It’s ultimately going to be a DDR4 world in a few years and since it’s still a fresh market, what better way to make a statement for a company than jump in the currently high-end world of DDR4 memory modules. Apacer is doing just that by releasing its second modern offering of enthusiast memory modules dubbed the Apacer Blade.
Apacer is a memory manufacturer and has been a long-standing name in the industry. Their primary offerings focus on memory solutions but also offer a wide range of flash and storage products for consumers and businesses. The Apacer Blade is the latest entry in their recent lineup of enthusiast-oriented products, following the hyped-up Commando memory modules. The Apacer Blade continues the weaponry theme motiff and brandishes a new heat sink design for high-end gaming builds.
Specifications
※3400 MHz 16-16-16-36 1.35V 16GB(4GBx4)
Closer Look
Apacer packages the Blade DDR4 memories in a small clamshell insert wrapped in a colored box with clear windows for peeking into Blade DDR4 modules inside. At are some of the feature highlights of the Blade memories.
Taking out the Blade memory modules out of the box is where it really pops. The black finish really gives it a mean look and silver blade streak is a good touch on detail. The black PCB rounds off everything giving an overall premium feel to the kit.
Looking around the Blade DDR4 modules we can appreciate how much details Apacer put into the heat sink design. The top line features ridges reminiscent of the barb serration found on the back of combat/survival knives and this leads to the raised edge which is designed off the handle of said knives.
Here are the Apacer Blade DDR4 modules placed in a red and black system. We know this is a very popular color scheme and the Apacer Blade complements this motiff very well.
Here\'s another angle on that.
Overclocking Performance
Test Setup
Processor: Intel i7-5930K
Motherboard: ASUS X99-A
Memory: APACER BLADE DDR4 3200 16GB Quad-Channel Memory Kit
Storage: Kingston HyperX Fury 240GB
Power Supply: BitFenix Fury 650G
GPU: Palit JetStream GTX 780 Ti
From experience, we\'ve had some issues getting speeds of DDR4-3000 or higher working on some of our boards, it takes a bit of fiddling around to get them to boot. We initially had issues booting with our ASUS board but a BIOS update fixed that and we were able to boot with all 4 sticks placed in. Activating the XMP profile immediately gave us the necessary timings for our kit and we managed to boot DDR4-3200 speeds straight up with just that.
So we go straight to overclocking to see if we can squeeze these out further. DDR4-3200 is quite high already but we\'re curious how much we can squeeze the Apacer Blade DDR4 modules further. Seems like we can\'t take it any further and only got it to get a slight 3235Mhz bump. We\'d have wanted to see DDR4-3300+ at least but that\'s for a future update.
That said, we wanted to see if we can tighten the timings a bit and the Apacer Blade does better here dropping to 14-15-15-35 from 16-16-16-36. We tried going for 13-13-13-32 but the system refuses to boot even with 1.45v coursing through them. Again we\'ll play around and see how far we can take these kits. But overall, we feel the tighter timing is good enough instead of bumping the BCLK.
Conclusion
Apacer has really been improving in their products lately and its nice to see that they\'ve done away with the extreme designs of the past and focused on more stylish designs. Couple this with the overall solid performance and we\'ve got another excellent product from Apacer continuing the path set by the Commando memory modules.
The Apacer Blade DDR4 are well-made and exude a real feel of quality from the PCB all the way to the heat sink design. Hassle-free installation makes the Apacer Blade DDR4 an easy kit to work, complete with XMP2.0 profiles so you can easily load-up those high-speed timings without fiddling around in the BIOS. If you\'re looking for a DDR4 kit to make that black and red gaming rig pop, the Apacer Blade DDR4 series memory kit is a great choice.