tested with MemTest86 prior to testing. This one passed that test perfectly on our Z170 test system at its rated XMP frequency.

Test Setup and Methodology

The performance of the system shall be evaluated by various benchmarking tools and applications. We are testing this system with the high-performance settings enabled at the OS, with the default UEFI configuration. Background processes such as anti-virus and third-party applications are disabled as well. Outlined below are the applications and benchmark tools for reference:

Test System Specifications
CPU	Intel Core-i5 6600K
Motherboard	ASUS Z170-A
Cooler	Noctua NH-L9i
Memory	ADATA Premier DDR4
GPU	ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1060 OC
Storage	Crucial BX200 480GB
Case	Thermaltake Core P3
PSU	CORSAIR RM850X
Display	DELL U2715H
OS	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

SYNTHETIC PERFORMANCE:

• Super PI – 32M Calculations
• wPrime – 32M and 1024M Calculations
• AIDA64 Extreme Edition – Memory Benchmark

PRODUCTIVITY PERFORMANCE:

• GIMP – 7 MB worth of image processing
• HandBrake – 150 MB MP4 to H.264 video encoding
• WinRAR – Internal benchmark tool

GAMING PERFORMANCE:

• Battlefield 4 – Ultra Settings | V-SYNC off
• DIRT: Rally – Ultra Settings | V-SYNC off
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Ultra Settings | HairWorks off | V-SYNC off

Synthetic Performance

Super PI is a single-threaded program that calculates pi to a specified number of digits after the decimal point. It is a widely used benchmark within the industry.

WPrime is a multi-threaded program that calculates a set number of square roots. It verifies the results by squaring them, then compares it with the original numbers.

The AIDA64 Memory Benchmark measure the data transfer bandwidth and latency of the system memory.

The T-Force Vulcan Z is a proper 3000MHz kit, able to keep up with the other memory module with the same frequency. It has a slightly looser timings though which is reflected on the synthetics.

Productivity Performance

GIMP or GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a free and open-source image editing tool. A 7 MB worth of images is be processed and converted to gauge the system performance.

HandBrake is a free video encoding tool that supports a wide variety of media codecs. A 150MB worth MP4 video is converted using the H.264 codec to gauge the system performance.

WinRAR is a file archive utility that can create, view and unpack numerous archive file formats. The software’s built in benchmark tool is utilized to gauge the system performance.

The real world benchmarks replicates the synthetic benchmark results we’ve got for the Vulcan Z. Nothing is out of place here and is actually pretty convincing that when two modules with the same frequency are compared, the timing will dictate what is faster.

Gaming Performance

Battlefield 4 is Electronic Art’s popular First Person Shooter, running on the Frostbite 3 game engine developed by DICE. It utilizes the DirectX 11 and the Mantle API.

DIRT: Rally is CODEMASTER’s take on the rally racing game genre. It utilizes the EGO game engine with support for the DirectX 11 API.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is CDProjekt RED’s award-winning Action Adventure RPG. The Witcher 3 utilizes the REDengine 3 with DirectX 11 support.

Gaming performance is just where we expected it to be. Frequency is king when it comes to gaming.

Final thoughts

The T-Force Vulcan Z is TeamGroup’s attempt at a value oriented DDR4 memory module with performance in mind and they delivered. It is certainly not the fastest nor the flashiest 3000 MHz kit out there though but we really cannot deny its rock solid performance.

Now there’s nothing extraordinary with this kit – with the exception of its price point. More color options would be appreciated and a slightly lower Z height would definitely appeal to system builders as well.

Price wise, we are looking at a 16GB kit of two 8GB sticks at $59.99 USD. That’s about 3, 000 Pesos locally for the available color variants. If you are looking for a plug and play memory kit that wont break the bank then this one should fit the bill.