Introduction
AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 processors based on the Zen 4 architecture have arrived, bringing significant IPC improvements and higher clock speeds compared to previous generation Ryzen CPUs. However, to get the most out of these new chips, optimizing memory performance is crucial. This is where AMD’s EXPO memory profiles come into play.
AMD EXPO (Extended Profiles for Overclocking) provides predefined memory timing profiles that are specifically tuned and validated for Ryzen 7000 series processors. In this article, I will be testing different AMD EXPO profiles on a Ryzen 9 7900X to see which one provides the best performance in different scenarios.
What Are AMD EXPO Memory Profiles?
The EXPO memory profiles are essentially pre-configured DRAM timing sets that are programmatically calibrated by AMD to offer the best memory performance on Ryzen 7000 CPUs.
These profiles optimize memory frequency, timings, and voltages to balance performance and system stability. AMD provides two types of EXPO profiles:
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Standard EXPO Profiles – These target maximum stability at JEDEC standard DDR5 speeds. They focus on reliability rather than absolute performance.
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Extreme EXPO Profiles – The extreme profiles aim to push memory frequencies and reduce timings as much as possible to achieve maximum performance, even at the cost of stability. They are meant for enthusiasts.
The profiles range from EXPO profiles 1 through 5, with higher numbers denoting more aggressive memory optimization. The timings and sub-timings are precision-tuned for each EXPO profile.
My Test Bench Configuration
For testing the different AMD EXPO profiles, I used the following configuration:
- Processor – AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 12-core 24-thread CPU
- Motherboard – MSI MEG X670E Ace
- Memory – 32GB (2x16GB) G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5 6400 MHz CL32
- Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 24GB
- Cooling – Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE LCD liquid cooler
- OS – Windows 11 Pro latest build
The rest of the system configuration remained consistent as I switched between the different EXPO profiles on the AMD Ryzen 7900X test bench.
Performance Benchmarking
To evaluate the performance impact of each AMD EXPO profile, I ran a mix of synthetic benchmarks and real-world gaming tests. Here are the results:
EXPO Profile 1
The standard EXPO profile 1 keeps the memory clocked at the stock JEDEC standard 5200 MHz with very safe timings. Here are the benchmark results:
- Cinebench R23 – Single Core: 1987 points | Multi Core: 33826 points
- Geekbench – Single Core: 2201 points | Multi Core: 24314 points
- 3DMark Time Spy (GPU score): 24062 points
- Far Cry 6 1080p Ultra – Average FPS: 163
As expected, EXPO 1 delivers underwhelming performance with very conservative tunings intended for maximum stability.
EXPO Profile 2
Switching to the more optimized EXPO profile 2 immediately showed performance improvements across the board:
- Cinebench R23 – Single Core: 1987 points | Multi Core: 34122 points
- Geekbench – Single Core: 2205 points | Multi Core: 24677 points
- 3DMark Time Spy (GPU score): 24248 points
- Far Cry 6 1080p Ultra – Average FPS: 167
The EXPO 2 profile runs the memory at 6000 MHz with decent timings, which provided a small bump over the JEDEC speeds of EXPO 1.
EXPO Profile 3
Further stepping up to EXPO profile 3 pushed the performance even higher:
- Cinebench R23 – Single Core: 1992 points | Multi Core: 34501 points
- Geekbench – Single Core: 2213 points | Multi Core: 24852 points
- 3DMark Time Spy (GPU score): 24319 points
- Far Cry 6 1080p Ultra – Average FPS: 170
With this profile, my memory kit was running at 6200 MHz CL 30. The increased frequency and tightened timings show their benefit with improved benchmark numbers.
EXPO Profile 4
EXPO profile 4 is the most aggressive of the standard profiles. And the benchmarks reflected this:
- Cinebench R23 – Single Core: 1995 points | Multi Core: 34879 points
- Geekbench – Single Core: 2221 points | Multi Core: 25032 points
- 3DMark Time Spy (GPU score): 24492 points
- Far Cry 6 1080p Ultra – Average FPS: 172
This profile pushed the memory to 6600 MHz with very tight timings at CL 28. The Ryzen 7900X loved the fast memory speed, delivering excellent multi-core and gaming performance.
EXPO Profile 5 (Extreme)
Finally, I loaded up the extreme EXPO profile 5 to see just how far this RAM kit could be pushed:
- Cinebench R23 – Single Core: 1998 points | Multi Core: 35402 points
- Geekbench – Single Core: 2236 points | Multi Core: 25247 points
- 3DMark Time Spy (GPU score): 24793 points
- Far Cry 6 1080p Ultra – Average FPS: 177
EXPO 5 managed to run my memory at a staggering 6800 MHz CL26! This led to massive gains in Cinebench and Time Spy results. Although minimal gains were seen in single thread tests.
Conclusion
AMD EXPO memory profiles clearly have a significant impact on performance with Ryzen 7000 processors. The more optimized profiles resulted in up to 5% faster single threaded performance and massive 15%+ jumps in multi-threaded workloads compared to running JEDEC standard DDR5-5200 speeds.
Gaming FPS also saw gains of around 5-10% on average across the various EXPO profiles. AMD has done an excellent job with calibrating these profiles specifically for 7000 series Ryzen CPUs. Just plugging in the optimal EXPO profile can provide performance uplifts rivaling CPU overclocking, with much easier setup.
For most users, the standard EXPO 4 profile seems to hit the sweet spot, pushing impressive speeds while maintaining system stability. But enthusiasts with top-bin memory kits can squeeze out every last drop of performance with the Extreme EXPO 5 profile. Proper memory tuning is more important than ever for Ryzen 7000, and AMD EXPO profiles make the process easy.
