In a sign that we still haven’t reached peak screens in PC components yet, memory maker V-Color and motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte have just launched a new line of gaming RAM modules that feature integrated OLED displays. The new V-Color Manta Xfinity+ OLED RAM kits each feature a module fitted with a screen that gets its data directly from your motherboard, showing real-time system information, such as the memory temperature, latency timings, and capacity.
Does it look genuinely useful? Nope, but it does look pretty cool, and there’s nothing wrong with that, plus it also gives V-Color a unique feature over all the other kits in our best gaming RAM guide. If you’ve already got a screen on your AIO cooler’s pump unit, another one embedded in your case, and more on your motherboard heatsinks, then hell, why not have one on your RAM too? V-Color says it designed the modules in close collaboration with the Gigabyte engineering team, and that they don’t require any extra cables or connections.
Instead, all the screen’s power and data needs come directly from your motherboard’s DIMM slots, and it can start picking up its information from your motherboard’s power-on-self-test (POST) cycle when you switch it on, without having to wait for you to get into Windows first. Given that you can only see the front edge of one memory module once they’re all installed in your system, though, only one of the DIMMs in each kit actually has the OLED display, with the other module in a dual-channel kit just being a standard RGB DIMM.
Only standard dual-channel kits will be available at launch, but V-Color says it also has plans to launch matching dummy RGB modules without memory in the future, so you can put RGB DIMMs in all four of your motherboard’s slots, without the cost of buying extra memory. V-Color says it has patented the OLED screen system as well, so we’ll be interested to see if any competitors try to release their own modules with screens as well.
Several kits will be available at launch, either supporting Intel XMP or AMD EXPO profiling tech. An ultra-low timing 32GB kit will be available for AMD EXPO systems, with a 6,000MT/s speed and latency timings as low as CL26, while high-performance modules will also be available for AMD rigs, going up to 9,000MT/s with CL42 timings. Meanwhile, Intel kits will be available with certification for the new Intel 200S boost mode, running at 8,000MT/s with CL40 timings, and faster kits will also be available for Intel systems, running at up to 9,066MT/s.
V-Color hasn’t announced any pricing yet, but says the new modules will soon be available to buy exclusively from Newegg, in black and white color schemes, with availability at other retailers, including Amazon, following later.
Looking for more places to put screens? Check out our guide to the best CPU cooler, where some of the models have integrated displays in their pump units.
Is OLED gaming RAM a step too far, or do you think it looks pretty cool? Let us know your thoughts in our community Discord server.