Not just a visual eye-catcher – Corsair Vengeance RGB RT 2x 16 GB 3600 CL18 Kit Review with Overclocking and Teardown

1 - Introduction and specifications 2 - Unboxing and first impression 3 - Dimenstions and lighting 4 - SPD and heatsink performance 5 - Teardown and PCB analysis 6 - Test systems and methodology 7 - XMP behavior and overclocking 8 - Synthetic benchmarks – AIDA64 and Geekbench 3 9 - Gaming – Cyberpunk 2077 in UHD, QHD, FHD 10 - Final thoughts and conclusion

But before we get into our tests, we should first take a look at what we are actually dealing with here in detail. For this, as always, a look at the SPD with the software Thaiphoon Burner. In addition to the manufacturer and product number, we also find confirmation that the modules are dual-rank modules with 8 ICs of 8 Gbit per rank. Also interesting is the board layout with the “B0” DDR4 reference specification, which is rarely seen on consumer RAM.

The memory ICs used are Samsung B-Die according to the SPD, though I have to disappoint right here as this is a misidentification of the software. Correctly, K4A8G085WC-BCWE should be read in fact, where the C at the end of the first part describes the IC type and the second part the binning batch. We’ll see why it can’t be B-Die in more detail when we overclock, but the specs below already suggest as much.

The XMP profile is specified with real 1802 MHz and uses the timings tCAS 18, tRCD 22, tRP 22, tRAS 42, tRC 64, tFAW 40, tRRDS 7 and tRRDL 10 at 1.35 V RAM voltage. Tight is something else and thus the kit once again falls into the DDR4 midfield, which has already become somewhat of a trend.

Last but not least we have to mention the temperature sensor in form of a Giantec GT34TS04, which we already found in past tests on other RAM modules. This is a temperature sensor with integrated EEPROM, which thus also assumes the function of the SPD. Especially for overclocking RAM, which tends to become unstable at higher temperatures, this is a welcome addition.

The full SPD export is also linked here again as a large JPG to scroll through – open in a new tab and zoom in, please. 😉

Now we come to the temperature test, because memory modules which are advertised for overclocking and thus higher voltages must of course also be able to be cooled reliably, otherwise the instabilities just mentioned can occur. As stress test we use the Testmem5 v0.12 with the profile “Extreme1@Anta777” because of its very high thermal load.

As a reference, I have also included the Crucial Ballistix MAX modules from the last review in the graph, which also stood out due to their heavy heatsink. Testing was done with passive airflow only in this case, based on the assumption that as a buyer you wouldn’t want to cover up your fancy RGB modules with a fan.

And even though the Corsair Vengeance RBG RT modules get significantly warmer here with 0 and 1 DIMM slot spacing between modules, despite the lower voltage of 1.35V compared to 1.4V respectively in stable-running XMP, it must also be said that the Corsair modules are populated on both sides and thus have twice the number of heat-emitting memory chips installed. So with that in mind, the Vengeance RGB RT’s heatsink is a successful design not only visually, but also performance-wise.