TEAMGROUP T-FORCE Vulcan α DDR5-5600 Memory Kit Review

TEAMGROUP sent us the T-FORCE Vulcan α (Alpha) for review. This is a DDR5 memory kit, featuring speeds of 5200, 5600 and 6000 MT/s.

Now what we have here is the DDR5-5600 model in 32 GB of capacity. This is a kit of two 16 GB DIMMs with 40-40-40-84 timings and AMD EXPO support. This particular memory kit is priced at $152.61 USD.

Disclosure: TEAMGROUP sent the T-FORCE Vulcan α DDR5-5600 for the purpose of this review. The company did not ask me to say anything particular about it.

• Product Page: TEAMGROUP T-FORCE VULCAN α DDR5-5600 Memory Kit
• Price: $152.61 USD (Amazon)
• Release Date: Q4 2022

Technical Specifications

Memory
SDRAM	DDR5
Interface	LO-DIMM
Capacity	32 GB (2x 16 GB)
Speed	5600 MT/s
Timings	40-40-40-84
Voltage	1.25 V
Dimensions
Length	140 mm
Width	7.5 mm
Height	32.7 mm
Weight	68.2 g

Packaging and Accessories

The TEAMGROUP T-FORCE Vulcan α DDR5-5600 comes in a simple two part packaging.

The package comes with the following items inside:

• 2x TEAMGROUP T-FORCE VULCAN α DDR5-5600
• T-FORCE case badge
• Documentation

Nothing is out of place here. Just the bare minimum which is fine.

Design, Layout and Connectivity

The T-FORCE VULCAN α DDR5-5600 is a simple memory kit – at least on the surface. This is available in both red and black so you still have some form of a choice here as far as color matching or your themed build is concerned.

The TEAMGROUP T-FORCE Vulcan α is not that much taller compared to standard LO-DIMM kits. That said, it is compatible with all CPU coolers made specifically for the DDR5 platforms.

The T-FORCE Vulcan α DDR5-5600 features a single rank module design with 8 memory ICs – each with 2 GB of capacity for a total of 16 GB per stick. The PMIC is located at the same substrate located at the center of the DIMM.

Test Setup and Methodology

Our test setup relies on the measurements taken from industry standard benchmark tools and real-world applications. It is important to note that we are testing the review sample after burn-in, with at least 24-hours of uptime. This is done so to negate the FOTB (fresh out the box) state of the DUT (device under test), yielding better benchmarking consistency.

Test System Specifications
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
Motherboard	GIGABYTE X670E AORUS Master
Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S Redux
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-FORCE Vulcan α DDR5-5600 32 GB
GPU	GALAX RTX 2060 EX White 6 GB
Storage	Kingston FURY Renegade 2 TB
Case	Mechanical Library JXK-K2
PSU	Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 850 W
Display	LG UF680T
OS	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

The DUT is tested with the following configuration from our test system:

• UEFI configuration: Default
• Windows Power Plan: Balanced

Arithmetic

Pi calculation speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via SuperPI.

Roots calculation speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via WPrime.

The Vulcan α showed a rather nuanced start. At SuperPI for example, it is slower at its DRR5-5600 profile compared to the stock. It is however, faster compared to the stock profile at wPrime. It is also overall faster compared to JEDEC’s 4800 MT/s standard.

3D Rendering

Cinema 4D score is measured in Points (pts). This is done via Cinebench R20.

V-Ray 5 score is measured in V-Ray samples (vSamples). This is done via V-Ray 5 Benchmark.

Now the T-FORCE Vulcan α showed great results from the rendering benchmarks. It is the fastest at Cinebench R20 (5600 MT/s) while it is the third fastest at V-Ray 5.

Digital Content Creation

Image editing speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via RealBench and its built-in GIMP benchmark.

Video encoding speed is measured in Seconds (s).This is done via RealBench and its built-in HandBrake benchmark.

Performance here is rather good – at least for the DDR5-5600 profile. Its DDR5-5200 profile sure is the slowest on the bench though as far as GIMP is concerned.

Web Browsing

Web browsing speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via PCMark 10 and its built-in Chromium benchmark.

Web browsing speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via PCMark 10 and its built-in Firefox benchmark.

Memory speed and or profiles does not impact our web browser benchmarks as much – like many other memory kits before it.

Office Productivity

Productivity speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via PCMark 10 and its built-in LibreOffice Writer benchmark. The test aims to check the speed of loading documents.

Productivity speed is measured in Seconds (s). This is done via PCMark 10 and its built-in LibreOffice Calc benchmark. The test aims to check the speed of copying data and compute.

Much like the arithmetic and productivity benchmarks, there is something to gain and something sacrificed on our productivity benchmarks. Its 5600 MT/s profile for an instance is slower than the 4800 MT/s memory on our bench. I did ran these benchmarks a number of times to check what’s up but we arrived at the same result – on average.

Compression

Compression speed is measured in Kilobyte per Second (KB/s). This is done via WinRAR and its built-in benchmark.

Instruction speed is measured in Giga-Instructions per Second (GIPS). This is done via 7-Zip and its built-in benchmark.

Compression benchmarks are much more telling. Here we could see a definite improvement going from JEDEC (5200 MT/s) to EXPO (5600 MT/s).

Gaming

Frame rate is measured in Frames per Second (FPS). This is done via Final Fantasy XVI: Endwalker and its official benchmark. The test aims to check the 1% low FPS performance.

Frame rate is measured in Frames per Second (FPS). This is done via Sid Meier’s Civilization VI and its built-in benchmark. The test aims to check the 1% low FPS performance.

Performance scaling based on games tested is excellent – as far as the jump from 4800 MT/s is concerned.

Features

There isn’t much to talk about the T-FORCE Vulcan α when it comes to features (AMD EXPO) unless we talk about the innate ones from the DDR5 interface itself. Such includes the on-die ECC, on-board PMIC and power efficiency.

Final Thoughts

Just when we thought DDR5 is not going to be that affordable real soon, TEAMGROUP released the Vulcan α DDR5-5600 with a snazzy price point of $152.61 USD for a 32 GB kit. There are many other brands pursuing the same thing, but TEAMGROUP is the first to offer such a 5600 MT/s kit at such price.

Now while it is indeed one of the most budget oriented DDR5 kits out there past the 5000 MT/s range, you have to acknowledge its simplicity. In itself is a good thing since it is easier to pair with any build – I also do not mind it personally speaking. But then again, if you like the bling with RGB and all, you could always choose another brand or TEAMGROUP’s very own fancier models.

While it is also not the fastest kit around, nor will shatter the DDR5-6400 memory kit on our test bench, I felt the T-FORCE Vulcan α DDR5-5600 held its own really well against the faster and more expensive kits. That said, I would definitely recommend it if you happen to be shopping for a AMD EXPO certified DDR5 memory – with frugality in mind.