v-color Manta XPrism DDR5-6200 Memory Review

Fast DDR5 From a Name You May Not Know

In the realm of enthusiast computer memory, the name v-color might not ring a bell for many people, but they are not a new company – founded in 2006 – and they have a lot of experience in the server market (as well as ODM to brands like Gigabyte).

Looking up v-color on Newegg reveals quite a few SKUs, and among these you may soon find the new DDR5 desktop kits in their Mantra series, launching today.

“Available in dual channel kits of 32GB (2x16GB) using carefully sorted Hynix ICs for superior overclocking performance, the Manta XPrism RGB DDR5 is designed for the latest 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors and Intel Z690 chipset motherboard and is XMP 3.0 ready for easy overclocking. To fully complete PC builds, v-color also offers patented SCC 2+2 KIT, available in black and white, for filling unused DIMM slots.”

As evidenced by the PR quote above, v-color is transparent as to the manufacturer of the ICs found in these modules, with Hynix listed for each variant of the Manta XPrism RGB DDR5 series. These kits are offered with speeds ranging from 5600 MT/s (CL36-36-36-76, 1.2v) to 6400 MT/s (CL32-39-39-102, 1.4v).

Our 6200 MT/s sample provides timings of 36-39-39-76 at 1.3v, which is a bit higher latency than the impressive CL32 for the high-end 6400 kit, but as our Z690 testbed has thus far been outfitted with DDR5-4800 CL40, this v-color DDR5-6200 kit should offer a nice performance boost. How much? Well, let’s find out!

The Manta XPrism RGB DDR5 6200 Kit

Here is look at the features for the Manta XPrism RGB series from v-color:

Ultra-low Latency DDR5 with Overclocking Performance – The Manta XPrism RGB comes in 32GB (2x16GB) modules and offers high-speed performance ranging from 5600MHz to 6400MHz. The XPrism RGB is XMP 3.0 ready for optimal frequencies by simply applying profiles in the BIOS. Additionally, each Manta XPrism RGB goes through v-color’s patented auto-screening process (Advanced O.C Smart Sorting System).

Overclocking, Stable, and High Tolerance – The Manta XPrism RGB uses Hynix ICs for superb overclocking performance, great stability, and a high tolerance for heavy workloads. At 5600MHz @1.2V, 6000MHz @1.25V, 6200MHz @1.3V, and 6400MHz @1.4V, the Manta XPrism RGB series features the perfect balance of frequency and power delivery. Thanks to the onboard PMIC (Power Management Integrated Circuit) chip and on-die ECC chips, each Manta XPrism RGB performs at stable frequencies.

Custom-designed Cooling in Style – The Manta XPrism RGB can handle the additional heat of DDR5 with custom-designed heat-dissipating heatsinks, available in black and white. In addition, each stick features 16 addressable LEDs embedded behind a meticulously carved diffuser that ensure smooth light effects and ultimate brightness. The Manta XPrism RGB is compatible with all motherboards lighting software enabling users to create a unified look across their system.

Fill up empty DIMM slots with SCC 2+2 KIT – v-color provides the option of using Manta XPrism RGB SCC kits (Patent NO. US-10,285,273 B1) to fill up the remaining DIMM slots for builds to look more complete with fully addressable stunning light effects.

Our “2+2” review kit contains two 16GB DDR5 modules as well as v-color’s SCC Kit, which adds two additional RGB dummy modules. This reminded me of an Aorus DDR4 kit that contained a pair of “demo modules”, and after learning that v-color is Gigabyte’s ODM this all makes sense.

A glance at the edge connector of the RGB module reveals just a few pins, as these are for RGB lighting and nothing else.

Manta XPrism DDR5-6200 Performance

As mentioned in the introduction, our sample is the kit offering speeds of 6200 MT/s, with timings of 36-39-39-76 at 1.3 volts. The kit also includes the SCC “dummy” modules, to fill up all four DIMM slots on boards so equipped, and is part number TMXPL1662836KW-DK. We have the black finish, and this model is also available with white heat spreaders.

As you can see in the above CPU-Z screenshot, the XMP 3.0 profile for these modules provides the advertised 6200 MT/s speed (actual frequency 3100 MHz for effective double-data rate of “6200 MHz”), with the voltage at 1.300 V. In my testing with an MSI MAG Tomahawk Z690 WiFi board, I had zero issues with the rated speed and voltage using the XMP profile, and no stability issues in days of continuous testing with both an Intel Core i9-12900K and Intel Core i9-12900KS processor. 

For an idea of how much of a performance boost I saw in moving up to this Manta XPrism 6200 MT/s, CL36 sample, here are a few quick comparisons with the Micron OEM memory that I have been using on the Z690 platform since the Alder Lake launch, which runs at 4800 MT/s with a CAS latency of 40.

As usual, AIDA64’s memory test will provide the biggest difference between memory speeds and latencies, and here we are very unfairly comparing some pretty fast 6200 MT/s RAM to the baseline 4800 MT/s standard.

While only a couple of applications were tested here, you can see that the differences in various memory speeds are less extreme in some cases:

Of course your experiences will vary depending on application, but in most cases I saw an measurable improvement with the v-color kit. I’m sure we would have seen even greater gains across the board with the faster 6400 MT/s, CL32 kit.

Now, as this is an RGB kit, and moreover includes a pair of RGB-only modules, I felt the need to cover this aspect of the product, as well. Oddly enough, I discovered an issue. One of the two RGB-only modules did not stay synchronized with the other modules when a pattern such as the default rainbow effect was selected, though solid colors were fine.

In the first gallery image above you can see the modules with the default rainbow effect from this MSI motherboard at boot, and the second photo shows how the colors lose sync on the top RGB module several seconds later. I didn’t try another motherboard, though I did try re-installing the motherboard RGB control software and toggling between static and patterned RGB effects, to no avail.

Final Thoughts

The performance and reliability of this v-color memory was excellent during our testing, with no issues reaching the rated speed and timings using the built-in XMP 3.0 profile. It’s nice to move up to something faster than the baseline DDR5-4800 at last, and v-color is offering very good latency with these at CL36 memory, which is considerably more rare than CL38 for DDR5-6200 at this point.

I will again note the odd issue of one of the included RGB modules exhibiting drift in the timing of effects, as mentioned above, though solid colors have no such issue. I would personally buy the version without the dummy RGB modules anyhow, and the DIMMs themselves exhibited no problems with the synchronization of lighting effects.

As to value, the MSRP for the 2+2 kit as tested, which includes the SCC kit, is $459.99. If you do not require the RGB-only modules the kit drops to $399.99. How does this compare? Well, as I’m writing this (on April 26, 2022) there is only one other option for a DDR5-6200 with a CAS latency of 36, and it is a Corsair Dominator kit that has been marked up considerably by a 3rd party seller.

Availability of DDR5, while much improved since the launch of Intel’s Alder Lake CPUs, is still limited, particularly if you are looking for specific speed/latency combinations. I do not yet see this new v-color Manta XPrism DDR5 for sale on Amazon or Newegg, though it is listed as in stock on the v-color website:

You may note that the pricing for 32GB of DDR5-6200 is currently $100 higher than the announced MSRP of $399.99. Hopefully this just needs to be corrected on their site.