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Fake DDR5 memory kits now on sale starting at $43 — V-Color sells 0GB dummy modules and single-stick memory kits with a fake stick for $300 How far are you willing to go for aesthetics? Earlier this year, V-Color announced its 1+1 DDR5 filler memory kits to help suspend disbelief and offer psychological salvation against rising memory prices. These kits mix real DDR5 sticks with dummy modules that don't actually have any RAM inside — just working RGB — to give you the illusion of a fully-slotted motherboard. Today, the kit is finally available to buy in the UK and Europe, with just the filler sticks on their own also listed for sale in North America. V-Color has two different DDR5 products: Manta XSky and Manta XFinity, the latter being the higher-end model. The 1+1 kit is only available for the Manta XSky variant and only in the UK and Germany; not yet in the US. The 0GB kits (where both sticks are dummies) are available in both the Manta XSky and XFinity models across multiple regions. Pricing starts from $43 and goes up to almost $300, so let's break it all down. In the UK, Overclockers currently has the 16GB 6,000 MT/s CL30 kit listed for 210 GBP, or $285, in black and white colorways. You get a single 16GB stick with those specs and a filler module to occupy two slots on your motherboard. There's a slightly more expensive 16GB 6,000 MT/s CL28 kit as well, selling for 219 GBP, or $297. Once again, you can choose either the black or white color, and you get 1 real stick of RAM and one filler. - V-Color (1+1) Manta XSky RGB 16GB C30 6,000MHz - Black - V-Color (1+1) Manta XSky RGB 16GB C30 6,000MHz - White - V-Color (1+1) Manta XSky RGB 16GB C28 6,000MHz - Black - V-Color (1+1) Manta XSky RGB 16GB C28 6,000MHz - White In Europe, using Geizhals, we were only able to find one in-stock listing of the 16GB 6,000 MT/s CL28 kit for 330 Euros, or $384, in the black colorway. The same kit with CL30 speeds can be had for 220 Euros, or $256, but it's out of stock on CaseKing, the one Germany-based store in the entire EU with these products. We'll remind readers that there are no North America listings for V-Color's 1+1 DDR5 kits as of now. But we did spot plenty of 0GB kits on Newegg and Amazon. These kits don't offer any real RAM whatsoever and are purely meant for decorative purposes. You can only use these if you already have working RAM in your system and two extra slots left to populate on your motherboard. Amazon has the Manta XFinity variant listed for $57 in either black or white, while Newegg is selling the Manta XSky model for $44 in white. - V-Color Manta XFinity DDR5 RGB Filler Solution - Black (Amazon) - V-Color Manta XFinity DDR5 RGB Filler Solution - White (Amazon) - V-Color Manta XSky DDR5 RGB Filler Solution - White (Newegg) CaseKing in Germany is selling the Manta XSky filler kit for 50 Euros, or $58, but we weren't able to find any other listing across Europe. The prices for these kits across the world are not much higher than their regular, non-filler counterparts, so you might as well spring for these until the RAMpocalypse settles down. Just don't forget that you'd still be limited to single-channel memory with the 1+1 kits, which isn't that big of a deal when it comes to DDR5, especially if you have an X3D CPU. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun. - James_1976 Amazons Corsair store kindly sent me 2 RAM look a like RGB lighting sticks when I ordered 96GB of DDR5 at the end of last year, I spent spent a week trying to figure out why I couldn't get the BIOS to post until it dawned on me :cautious:Reply - recycledelectrons These fake-DIMMs are not for looks.Reply These fake-DIMMs are to help scammers commit fraud. Many PC buyers look for dual-channel RAM. Very few of them look at the BIOS or run CPU-Z. Anything fake should be illegal. - slidai I got 64GB (4x16GB) of Corsair memory back in June of last year. After looking at things, I realized I never got close to 30GB used, let alone 64GB. So, I retuned one set of ram. I didn't use the computer for a while and when I started using it a lot more often months later, the missing ram sticks really rubbed up against my OCD. But, by then, it wasn't worth it to buy another set just to fill the gaps since prices has already jumped. I would totally buy a legit set of Corsair ram just to have the RGB fully populated, but I can understand how having such a product would make it easier for scammers.Reply - ejolson While two 8GB DIMMs may have a performance advantage over one 16GB DIMM, the latter can be easily expanded to 32GB when prices stabilise. For this reason, I see one 16GB DIMM paired with a lighting module more as future proofing than a scam. At the same time, I don't understand the aesthetics at all.Reply The wires on an ATX power supply used to be red, yellow, orange, grey, green, blue, purple, white and black to indicate voltage and function. Back then one did not need additional RGB lights, because the wires were already so brightly coloured. - MobileJAD I was going to come over here at first just to be snarky or sarcastic about how bad the ram situation has become.Reply But I didn't realize at first just how this could mislead someone with buying a PC. You could find a deal for a whole gaming PC in one of your local listings and see photos of the PC featuring all memory slots filled with RGB and think it comes with four pieces of RAM. Now if the gaming PC is listed as coming with just 8GB of RAM, but all 4 slots appear to be filled, then something seems fishy going on. But if the PC is listed as 16GB or more of RAM, then you would believe the system has 4 pieces of RAM installed. Now if the system comes with just 1 single piece of 32GB DDR4 or DDR5 RAM, that would be pretty nice, you'd be running at single channel mode only, but having a 32GB memory module would be really nice for upgrading down the road. One can hope and pray that finding affordable 32GB memory modules down the road would actually become a reality though, someday... Hopefully.
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