A few weeks ago, Corsair unveiled its first 48 GB DDR5 memory kits, two 24 GB memory modules. We received today a copy of the Corsair Vengeance RGB kit clocked at 7000 MT/s with timings of 40-52-52-114 for a voltage of 1.40 volt.
We were looking forward to reviewing this new kit, but not everything went as planned as we told you in this brief. Indeed, our sample of the day simply refused to work on our test platform built around the Z690 chipset, the BIOS simply not being compatible with this 48 GB capacity even though we are on a high-end APEX motherboard. We will have to test this kit on our ROG Z790 APEX motherboard but without having a point of comparison. If Asus releases a compatible BIOS in the coming weeks, as we believe it will, we will update our graphics of course.
Don’t hesitate to ask us your questions if you encounter any setup issues, either in comments or on our social networks. You can also join our community on the discord. We also take this opportunity to thank Corsair for its support and the availability of this 2 x 24 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 7000 MT/s CL40 kit.
We take stock of the kits available to us:
Since this is an article where we will make comparative tests, it seemed interesting to us to review the different kits in our possession. You will be able to know in detail the characteristics of each of them. You can also take a look at the section where our latest memory kit tests are available and find the one that interests you.
- 32 GB GSKill Trident Z5 RGB 6400 MT/s CL32 (Hynix M-die)
- 32 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 7200 MT/s CL34 (Hynix A-die)
- 32 GB GSKill Trident Z5 RGB 6800 MT/s CL34 (Hynix A-die)
- 32 GB Teamgroup Deltra RGB 7200 MT/s CL34 (Hynix A-die)
- 32 GB Kingston Fury Renegade 6400 MT/s CL32 (Hynix M-die)
- 32 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 6400 MHz CL38 (Hynix M-die)
- 32 GB Teamgroup Delta RGB 6600 MT/s CL34 (Hynix M-die)
- 32 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6600 MHz CL32 (Hynix M-die)
- 16 GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB 6000 MHz CL40 (Hynix M-die)
- 32 GB Corsair Vengeance 5600 MHz CL36 (Samsung)
- 32 GB Teamgroup Delta RGB 6400 MHz CL40 (Hynix M-die)
- 32 GB Dominator Platinum RGB 5600 MHz CL38 (Samsung)
- 32 GB Kingston Fury Beast 4800 – 5200 MHz CL40 (Micron)
- 32 GB GSKill Trident Z5 5600 MHz CL36 (Samsung)
So, a little comment on the choice of unit for the memory frequency. For several months now, manufacturers and many of our colleagues have not used MHz to talk about the frequency of the memory. Either some use MT/s or Mbps. On our side, we will pass on MT/s at the moment while waiting to see what will become the new standard.
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Description of the packaging:
The Corsair kit is delivered in a cardboard box with the usual color code of the brand, i.e. yellow and black. We are on a very compact format which includes on the front side the main characteristics of the kit and a visual of the memory strip. We can distinguish the labels of our two black bars on the back of the box through a cutout. We can see that they are enclosed and protected in a transparent plastic protection. Please note that the Vengeance RGB kits are also available in white.
Once the box is opened, we find our two modules perfectly protected in a transparent plastic shell. The frequency of 7000 MT/s is currently the highest available from Corsair on this series but the kit does not yet seem to be in stock to our knowledge in any French store except at Alternate Germany where the kit is available at 211 euros, even cheaper than on the official website of Corsair.
Features and cooling:
Our kit is clocked at 7000 MT/s with timings of 40-52-52-114 requiring 1.40 volts to operate. It is composed of two 24 GB arrays for a total of 48 GB. We are here on full black at the level of the radiators. You should know that a white version is also available. We find a series of small triangles of different sizes that offers relief to the radiators.
In terms of dimensions, we are on low height modules but of course, with the arrival of the backlight, it shows slightly higher than the non-RGB version. The height of the RGB version is 45mm compared to 35mm for the non-RGB Vengeance version. The idea of this series is still to keep compatibility with the large CPU fans.
The heatspreaders are made of aluminum and here in black. They are in charge of dissipating the heat generated by the PCB as well as that of the memory chips. The shape is quite “traditional” but perfectly successful.
On the first side, there are two inscriptions, the name of the series, the inscription RGB and DDR5. On the other side, a label shows part of the characteristics of our kit. Regarding the price, it is 224.99 euros. This seems very correct for DDR5 clocked at 7000 MT / s and 48 GB.
Each strip has ten individually addressable ultra-bright RGB LEDs. To finish this presentation, you should know that the kit is XMP 3.0(Extreme Memory Profile) compatible. So don’t forget to activate the profile directly via the bios of our motherboards. We will come back to this in the following pages.
[nextpage title=”What’s new in DDR5: “]
The arrival of the Z690 chipset coincided with the arrival of new DDR5 memory modules. The main change is the increase of frequencies and a higher capacity. Let’s be clear, it is not possible to use DDR5 modules on a DDR4 motherboard and vice versa. Even though DDR5 also has 288 pins, the notches do not match and this is voluntary in order not to have disasters.
The arrival of the PMIC module:
The great novelty of DDR5 memory sticks is the presence of a PMIC module(Power Manager Integrated Circuit). Its role is to regulate the power supply of the memory stick. There is therefore one per strip. This one will use the 5 volts of your motherboard and convert it to provide the necessary voltage to your kit. For example, if your kit needs 1.1 volts, each chip will receive 1.1 volts.
Previously, it was the motherboard that was in charge of doing this. In reality, this has an advantage but also a disadvantage. The advantage is that manufacturers no longer have to provide this control on the motherboard PCB. So, a financial gain.
But unfortunately, there are two types of PMIC. One is locked and will only accept the default values of your kit, this is called secure mode. The other type of PMIC is modifiable and will therefore allow you to increase the voltage beyond 2 volts. Fortunately, Asus on its Z690 APEX, has already begun to circumvent the restriction of the secure mode to reach 1.435 volts. We talked about this in detail in the article dedicated to the APEX.
The other issue is the heat release of this chip as well as the additional cost for a DDR5 kit. Personally, we didn’t notice any extra heat release during our testing. As far as pricing is concerned, it will be higher and it will also depend on availability.
Higher frequencies and lower voltage:
So what’s changing? First of all, the manufacturers seem to favor 16 GB strips and thus dual channel kits in 2 x 16 or 2 x 32 GB whereas we are used to 2 x 8 GB for DDR4. The frequencies are also on the rise with kits that start at 4800 MT/s while the standard seems to be at 3200 MHz in DDR4 and which can currently reach 6600 MT/s. Finally, high frequencies mean (much) more relaxed timings. But as you have just discovered, we will now be able to acquire 48 and 96 GB kits.
The voltage is also improved since it will be able to decrease to 1.1 volt for DDR5 against 1.2 volt for DDR4. We are talking about a voltage of 1.1 volt for DDR5 kits at 4800 MT/s. The voltage will be higher if the frequency increases as you will see below.
The ECC (Error Correcting Code) compatible with DDR5 :
DDR5 chipsets will be able to integrate ECC(Error Correcting Code). Uh, yes? The idea of this module is to detect possible errors and analyze them before sending them to the CPU. Now, this module won’t be available on all boards since it will increase the price of the kit. As long as we are talking about the price, it should be unfortunately (much) higher.
XMP 2.0 (DDR4) and XMP 3.0 (DDR5) changes:
We go from XMP 2.0 for DDR4 to XMP 3.0 for DDR5. What changes at first is the possibility for a manufacturer to propose three different XMP for its memory kit. These must be activated in the BIOS.
The other big evolution is the possibility to register your own XMP. To put it simply, you can optimize timings and tensions and then write your own XMP. Once “burned” on your memory stick, you will have the possibility to choose this XMP within the BIOS. This is of course a function that we will come back to in detail in a dedicated article since it is something possible with iCUE.
[nextpage title=”How to identify your memory kit: “]
Basic features:
You will tell me that it is quite easy since you just have to look at the references announced by the manufacturer. Yes, but this is not enough, especially if you plan to overclock it! Some information is given by the manufacturer, but you’ll have to search or even remove the heat sinks to find out the others.
On one side of the heatsink, we find the inscription “Vengeance DDR5” and on the other, a label with the technical specifications of our copy. This is what we will look at in detail. For example, in the case of our copy of the day, here is the information we know.
- The brand : Corsair
- The model: Vengeance RGB
- The capacity: 2 x 24 GB
- The frequency: 7000 MT/s
- Timings: 40-52-52-114
- Voltage : 1,40 volt
- Revision: 3.53.02
In order to get an idea of the overclocking potential of your kit, this information is not enough and you will have to go further. Indeed, it is also very important to know the revision of the PCB as well as the model of the chips that equip your memory kit. Depending on this information, the overclocking performance of the kit will be very different.
To find this information, there is currently only one solution, dismantle the heat sinks. The Taiphoon Burner software does not currently support DDR5 kits. Moreover, there is no indication that this will be the case in the coming weeks.
CPU-Z still present:
Fortunately, our trusty CPU-Z software is still around and allows us to check this information, especially about the type of chips that equip our kit. Currently, there are three types of chips: Samsung, Hynix and Micron.
Our kit is perfectly recognized under Windows 10 and the different timings perfectly read. The memory chips that equip our kit are Microns, but under a new revision. These are the chips with a limited overclocking potential but we will see what happens with this new revision.
The PCB of our memory kit :
We are going to disassemble the heatsinks in order to be able to observe the PCB and identify the chips. Be careful not to accidentally detach the chips from the PCB! The best technique is to heat the heatsink with a hair dryer before gently prying it off and being patient. As a reminder, the design of DDR5 modules is different from DDR4 with the presence of a PMIC (power management integrated circuit) chip on board. The idea is to allow a better management of the power supply and therefore the stability of the system.
Our kit benefits from the 8 Micron chips. We are on a kit called “SR” for single rank, which means that all the chips are on one side. On the contrary, we can find ” DR ” kits for dual rank with chips on both sides of the PCB. The Micron chips have the reference ” PT040 – 56B – F2308 ” and are 3 GB versions.
[nextpage title=”The importance of the XMP profile: “]
Setup within the BIOS:
We can’t say it enough, but the settings of your memory kit are not set automatically after installing it. If it is the case for your processor, it is not the case for your memory kit and a passage by the BIOS will be mandatory! This is what we had to do with our Z790 APEX so that the BIOS would support the 2 x 24 GB kits. Here we have flashed the BIOS 1002.
You can configure it manually, choosing the right frequency, timings and voltage for your kit. To make it easier, we advise you to activate the XMP (Intel) or DOCP (AMD) mode in “AI Overclock Tuner” in order to set it up automatically.
Without this, your performance will be impacted in all areas and you will end up with a kit that does not exceed 4800 MHz in CL40. We will therefore activate our XMP profile directly in the BIOS.
The Asus BIOS, both on the APEX and on the Crosshair models, benefit from memory profiles. They are good bases to overclock your memory kit. We will first use them in our overclocking tests. Our kit is now set up in the BIOS and will work with the manufacturer’s specifications.
As you can see in the above screenshots, once the XMP profile is activated, the settings are automatically detected. The frequency is 7000 MT/s, the timings are activated and the voltage is increased to 1.40 volt.
[nextpage title=”Test on the Intel configuration: “]
Of course, this kit will only be tested on an Intel platform but not here as usual in Z690 but in Z790. We will quickly test the kit on an AMD motherboard even if we have little hope to be able to start it with a frequency of 7000 MT/s.
- Motherboard: ROG Maximus Z790 APEX
- Processor: Intel i9-13900KS Alder Lake
- Memory : 48 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 7000 MT/s CL40
- Graphics Card: MSI GT 710
- Cooling system : Optimus Foundation + 480 mm EK radiator
- SSD: Western Digital SN850 NVMe SSD M.2
- Power supply : be quiet! Dark Power PRO 12 1500w
- Operating system : Windows 10 64 bits
We had to update our BIOS so that this new memory capacity is well taken into account. So we switched to the latest version, the 1002 which dates from April.
As we said, it is difficult for this test to compare the performance obtained with our 13900KS on the Z790 chipset and our usual Z690 configuration with the 12900K. In order not to be too late in publishing this test, we have done a first set of tests and as soon as a BIOS compatible with the Z690 is available, we will add the performance of this kit against the competition.
Aida 64:
This is a program that can provide you with a lot of information about your configuration, but above all it has the particularity of having a memory benchmark. It will calculate the speed of reading, writing, copying and the latency of your memory kit. It is very often used to compare memory kits between them. It is an excellent tool if you want to compare the performance of your memory kit with those we have already had the opportunity to test.
The version used for the tests is 6.50.2812 beta and we have taken the performance of the previously tested kits.
Here are the results we obtained under AIDA64. If we follow the performance of our last tests, we are on the equivalent score of a 2 x 16 GB kit in 6600 CL34. Despite a higher frequency for our Corsair kit, the more relaxed timings have a negative impact on the throughput. As far as the writing and copying speed is concerned, we are also close to the performance of the 6600 CL34 kit. On the other hand, bad surprise for the latency which is only 69.3 n/s when that of the 6600 CL34 kit is 58.8 n/s.
Geekbench 3.4.4:
This is a benchmark available in several revisions, version 5 having just been released a few weeks ago. It allows you to obtain two scores: one in single and the other in multi. Using this benchmark, we will focus on the performance obtained on the ” Memory Multi-Core ” score which allows to differentiate the memory performance.
The version used for the tests is 3.4.4.
Here, it is impossible to compare the scores since our 13900KS is more efficient than our 12900K. We can still judge the memory score which is 10574 points. Still comparing with the performance of our last tests, we are below the result of a 6400 MT/s CL40 kit.
Geekbench 5.2.5:
We decided to add this extra benchmark but why? The CPU benchmark uses new tests that more accurately simulate the tasks that processors face in recent applications. Geekbench 5 also increases the memory used in the benchmark to better reflect the impact of this parameter in the CPU results. For now, we will keep both since version 3 is still widely used.
Last test of our usual protocol with unfortunately incomparable scores since the performances of our two CPUs are too different.
[nextpage title=”Overclocking on our Z790 APEX: “]
Choosing your DDR5 kit according to the memory chips:
As it was already the case for DDR4, if you want to clock your memory, some brands will have a better potential. Currently, the kits announced by the various brands benefit either from Micron chips or Hynix chips or Samsung chips. The latter two brands will be the most interesting. Our GSKill Trident Z5 RGB 6400 MT/s CL32 kit is equipped with Hynix chips as you can see. But be careful, there are Hynix M-die chips, the first ones that came out, but especially today Hynix A-die chips that allow to go up in frequency more easily.
We can not totally make a generalization, but in most cases, the kits between 6000 and 6400 MT/s are in Hynix M-die and from 6600 MT/s, they are almost all Hynix A-die. As you can see, our kit is a model with M-die chips.
DDR5 “key” voltages:
For memory overclocking, there are 5 key voltages. These are the voltages that will have an impact on the overclocking and therefore on the frequency rise or the tightening of the timings. These are the CPU System Agent Voltage (SA), the DRAM VVD Voltage, the DRAM VVDQ Voltage, the Memory Controller Voltage and the IVR Transmitter VVDQ Voltage. Here is where these voltages are located in the BIOS of our ROG Maximus Z690/Z790 APEX.
Attention, depending on the type of memory chips (Micron, Hynix and Samsung), the balance between these different voltages is different. Don’t panic, we will come back to this in our guide on overclocking Alder Lake and DDR5. If your PMIC module is not locked, by activating ” High DRAM Voltage Mode “, you will have access to voltages up to 2 volts. Let’s go for the overclocking of this DDR5 from GSKill.
Step 1: increase the XMP frequency
The first idea is to increase the memory frequency from 7000 to 7200 MT/s. Our two benchmarks, Geekbench 3 and Geekbench 5, pass without any problem but the performance gain is only a few percent. Beyond this frequency, it is impossible to start the configuration. Asus, which is used to proposing memory profiles in its BIOS, does not propose anything here. In short, as we suspected, overclocking Micron chips is almost impossible beyond 7000 MT/s.
[nextpage title=”The last word:”]
As we conclude this article, our impressions are mixed and we must admit that we were not convinced by this kit, in fact, to be precise, we should say by the choice of 24 GB modules. If the performances of a kit clocked at 7000 MT/s in CL40 are well at the rendezvous, it is the compatibility which poses a problem to us and of course in a general way, whether it is for the Corsair brand or for any other brand. At the time of publishing this article, no Asus BIOS in Z690 supports this kit. So unless you have a motherboard built around the Z790 chipset, you can skip it.
Finally, you should know that some brands are starting to offer 24 GB modules equipped with Hynix chips, which allows you to take advantage of more interesting overclocking with frequencies that can reach 8000 MT/s or more, but which will only be 100% compatible with the latest Intel chipset.
Finally, the price, which until a few weeks ago was 320 euros, has just dropped to 224.99 euros! This price is simply very interesting for a frequency of 7000 MT/s and a quantity of 48 GB.
2 x 24 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 7000 MT/s CL40
We liked:
- The design of the heatsinks with an aesthetically pleasing RGB
- The quality of finish of the memory modules
- A DDR5 kit that offers good performance
- The XMP profile that goes to 7000 MT/s without difficulty on the Z790 chipset
- The lifetime warranty
- A price of 225 euros for 48 GB of DDR5 at 7000 MT/s
We would have liked:
- A wider compatibility
- A better potential in overclocking
Of course, we have nothing to reproach Corsair for and our opinion would have been the same if this kit had been offered by another brand. Personally, we can only advise you to opt for 16 GB memory sticks which have no compatibility problems and most of them have Hynix chips when the frequencies are higher than 6600 MT/s as it is the case with the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 7200 MT/s CL34. But even so, if you have a Z790 motherboard, the price/performance ratio for 48 GB of DDR5 at 225 euros is almost unbeatable. Thanks to Corsair for this sample.