Memory

Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB DDR4 Review

vortez
August 10, 2016 7 Min Read
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Light it up! Looking to add some LED lighting to your system configuration? The Vengeance LED DDR4 kit offers high-performance and turns heads.


Product on Review: CMU32GX4M4C3200C16
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Corsair
Street Price: UK: £209.99, US: $209.99

Along with many other products, Corsair first teased the introduction of a new memory product line at Computex 2016 at the beginning of June and then officially announced Vengeance LED later in the month. The Vengeance series has been a mainstay for Corsair and has been a clear demonstration of why the brand remains a leader in the memory sector.

Today we’ll be taking a look at Corsair’s new Vengeance LED DDR4 kit courtesy of the “white” edition. Along with the lighting we have a newly designed heatspreader and a 10-layer PCB which Corsair claim enhances the signalling for assistance in the overclocking and reliability departments. The kit we’re testing out offers 32GB (4x8GB) of capacity and is rated at 3200MHz.

Is this LED functionality just a gimmick or does it add substance to high-performance memory? Let’s find out!


Corsair on their Vengeance LED
Whether you’re upgrading a system, building an ultra-fast gaming rig, or attempting to break overclocking world records, CORSAIR memory will exceed your expectations. Welcome VENGEANCE LED to the family.

Corsair VENGEANCE LED Series DDR4 memory modules are designed to provide a unique look with vibrant LEDs and a precision engineered light bar, created specifically to pair with the design themes of most motherboards and PC gaming components. With VENGEANCE LED memory, even simple system builds can look like one-of-a-kind.

Technical Specifications


Below are the technical specifications surrounding the Vengeance LED kit we’re reviewing – obtained directly from Corsair:

Warranty
Limited Lifetime
Memory Type
DDR4
Package Memory Format
DIMM
Package Memory Pin
288
Performance Profile
XMP 2.0
LED Lighting
White
Memory Size
32GB Kit (4 x 8GB)
SPD Latency
16-18-18-36
SPD Speed
3200MHz
SPD Voltage
1.35V

Closer Look




In a bid to coordinate well with a wide-range of computer hardware, Corsair has designed Vengeance LED to adopt a neutral aesthetic. The theme lends itself to bearing gunmetal heatspreaders which certainly look stylish and will no doubt keep the temperatures at an acceptable setting.

These heatspreaders extend out an extra 1.5cm beyond the actual PCB and host a series of LED strips to add in some ambience to your system. Corsair provide a selection of different colours to pair up with your particular theme – we’re reviewing the white LED versions today.


Over on the reverse of the modules there is a small printed label which details the product code, capacity, speed, latency, voltage and serial number in case you need to contact customer support.

Test Setup & Methodology


Test Setup
CPU Intel Core i7-6700K
Cooling Corsair H110i GTX
Motherboard MSI Z170A GAMING M7
Graphics XFX R7970 Black Edition
Storage OCZ Vector 180
PSU Corsair HX1050 80 Plus Gold Certified PSU


We’ll be testing the following DDR4 memory kits in today’s review:

– Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB 3200MHz
– G.SKILL TridentZ 16GB 3200MHz
– Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16GB 2400MHz
– Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB 3000MHz

The above offers a mixture of smaller capacity with higher/lower frequency and large capacity with high frequency. This should present us with a good demonstration as to how capacity and frequency affects performance.

To benchmark these DDR4 kits we’ll be using the following benchmarking applications:

AIDA64
Futuremark PCMark 8 (Home Conventional Suite)
Futuremark PCMark 8 with Microsoft Office 2016
SiSoftware SANDRA
Futuremark 3DMark



Overclocking

Most users will use their DDR4 under the XMP profile but we can push memory beyond their tested specifications. Although there isn’t a large amount of headroom when we overclock we were able to nudge up the frequency to 3474MHz…

To achieve a stable result below we did have to slacken the timings off and increase the voltage.

Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB 3200MHz
– OC: 3474MHz 19-25-25-39 @ 1.4v

Benchmarks: AIDA64

AIDA64 Product Page
This simple integer benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and the misprediction penalties of the CPU. It finds the solutions for the classic “Queens problem” on a 10 by 10 sized chessboard. At the same clock speed theoretically the processor with the shorter pipeline and smaller misprediction penalties will attain higher benchmark scores. For example — with HyperThreading disabled — the Intel Northwood core processors get higher scores than the Intel Prescott core based ones due to the 20-step vs 31-step long pipeline. CPU Queen test uses integer MMX, SSE2 and SSSE3 optimizations.

Benchmarks: PCMark 8 (Home Conventional)

Futuremark 3DMark
PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 8 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. It’s the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.

Benchmarks: PCMark 8 (Microsoft Office 2016)

Futuremark 3DMark
PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking with battery life measurement and includes tests based on popular Adobe and Microsoft applications. Whether you are looking for long battery life, or maximum power, PCMark 8 will help you find the devices that offer the perfect combination of efficiency and performance for your needs. It’s the complete PC performance benchmark for home and business.

Benchmarks: SiSoftware SANDRA

SANDRA isn’t always a benchmark that is included in hardware reviews but I believe it shouldn’t be ignored. SANDRA provides a vigorous package that tests your system in a rather large array of benchmarks. There are many aspects of benchmark that can be executed. We will be considering – CPU and memory tests.

Benchmarks: 3DMark

3DMark FireStrike Product Page
Fire Strike is our new showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today. Fire Strike will only be available in the Windows editions of 3DMark initially.

Conclusion


Having reviewed many Corsair memory kits throughout the generations of DDR2, DDR3 and now DDR4 and always been impressed, the trend continues with the latest Vengeance LED kit.

Taking Vengeance LED on looks alone, we have a decidedly classy piece of kit which will likely pair up and coordinate very well with a huge lineup of other hardware – making it easy to construct your perfect theme. Vengeance LED is also available in a range of different coloured LEDs, so if for example you are looking for hardware to construct an all-red design then the red LED option would be ideal.



Putting Vengeance LED through a series of benchmarks reveals a strong product. The kit we’ve looked at today offers a capacity of 32GB, a frequency of 3200MHz and CAS timings of 16-18-18-36. Against other, previously reviewed DDR4 kits this Vengeance LED offering performed well, but some 3000MHz kits did pull ahead due to their lower CAS timings. Overall though, you won’t be disappointed by the transfer rates on offer for a wide-range of applications.

The kit we’ve looked at today (32GB 3200MHz) arrives with a price-tag of UK: £209.99, US: $209.99. A quick cross-reference of current prices puts this Vengeance LED kit in a good place. There are a few kits of similar specification for slightly less but the obvious selling point is the LED functionality. If you’re someone who likes the ambience that LEDs will provide your system with, then this new series has its relevance.

Looking for some reliable, high-performance DDR4 which will transform the look and feel of your system? Vengeance LED has the style AND the substance.

Pros
+ Stylish looking design
+ Available with different coloured LEDs
+ Offer great performance
+ Overclock reasonably well

Cons
– Height could conflict with some CPU coolers!

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