Crucial Pro DDR4 and DDR5 Review

Pro DDR4-3200 Final Score : 88% 

Pro DDR5-5600 Final Score: 92%

Before we begin let us be clear. We really like the Crucial “Classic” line of DDR4 and DDR5. In the DDR4 days of dominance we used them (when they were called ‘Value’) in a veritable ton of builds. We used them because they “Just Work”. They ‘just work’ so well that Apple should be jealous of how reliable those RAM options are. The same holds true for the DDR5 Classic line. It’s a line that if a Mister Murphy or a Gremlin come to a stock system build’s party it’s (almost always) either the motherboard (BIOS), or the CPU’s Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) that is the problem. Rarely the RAM.

This brings us to the DDR4 and DDR5 Pro models. Put simply they are better. They are worth the couple extra dollars. Especially the DDR5 kits. We can state that with utmost confidence because they have passed (even more) stringent QA/QC factory binning than the Classic line and yet do not cost nearly as much as most other company’s ‘flagship’ models’ demand. Instead, they are priced only slightly above the Classic series and well within most system build’s budgets. They also come with heatsinks that do a wonderful job at both radiating the heat created from the ICs and the onboard PMIC… yet do not add any z-height restrictions / system build drama. Most importantly of all… those heatsinks are wonderful dust protectors.

Let’s go in reverse order of our reasoning. Yes. In a perfect world every single build would be longingly cleaned and dusted out every couple weeks. Back here in the real world we have clients that are cat owners. We have clients that are dog owners. We have workaholic clients. We even have older clients who are smokers. Hell… we vape. All of which means that most don’t have time to clean their computer appliance (even we slack off from time to time). Furthermore, dust is a long term stability killer. Especially in DDR5 with onboard PMICs. For a couple extra bucks, it adds a bit of peace of mind. It is also the least of the reasons to opt for these Pro models over Classics.

At stock ‘out of the box’ configurations they are indeed rock solid reliable. Just like the Classic line. Also like the Classic line they do not require any hand holding to hit their rated frequencies. No need to first build with a cheap kit to get the new rig to POST, enter BIOS, manually enter the timings and voltage. Save, exit. Swap out the RAM for the ‘real’ kit. None of that is needed. Instead, it is Plug and Play. However, it is when you want to get more than what you paid for that both the DDR4 and DDR5 kits come into their own and show their increase in asking price is well worth it.

With Valu… err Classic RAM series you could pretty much get one to two extra steps of performance out of a kit without too much hassle. So Classic DDR5-5600 options would be a safe DDR5-5800 and probably DDR5-600. With the Classic DDR4-3200 would turn into DDR4-36xx or maybe DDR4-3800. Compare and contrast those numbers with the no-brainer, extremely easy to obtain DDR4-4000 and DDR5-6200 overclocking results… and the Pros simply have more room for overclocking than any inexpensive kit have any right of being. This is a kit that other companies would call “Domination” or “Neptune’s Trident” (or something equally pretentious) and come with a lot higher asking price… as they would not be sold as DDR5-5600 kits. They would be DDR5-5800 or even DDR5-6000 kits. That is what Crucial offers for just a few extra bucks over their Classic lines’ asking price.

As such when you combine improved reliability of the Classic line with improved overall value with actually good overclocking potential the answer becomes rather blatant. Buy the Pro kit that is right for you and rest assured that no matter if you are looking for reliability, overclock-ability, or just generally good aesthetics the new Crucial Pro line-up has you covered.

DDR4-3200 64GB:

DDR5-5600 32gb: