XPS 8950, 3rd Party Memory

Question

Has anyone tried any 3rd Party DDR5 in their XPS 8950? Specifically Kingston DDR5, but any info on successes or failures would be useful?

I am asking because I know the XPS 8940 was/is very picky about what (DDR4) memory it will work (my wife has one) and am wondering if the XPS 8950 has the same issues?

In Australia, when I brought my 8950 (Feb 22) there was only a 16GB (2x8GB) option available. What I want is 32GB as 2x16GB so I have a future upgrade path to 64GB, but I really cant justify spending more than double the amount of money on a Dell memory upgrade which as far as I can tell is inferior to other cheaper memory!

Note: As far as I understand it Crucial don't do the "moneyback if it doesn't work on Dell" deal here in Oz.

I currently looking at the Kingston Fury Beast 32GB (16GB x2 Kit) DDR5 4800Mhz (Which should clock down to 4400Mhz)

The Kingston memory (pn: KF548C38BBK2-32) I am looking at has a profile of DDR5-4800 CL38-38-38 @ 1.1V

The Dell installed memory (hynix, pn:HMCG66MEBUA081N) has a profile of DDR5-4800 CL40-39-39 @ 1.1V

Interestingly in CPUID CPU-Z says my Dell memory has a CAS Latency of 36 rather than 40 (in the datasheet). Any thoughts on that one would also be welcome!

Many thanks.

XPS_Man · Accepted Answer

About pricing and returns : I agree Dell.com prices are too high and it's only for those users who don't have enough hardware software expertise. I order mine from Amazon or Flipkart(India) we have a minimum 10 days return period, so if you have retailer in Australia, try that instead of OEM.

All listed modules will work your XPS 8950.

DDR5 is way overpriced due to the fact it's new, In case you are not in to Fancy heatsinks you can also check Crucial CT16G48C40U5 for much better price.

Pitpat1 · Accepted Answer

Just in case anyone is interested I answered my own question and took a punt on the 32gb Kingston Beast 4800 DDR5 2x16gb Memory (pn: KF548C38BBK2-32).

It has been running without issue for a couple of days now. It was super easy to install and I didn't have to make any changes to the bios (other than acknowledging that my memory size had changed on first boot after change).

I selected the Kingston memory as I was having issues sourcing the Crucial memory recommended by others in the forum. I sourced my memory from Amazon in the US as the prices here in Australia were much higher! I selected the Kingston Beast 4800MHz as it has the same 1.1v spec as the existing Dell ram. This was important for DDR4/XPS 8940, but I get the impression that is not an issue for DDR5/XPS 8950?

In NovaBench it reports near identical "ram speed" to the original Dell memory. (Dell = 29351 MB/S vs Kingston = 29384 MB/s)

I think the latencies are a also a little better but didn't make a note of what they were before.

Blender 3.2 definitely seems a lot faster and much smoother with big scenes.

The CPU-Z results for the KF548C38BBK2-32 running on an XPS 8950 (with a 12700K) are below if anyone is interested.

Note: It is clock limited down to 4400MHz rather than 4800MHz. I have the K sku processor that allows overclocking but don't seem to be able to turn on XMP in the bios. Though if I select "over clocking" it does allow me to select memory voltage and memory multipliers! (not that I would dare to touch anything)

Note: This is my experience, I am not an expert. For me it works and works well, but using 3rd party memory is a risk and is presumably not covered by Dell's warranty. Follow in my footsteps at your own peril!

DELL-Cares · Answer

Thank you! We have received the required details. We will work towards a resolution. In the meantime, you may also receive assistance or suggestions from the community members.

Pitpat1 · Answer

Thanks for that. I hadn't even considered getting the sticks individually rather than as a 2xpack. For some reason it is about 10% cheaper for the Crucial memory buying it as separate sticks than buying as a pair.

I know in the early days of DDR it was important to get paired memory, but as far as I understand it these days it doesn't matter?

XPS_Man · Answer

I am still sticking with DDR4 for more most of my machines. I manage over 200 PCs for my org

Unless I see great improvement in performance (i.e HDD to SSDs) I not investing crazy amount of money in it.

DDR5 is just for Personal computers for nerds like us

Pitpat1 · Answer

Unfortunately the XPS 8950 only has DDR5 slots which are not compatible with DDR4, otherwise I would be switching out the 64GB of DDR4 (3rd Party) memory I put in my wifes computer as she doesn't need it. (I am not sure if there is an XPS 8950 model available with DDR4 in the US but it has definitely not made it to Oz)

I ran Novabench on my wifes XPS 8940 which is DDR4 and my XPS 8950 which is DDR5 the results are pretty much within the noise margin for each other:

XPS 8940 (16GB Dell DDR4) - NB Score: 271 (RAM Speed: 26649 MB/s)
XPS 8950 (16GB Dell DDR5) - NB Score: 277 (RAM Speed: 28412 MB/s

That said while the Ram speeds remain pretty much the same there is quite a performance jump between the XPS 8940 (i7-11700K) and the XPS 8950 (i7-12700K) as a whole system, but it is nothing to do with the memory.

XPS Desktops

XPS 8950, 3rd Party Memory

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