TeamGroup T-Force Deltaα DDR5-6000 C38 2x16GB Review: Deceiving Looks

TeamGroup has sent the T-Force Deltaα DDR5-6000 C38, one of the brand's latest AMD EXPO memory kits, into the wild to contend with the best RAM on the market. Ryzen 7000 processors are the first consumer AMD chips to embrace DDR5, and naturally, memory manufacturers used the opportunity to release new AMD EXPO-certified products to satisfy the needs of the consumers that will jump on the AM5 platform. TeamGroup, for instance, has launched the Deltaα and Vulcanα series, which are essentially AMD-exclusive versions of the vanilla Delta and Vulcan series. They target different consumers, though. The Delta series is flashy and has all the bells and whistles of gaming memory, whereas the Vulcan series is a more conservative product.

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The Delta memory module's stealth jet-inspired design mostly translated to the Deltaα with minor changes. The latter variant has a few extra white stripes on the aluminum heat spreader. The aesthetics blend in with many systems, so we don't blame TeamGroup for wanting to recycle the design. As usual, the brand utilizes the 'α' suffix to distinguish the AMD EXPO variants from the Intel XMP 3.0 versions. The type of memory kit is visible on the packaging and the memory module's aluminum heat spreader.

Since Deltaα and Delta have identical heat spreaders, the height remains at 46.1mm or 1.81 inches. As usual, you can choose between a black or white heat spreader. The RGB diffuser and the "R" cutout look good when illuminated. You'll have to rely on your motherboard software to control Deltaα's RGB lighting, a plus in many people's books. It works fine with the Asus Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0, MSI Mystic Light Sync, ASRock Polychrome Sync, and Biostar Advanced Vivid LED DJ software.

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The T-Force Deltaα DDR5-6000 C38 memory kit has two 16GB DDR5 memory modules featuring a single-rank design. TeamGroup used SK hynix's new H5CG48AGBDX018 (A-die) integrated circuits (ICs) for this particular SKU. Each memory module has 16GB of capacity, so eight 2GB ICs are under the heat spreader. Peeling off the thermal compound took some ink off the marking on the power management IC (PMIC). However, we can still distinguish the model as "0D=9H 23Y," a popular PMIC fabricated by Taiwanese vendor Richtek.

Geared towards AMD Zen 4 processors, which support DDR5-5200 natively, the Deltaα memory kit runs at the same data rate by default. The timings at DDR5-5200 are 42-42-42-83. As usual, there's only one AMD EXPO memory profile, which is for DDR5-6000 at 38-38-38-78 with a 1.25V DRAM voltage. See our PC Memory 101 feature and How to Shop for RAM story for more timings and frequency considerations.

Comparison Hardware

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Our Intel test system runs the Core i9-13900K on the MSI MEG Z690 Unify-X with the 7D28vAA firmware. In contrast, the AMD system pairs the Ryzen 7 7700X with the MSI MPG X670E Carbon WiFi changed to the 7D70v176 firmware. The Corsair CUE H100i Elite LCD liquid cooler keeps our Raptor Lake and Zen 4 processor operating temperatures in check.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Gaming X Trio tackles the more graphics-intensive workloads, ensuring that there isn't a graphics bottleneck in our gaming RAM benchmarks. The Windows 11 installation, benchmarking software, and games reside on Crucial's MX500 SSDs. Meanwhile, the Corsair RM1000x Shift ATX 3.0 power supply provides our systems with clean and abundant power, directly feeding the GeForce RTX 4080 with a native 16-pin (12VHPWR) power cable. Lastly, the Streacom BC1 open-air test bench is vital to organizing our hardware.

Intel Performance

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The Deltaα was one of the slowest memory kits on the Intel platforms. It's comprehensible because not all AMD EXPO memory kits perform well outside the platform they were designed for.

AMD Performance

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Surprisingly, TeamGroup's memory performed even worse on the AMD platform. The Deltaα memory kit came in second to last on the application performance chart despite sharing the exact specifications as the T-Force Vulcanα DDR5-6000 C38.

Overclocking and Latency Tuning

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While the cheaper Vulcanα memory kit used SK hynix M-die ICs, the Deltaα leverages the newer A-die ICs. As a result, the Deltaα offers greater overclocking headroom. This was evident in our overclocking tests, as the memory kit was one of three DDR5-6000 memory kits that could achieve DDR5-6600. It retained the exact timings (38-38-38-78) but demanded an increase of the DRAM voltage from 1.25V to 1.4V.

Lowest Stable Timings

While A-die is superior to M-die in overclocking, we obtained similar results when tightening the timings. Like the Vulcanα, the Deltaα's limit for stability at DDR5-6000 was 36-36-36-76, two clock cycles down from the advertised specifications. DRAM voltage was at 1.4V to hit those timings.

Bottom Line

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the T-Force Deltaα DDR5-6000 C38 is a more flamboyant version of the T-Force Vulcanα DDR5-6000 C38. Despite the identical specifications, the latter offers somewhat higher performance, so that's something important to consider when comparing both memory kits. But as far as aesthetics and overclocking go, the Deltaα wins hands down.

The pricing differs slightly between the two competing memory kits from TeamGroup's camp. The T-Force Deltaα DDR5-6000 C38 retails for $97.99, whereas the T-Force Vulcanα DDR5-6000 C38 carries a $84.99 price tag. The latter has a $13 saving, which may not seem much for the majority. Suppose you need a memory kit that makes your system stand out or a DDR5-6000 memory kit with A-die ICs for overclocking. In that case, the Deltaα memory kit isn't a bad option, assuming you can live with the lower out-of-the-box performance compared to its rivals.

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