There's nothing we can do about RAM prices, so here's the best 32 GB DDR5 kit I could find in the Black Friday sales that's actually worth considering

An image showing a set of V-Color Manta XSky DDR5 UDIMMs against a colorful background, with a set of Black Friday and PC Gamer logos on the sides. — (Image credit: V-Color)

I know this isn't a 'deal'. Anything that was less than half the price just a handful of months ago can only be viewed as anything but a deal. However, the price of RAM is out of our hands and more importantly, retailers' sticky mitts, too. So if you're hoping for a nice DDR5 kit to suddenly turn up cheap for your fresh gaming PC build or upgrade, then you're out of luck.

We're curating the best deals this Black Friday on PC gaming products we love

Anyway, let's get down to the important stuff. This kit is advertised as being for AMD processors only by virtue of its EXPO overclocking profile. However, I've yet to test a decent Intel motherboard that doesn't recognise EXPO. Raptor Lake and Arrow Lake CPUs are also generally quite happy with their memory controllers running at 6400 MT/s.

That's not quite the case with AMD's Ryzen chips. Only two of the Zen-powered processors I use in my full array of test equipment are happy with their integrated memory controllers running at this speed: the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and the Ryzen 9 9950X. It's not because those specific models are fine with it, but more just that the samples that I have are.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor — Not all Ryzen chips will like 6400 MT/s RAM but you can always tweak the speed down in the BIOS. (Image credit: Future)

However, since the V-Color kit is rated to 6400 MT/s CL32, it will have absolutely no problem running at 6000 MT/s CL32. What you'll need to do is dig into your motherboard's BIOS/UEFI DRAM settings to force those settings. Some make it very easy, though. For example, MSI's latest boards sport a 'try it' feature where you select a speed and CAS rating from a drop-down menu.

Obviously, that's far more time and effort than simply clicking on the overclocking profile in the BIOS, but at least you know you're not paying a silly amount of money for something that isn't fast and snappy.

👉Check out all of Newegg's Black Friday RAM deals👈

Best PC build 2025

1. Best CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

2. Best motherboard: MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi

3. Best RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB DDR5-7200

4. Best SSD: WD_Black SN7100

5. Best graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 9070

👉Check out our list of guides👈

Nick, gaming, and computers all first met in the early 1980s. After leaving university, he became a physics and IT teacher and started writing about tech in the late 1990s. That resulted in him working with MadOnion to write the help files for 3DMark and PCMark. After a short stint working at Beyond3D.com, Nick joined Futuremark (MadOnion rebranded) full-time, as editor-in-chief for its PC gaming section, YouGamers. After the site shutdown, he became an engineering and computing lecturer for many years, but missed the writing bug. Cue four years at TechSpot.com covering everything and anything to do with tech and PCs. He freely admits to being far too obsessed with GPUs and open-world grindy RPGs, but who isn't these days?

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.