Corsair Vengeance LED DDR4-3200C16 32GB Review
Category : DDR4
Published by Marc Büchel on 28.03.17
With their Vengeance LED modules Corsair has some good looking DRAM modules on the market. The customer receives a red illumination, which in combination with the black heatspreader, looks rather compelling. Apart from that the specs are interesting as well and DDR4-3200 should definitely pack some punch.
| Manufacturer | Corsair |
| Series | Vengeance LED |
| Part Number | CMU32GX4M4C3200C16R |
| Type | DDR4 |
| Capacity | 32 GB (4 x 8GB) |
| Frequency | 3200 MHz |
| Timings | 16-18-18-36 |
| VDIMM | 1.35 Volt |
| Registred/Unbuffered | Unbuffered |
| ECC | No |
| Cooling | Passive Heatspreader |
| Waranty | Lifetime warranty |
| Package Type | Boxed |
With the Vengeance LED DDR4-3200C16 DDR4 kit, Corsair has memory modules in its portfolio, which serve the high-end market. A more detailed look at the specifications shows, that Corsair was cautious in choosing the frequency as well as the timings. The Samsung B-Die chips on these modules are set to run at CL16-18-18-36. If you keep in mind, that other memory makers drive these chips at lower latencies and higher frequencies it's understandable why we're saying Corsair is being cautious. The blunt specs are one thing with these modules, but on the other hand there is the design with the red LED lighting.
| Page 1 - Introduction |
| Page 2 - Closer Look |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 5 - Voltage/Latency scaling tests |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
Closer Look
The new Vengeance modules from Corsair are being shipped in its own cardboard box. Apart from that they have been enclosed in blister packaging.
The Heatspeaders of the new Vengeance have a finish that's been kept in a blend of red (lighting) and balck, which - apparently - makes them perfrectly suitable for ROG themed, or generally black and red, builds. The heatspreaders on these modules have been nicely made, consisting of sheet aluminum thermal interface padding and the a transparent plastic bar for the red illumination.
Taking the heatspeaders off Corsairs Vengeance series is not something we would recommend doing at home due to strong adhesive that requires a very careful approach. Once the heatspreaders have been removed we see that Corsair is putting B-Die chips from Samsung on these modules. These chips are pretty commong these days.
| Page 1 - Introduction |
| Page 2 - Closer Look |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 5 - Voltage/Latency scaling tests |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
Photo Gallery
| Page 1 - Introduction |
| Page 2 - Closer Look |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 5 - Voltage/Latency scaling tests |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
Test Setup
In order to thoroughly test memory as well as memory kits, we're making use of Intels Haswell-E platform in combination with a highly binned Core i7-6950X CPU. This allows use to drive memory at highest possible frequencies and therefore do proper scaling tests. Different memory chips (ICs) have different sweet spots in the case of primary timings, which is why we're altering CAS latency, tRCD, tRP as well as tRAS. Overall we build five different presets, which - as explained - can be different from IC to IC used on a memory module. Other than that we're also changing DRAM voltages, wheras we're setting 1.20V, 1.35V and 1.50V. There are actually reasons why we're using these voltages. 1.20V is the standard voltage for DDR4 memory. 1.35V on DDR4 is used in case of slight overclocking and with 1.50V you can push the module by quite a bit. Last but not least it remains to be explained how we find out whether a certain setting is stable or not. For that purpose we're running HyperPi.| Motherboard | ASUS Rampage V Edition 10 |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-6950X |
| Graphic card | ASUS GTX 980 |
| Memory | CMK16GX4M4A3200C16PK |
| SSD | Samsung 845DC EVO 960GB |
| PSU | Seasonic Platinum 660 Watts |
| OS | Windows 10, 64 bit |
| Page 1 - Introduction |
| Page 2 - Closer Look |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 5 - Voltage/Latency scaling tests |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
Voltage/Latency scaling tests
Looking at the scaling curves with different latencies we see that only in the case of CL12 there is linear scaling showing big frequency increases when increasing the voltage. Testing the memory with CL13 as well as CL14 also shows that the memory responds positively to increased voltages. When looking at the CL13 curve the frequency bump between 1.35V and 1.5V is smaller than from 1.2V to 1.35V, which might already be an indicator for what we’re going to see with even higher latencies. Nevertheless CL14 is proving different, since in this case this kit scales best when changing the voltage from 1.35V to 1.5V. Arriving at the higher latencies we now see that testing CL15, CL16 and CL17 shows that voltages higher than 1.35V don’t have an effect on the frequency anymore.
| Page 1 - Introduction |
| Page 2 - Closer Look |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 5 - Voltage/Latency scaling tests |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| Overall it can be said, that the Corsair Vengeance LED DDR4-3200C16 32 Gigabyte memory kit does what Corsair claims they do and therefore they clear specs without an issue. Apart from that the Vengeance kits do have a reputation for being beautiful and the red LED lighting really adds to it. Nevertheless CL16-18-18-36 at DDR4-3200 is a rather conservative latency set. The maximum frequency this kit could easily cope with was DDR4-3400 at CL16. In this case we had to run it with 1.35V. | - Compatibility with big coolers | ||
| Scaling | + | - | |
| The only latency set with which we've noticed linear scaling was CL12. If we look at CL13, CL14, CL15 as well as CL16 and CL17 we always see a degression when setting 1.5 volt, except for CL14. This means, that at 1.5 Volt you can drive these sticks close to their maximum frequency or worst case 1.5V don't show an effect over 1.35V. | - Scaling CL12 | ||
| Overclocking | + | - | |
| Using the Rampage V Edition 10 and our specific memory testing CPU, which has a good IMC, reaching 3.2GHz on the memory was actually easy. Unfortunately the journey stops quite soon at 3400 MHz. In this case we have to feed these sticks with 1.35 volt and it's running with latency set that is slightly altered from the stock settings being a little tighter. |
- 3.4+ GHz |
||
| Recommendation / Price | + | - | |
| Checking Geizhals.at for prices we find the Corsair Vengeance LED DDR4-3200C16 32 Gigabyte kit (CMU32GX4M4C3200C16R) listed for 295 Euro. Corsair is therefore continuing with their pricing scheme and these Vengeance modules are definitely no bargain. We would honeslty like to find these modules for a little. Considering that other manufacturers are offering DDR4 memory kits with tighter latency for a lower price these modules are facing tough competition. | - Price | ||
| Rating | |||
| The Corsair Vengeance LED DDR4-3200C16 (CMU32GX4M4C3200C16R) receives good 4 out of 5 stars. | |||
| Page 1 - Introduction |
| Page 2 - Closer Look |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
| Page 4 - Test Setup |
| Page 5 - Voltage/Latency scaling tests |
| Page 6 - Conclusion |