Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (16GBx2) 6000MHz DDR5 Memory Review

Corsair has a long history of making many of the best memory kits on the market. In terms of performance, getting good memory isn't actually that difficult these days. However, Corsair has always been top of their gaming when it comes to design and build quality, and they're still very much a leader when it comes to RGB technology too. All of these aspects combine with the new Corsair Vengeance memory kit, offering up RGB lighting, high-speed, and massive high-performance heatsinks. Corsair Vengeance This memory kit goes big on the heatsink and features their dynamic 10-zone RGB lighting, which is fully addressable and allows for loads of cool customisation options. Of course, that comes with full support for the mighty iCUE software suite so you can sync it all with other Corsair products for added flair. The kit is available for Intel platforms, but the one we're looking at here is ready for AMD platforms and comes with the latest AMD Expo compatibility, which will help you keep those speeds high and timings tighter. So, let's get to it and see what else this kit has to offer! Features Welcome to the Cutting-Edge of Performance: Push the limits of your system like never before with CORSAIR DDR5 memory, unlocking even faster frequencies, greater capacities, and higher CPU processing.Dynamic Ten-Zone RGB Lighting: Illuminate your system with ten individually addressable, ultra-bright RGB LEDs per module, encased in a panoramic light bar for vivid RGB lighting from any viewing angle.Onboard Voltage Regulation: Enables easier, more finely-tuned, and more stable overclocking through CORSAIR iCUE software than previous generation motherboard control.AMD® EXPO Compatibility: Compatible with AMD® EXPO for higher frequencies and exceptional overclocking performance.Create and Customise: Choose from dozens of preset lighting profiles, or create your own in iCUE.Maximum Bandwidth and Tight Response Times: Optimised for peak performance on the latest Intel® DDR5 motherboards.Custom Performance PCB: Provides the highest signal quality for the greatest level of performance and stability.Tightly Screened Memory: Carefully screened memory chips for extended overclocking potential.Powerful CORSAIR iCUE Software: Dynamic RGB lighting control synchronised across your entire iCUE setup, real-time temperature and frequency readings, onboard voltage regulation, and custom XMP profiles.Stylish Solid Aluminium Heatspreader: Efficiently conducts heat away from your memory, with refined VENGEANCE styling to fit the look of modern systems.Optimised for AMD® DDR5 Motherboards: For wide compatibility with the latest motherboards. What Corsair Had to Say "CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 memory for AMD delivers DDR5 performance, higher frequencies, and greater capacities optimised for AMD® motherboards while lighting up your PC with dynamic, individually addressable ten-zone RGB lighting. Tightly screened high-frequency memory chips enable faster processing, rendering, and buffering than ever, with onboard voltage regulation providing reliable power at high frequencies for easy, finely controlled overclocking. Take control with CORSAIR iCUE software and enable RGB lighting customisation, real-time frequency monitoring, onboard voltage regulation, and AMD EXPO profile customisation. A custom PCB provides superb signal quality for high performance and stability on the latest AMD DDR5 motherboards. For cutting-edge DDR5 performance with mesmerising RGB lighting, VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 for AMD lights the way." - Corsair A Closer Look Well, as I said, Corsair has gone big with the heat spreaders on their latest memory kit and they look pretty fantastic! Style is subjective, I know, but I think you'll be hard-pushed to think otherwise about this design. It's a little tall, so some CPU coolers could conflict, so be sure to measure that up first. However, the increased size is going to offer significant cooling benefits, ensuring overall memory performance is maintained when it's being pushed harder. The taller design is also a little on the thick side, with the upper section swelling out a little, allowing for a thicker spine to offer up more LED light bar space, but again, more mass in the aluminium means more heat capacity too. There's a light texture and detail printed on the aluminium too, it's like a bunch of circles made from triangles that look like Trivial Pursuit blocks. It's subtle, but it catches the light and just adds a little depth to the overall design. Overall, with a black PCB, dark grey and light grey aluminium, and those huge RGB light bars, this is by far some of the nicest-looking RAM we've ever had in the office, and it's sure to look great in virtually any PC build. And now, a little demonstration of the RGB. How We Test Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of graphics card, CPU, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there's always a margin for error when using any software. Therefore, your experience may vary. Testing Your Own System Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you're looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using our benchmarks and settings where possible. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware we tested to give you a ballpark figure of how much an upgrade this will provide you with. Test System ProcessorIntel i9 12900kMotherboardMSI Z690 TOMAHAWK WiFiMemoryChanges Per ReviewGraphicsGigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming OC 10GBStorageSeagate Firecuda 520 1TBPower SupplyCorsair RM850xSoftwareWindows 10 Professional 1909DriversNVDIA GeForce 497.29 DCH Software Used CineBench R23 (download)AIDA 64 Engineer (download)WPrime (download)3DMark (download)HWMonitor (download)CPU-Z (download) Methodology In our RAM reviews, we keep things relatively simple. We put the RAM kit that is being tested into our test system and benchmark it at its first XMP profile using a variety of benchmarks and tests. Once complete, we apply a reasonable overclock where possible and benchmark the same software with the overclocked values. The CPU clock speed is set to default for both runs. AIDA64 The Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (16GBx2) 6000MHz DDR5 Memory is one of the fastest we've tested, keeping in mind, this is the AMD platform, so our Intel results are not on these charts. However, at 74823 MB/s read, 76960 write, and 69384 copy, it's certainly a very fast memory kit, but noticeably slower than what we've seen on our Intel test bench. Latency is very good though, a far cry from what we used to see on AMD platforms, which often had poor memory support with early Ryzen products. However, 60-75ns latency is about what we see from fast kits on the Intel platform now, so it's on par with Intel. Calculation Performance I was expecting a bit of a faster time here, given the good timings, and the impressive read-and-write performance, but at 5.54 it is only 0.23 behind the Vulcan in 32M and about 1 second in 1024M. Regardless, this is well within what we were expecting to see. Rendering Performance The high throughput shines through here though, with the Vengeance giving some great Cinebench scores, but the slightly tighter timings of the Vulcan obviously keep that in the lead, while the more affordable Neo lags behind Corsair. Again, right in the middle, but the renter time is extremely close here, within less than a second of the other two kits. Again, just single digit differences here, but still a really killer result from Corsair, and it's good that the results have been consistent and not up and down the charts. FutureMark Performance Extremely close here, with a photo finish between all three kits, and scoring nearly 40K for Corsair, puts it just a hair behind the other two. The same here, a blistering 9870, painfully 1 point behind the Z5, but the Vulcan really fell apart on this one, scoring much lower. Assassin's Creed Valhalla Gaming performance is key here, with Corsair being a very gaming-focused brand, noted by the heavy integration of RGB products. Alas, very good results here, albeit very close between all three. Become Eivor, a Viking raider raised to be a fearless warrior, and lead your clan from icy desolation in Norway to a new home amid the lush farmlands of ninth-century England. Find your settlement and conquer this hostile land by any means to earn a place in Valhalla. Available now on Steam. Cyberpunk 2077 A slightly low end on the 1% lows, not sure what's going on there, but Cyberpunk can be a pretty wild test on all parts of a system, but the 120 FPS average is certainly promising. Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure RPG set in the megalopolis of Night City, where you play as a cyberpunk mercenary wrapped up in a do-or-die fight for survival. Improved and featuring all-new free additional content, customize your character and playstyle as you take on jobs, build a reputation, and unlock upgrades. The relationships you forge and the choices you make will shape the story and the world around you. Legends are made here. What will yours be? Available now on Steam. F1 2022 Only 2 FPS behind the Neo and 1 FPS on the Avergage, but overall, clearly ahead of the Vulcan. Overall though, Corsair has been the most consistent of the three. Make your mark on Formula 1 in the officially licensed F1 Manager 2022. Be the boss of your chosen constructor and pick from a roster of 2022 drivers and staff. Featuring full F1 licensing and true-to-life presentation, you won’t just play F1 Manager 2022 – you’ll live it. Available now on Steam. FarCry 6 Again right in the middle of the other two with scores extremely close to the Neo and the Vulcan again dropping back. Welcome to Yara, a tropical paradise frozen in time. As the dictator of Yara, Antón Castillo is intent on restoring his nation to its former glory by any means necessary, with his son, Diego, following in his bloody footsteps. Their oppressive rule has ignited a revolution. Available now on Epic. Forza Horizon 5 However, it's in Forza that things get interesting, with the Vengeance losing about 4-6 FPS on the 1% lows to the other two. Your Ultimate Horizon Adventure awaits! Explore the vibrant and ever-evolving open world landscapes of Mexico with limitless, fun driving action in hundreds of the world’s greatest cars. Available now on Xbox.com. Horizon Zero Dawn And a 2 FPS difference here, but overall averages throughout all benchmarks and pretty excellent so far. Experience Aloy’s legendary quest to unravel the mysteries of a future Earth ruled by Machines. Use devastating tactical attacks against your prey and explore a majestic open world in this award-winning action RPG! Available now on Steam. Microsoft Flight Simulator Hey a top spot for Corsair, with the strongest 1% and average, buy quite a large margin too, relatively speaking. From light planes to wide-body jets, fly highly detailed and accurate aircraft in the next generation of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Test your piloting skills against the challenges of night flying, real-time atmospheric simulation and live weather in a dynamic and living world. Create your flight plan to anywhere on the planet. The world is at your fingertips. Available now on Xbox.com. Shadow of the Tomb Raider All very close again, but Corsair is leading with a big boost on the 1% lows, which is what we really want to see, as that can drastically reduce stuttering. Experience Lara Croft’s defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara must master a deadly jungle, overcome terrifying tombs, and persevere through her darkest hour. As she races to save the world from a Maya apocalypse, Lara will ultimately be forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be. Available now on Steam. Watch Dogs: Legion Watch Dogs delivered strong 1% lows of 114 FPS and 161 Average FPS, so certainly no problems, other than it being an Ubisoft game, but that's a story for another day. Build a resistance from virtually anyone you see as you hack, infiltrate, and fight to take back a near-future London that is facing its downfall. Welcome to the Resistance. Recruit and play as anyone in the city. Everyone you see has a unique backstory, personality, and skill set. Available now on UPlay. Red Dead Redemption 2 Finally, Red Dead Redemption 2 delivers really consistent results too, with only Forza Horizon 5 having a slightly lower performance, I'd say the Corsair memory passes the gaming trials with a big thumbs up from me. Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are outlaws on the run. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. Available now on Steam. Overall Average FPS This becomes much more clear when we average everything out, and as you can see, all three really perform very closely to each other, with only minor differences from game to game that largely average out the same. Temperatures The Vengeance did run a tiny bit warmer than the other two, but please don't confuse this with 1) hot because the chart is red, or 2) hot because it's the hottest here, we've only tested three kits, and honestly, these are perfectly good temperatures to have and certainly nothing to worry about. Overclocking At 6000 MHz out of the box using XMP 3.0 there wasn't a lot of meat on the bone, so to speak, but an extra 6200 MHz did see us boost the overall read, write and copy speeds a little bit. It's not much, but if you're running memory restricted software such as SuperPi, this can make a real difference to your system performance. However, it did come at an increase in latency, so personally, I'd leave it stock, as I'd rather have the tighter latency for gaming, but the higher speeds are there should you need them. How Much Does It Cost? Corsair Vengeance RGB Black 32GB 6000MHz AMD EXPO Ryzen Tuned DDR5 Memory Kit is available on Scan right now for just £119.99 down from £143.99, however, that also includes free delivery, which is a nice little bonus. That's a fantastic price too, and really, DDR5 memory prices are in such a great place right now that upgrading to newer motherboards that support it is easier than ever. Overview Corsair is one of the biggest and one of the best when it comes to high-end gaming hardware, and I'm happy to say their fantastic reputation holds up today. The Vengeance memory is clearly well setup for just about any high-end PC build, but since they're loaded with RGB tech, I think it's fair to say they're leaning much more towards the gaming customer rather than the enterprise or office PC builders out there. When it comes to RGB, Corsair is hard to beat, and their in-house LED technology is a class leader, and they have the most user-friendly and advanced software suit too. iCUE is beginner-friendly and enthusiast ready too, so picking effects or making your own is as easy enough. The memory is very fast too, which is obviously great, and at 6000 MHz it's one of the fastest kits on the market for AMD platforms. That being said, with AMD Expo and all the other advances from AMD, it's easier than ever to actually achieve those speeds; effectively it's plug and play. Back in previous generations, getting memory to its maximum could be the stuff of nightmares on AMD chipsets, but no more, it's honestly much on par with the Intel experience now, and that's also true of the latency, which has improved to be on par with Intel. When it comes to gaming, or in fact just about any benchmark, the Vengeance delivered reliable, repeatable and consistent results that were always within or above our expectations. For those building a high-end gaming PC, it's going to deliver great performance, and we've nothing to complain about here. Should I Buy One? At this price, the Corsair Vengeance is extremely hard to beat. Top-quality construction, design, RGB integration and fantastic performance throughout make this a no-brainer for those wanting a great set of memory for their gaming PC.