The DDR5 kits builders actually reach for — across the AM5 DDR5-6000 CL30 sweet spot, high-capacity 64/96GB, and high-speed 7200–8000 / CUDIMM tiers. Charted by speed, latency, capacity and features, ranked by value. Heads-up: an AI-memory shortage ("RAMpocalypse") has 2–3×'d DDR5 prices since 2024 — every price here is live but volatile.
Start with the job — it drives every chart below
Each bubble is a kit. Right = higher spec, left = cheaper — top-left is the value sweet spot. Color = brand. Capability is a transparent index from speed/latency/capacity/features (see Method). Re-scores when you pick a job above. (Four scarce high-end kits have no live price and don't plot on the value charts.)
Kits (warm) linked to the features they bring (cyan) — AMD EXPO / Intel XMP profiles, RGB, CUDIMM, on-die ECC, low-profile, the AM5-6000 sweet spot. Drag a node; hover to trace. Built from each kit's rated spec.
Each kit is scored on four axes, summed and normalized to 0–100:
speed 8000+=3 · 7200=2.6 · 6400=2.2 · 6000=1.8 … | latency efficiency = MT/s ÷ CL (higher=tighter) → 6000 CL30≈200 | capacity 96GB=2.5 · 64=2.1 · 48=1.7 · 32=1.3 | features EXPO+XMP+RGB=1.5 · dual-profile=1.3 · single+RGB=1.1
Honesty. The headline index is a raw spec index — it rewards big + fast, but for most builders the DDR5-6000 CL30 32GB "sweet spot" is the right pick (on Ryzen, 6000 runs 1:1 with the memory controller; faster often won't post), not the highest number. Use the AM5 sweet spot chip + the radar to read the tradeoff. Specs are the kit's rated EXPO/XMP profile (RAM has no measured-vs-claimed gap — kits hit their rated speed). Prices are live PCPartPicker lows pulled through our stealth scraper, but "RAMpocalypse" (the 2024→2026 AI-memory shortage) has 2–3×'d DDR5 prices and they move within days; 4 scarce high-end kits had no verifiable live price (shown "—", not faked — they're absent from the value charts). Honest scraper note: Newegg pages render only a JS shell to the browser, so PCPartPicker was the price source. Accuracy is priority #1 — nothing fabricated.