Biwin Black Opal 192GB DDR5-6000 Review: High-Performance RAM
▼ Summary
– The Biwin Black Opal OC Lab Gold Edition DW100 is a 192GB DDR5-6000 memory kit, a rare high capacity for the consumer market aimed at prosumers and professionals.
– It features a premium design with a black aluminum heat spreader, golden highlights, and programmable RGB lighting, but its taller height may interfere with some CPU air coolers.
– The kit uses high-quality components including SK hynix memory chips and supports both Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO profiles for easy DDR5-6000 operation at tight timings.
– In testing, it delivered strong performance on both Intel and AMD platforms and demonstrated overclocking potential, running stably at DDR5-6200.
– The kit’s main drawbacks are its high price and limited availability, as it is not yet for sale in the U.S. despite a set MSRP of $849.
For users who demand both immense capacity and top-tier speed, the Biwin Black Opal OC Lab Gold Edition DW100 DDR5-6000 C28 delivers a compelling solution. This 192GB kit leverages the latest advancements in DDR5 technology to provide a rare combination of size and performance, catering specifically to prosumers, content creators, and professionals running memory-intensive applications.
The consumer market offers very few 192GB memory kits, making this Black Opal offering a notable contender. The landscape for system memory has evolved rapidly; where 128GB was once considered exceptional for a mainstream platform, new module densities like 48GB now enable builds with 192GB or more. Biwin’s special Gold Edition kit is designed precisely for users with these high-capacity needs.
Visually, the modules are striking. They feature a sleek black aluminum heat spreader with a uniform electrophoretic coating that adds a layer of corrosion resistance. As a Gold Edition model, it includes distinctive golden accents for a premium look suitable for any high-end system, from gaming rigs to professional workstations. An integrated RGB diffuser with eight independently controllable lighting zones allows for customization through major motherboard software from companies like Asus, MSI, ASRock, and Gigabyte. Potential buyers should note the module height of 1.98 inches, which may interfere with some large CPU air coolers.
Beneath the surface, Biwin utilizes a robust 10-layer PCB. Thermal management is aided by silicone pads with a conductivity of 2.5 W/m·K, placed between the PCB and the heat spreader. The memory chips are SK hynix M-die ICs, with sixteen 3GB chips arranged in a dual-rank configuration across the modules. Power delivery is handled by a common Richtek PMIC.
Out of the box, the kit runs at a baseline DDR5-5600 with timings of 46-45-45-90. However, it comes with both Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO profiles pre-configured for DDR5-6000. Enabling these profiles sets the memory to operate at a swift 28-36-36-102 with a DRAM voltage of 1.4V, offering a significant performance uplift from the default specification.
Performance testing was conducted on both Intel and AMD platforms. The Intel system paired a Core Ultra 9 285K with an MSI MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi board, while the AMD setup used a Ryzen 9 9900X on an MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi. Both systems employed an MSI GeForce RTX 4080 for graphics, TeamGroup A440 Lite PCIe 4.0 SSDs for storage, and a Corsair RM1000x Shift power supply, all mounted on a Streacom BC1 open bench.
On the Intel platform, the Black Opal kit delivered impressive performance at its rated DDR5-6000 speed, with its tight primary timings helping it stand out. The AMD results were equally strong. Running this memory at DDR5-6000 allows modern Ryzen processors to maintain a synchronized 1:1:1 ratio between the FCLK, UCLK, and MEMCLK, which is key for achieving optimal performance without bottlenecks.
The kit also showed promising overclocking headroom. While expectations are often tempered for high-capacity memory, this Black Opal kit managed to run stably at DDR5-6200 using the same primary timings, requiring only a slight voltage increase to 1.45V. The default DDR5-6000 timings were already excellent, and fine-tuning at that speed allowed for a minor improvement by reducing the tRAS timing to 96 cycles.
In summary, the Biwin Black Opal OC Lab Gold Edition DW100 DDR5-6000 C28 is a high-performance RAM kit that successfully marries massive 192GB capacity with strong speeds. While Biwin has optimized it for AMD systems, it performs wonderfully on Intel platforms as well, thanks to the inclusion of both XMP and EXPO profiles. It is important to remember that neither Intel nor AMD officially supports four-DIMM configurations at DDR5-6000, so results can depend on the specific processor and motherboard combination.
Priced with an MSRP of $849, the kit’s primary drawback is its current lack of availability in the U.S. market. It remains listed at €899 on Amazon Germany. For those who can acquire it, this memory kit represents a powerful upgrade for any mainstream workstation, hindered only by logistical challenges in distribution.
(Source: Tom’s Hardware)
