Review on RAM Corsair DDR4 16Gb (2x8Gb) 2666MHz PC-21300 Vengeance RGB Pro White
4 min readGood day. In this review, I will try to share my impressions after buying and installing the Corsair DDR4 16Gb (2x8Gb) 2666MHz PC-21300 Vengeance RGB Pro White (CMW16GX4M2A2666C16W) RAM kit on my computer.
In the process of assembling my computer, I was guided by two rules, the first is sufficient system performance for modern games at maximum settings in Full HD resolution, and the second is to build in black / white. For the satisfaction of tasks, my chosen set of RAM is ideally suited.
After the purchase, we are greeted by a beautiful color box made of cardboard with an image of the RAM strip and the necessary information about the amount and working frequency of the memory.
The reverse side of the box has two small windows through which the RAM strips themselves and the information applied to them are visible.
Inside the cardboard box is a plastic container in which the RAM slats are located. The straps are securely fixed inside the plastic container.
An external inspection of the kit showed that the assembly of the strips was performed at the highest level, all the elements are in place, all the parts are fitted to each other with high accuracy. There are no defects in the form of scratches on the contact pad and the metal radiator. Dents, chips and scuffs on the remaining elements were not found.
An initial inspection showed that the memory chips were soldered on the bar on one side, and thermal splicing was glued on top of the chips to enhance the transfer of heat from the chip to the radiator. On the other hand, a thermal pad is also glued to the entire width of the plank.
The upper part of the RAM modules has an insert made of opaque matte plastic, under which there are RGB LEDs.
After unpacking and inspecting the appearance, the memory was installed in the computer. Booting the BIOS went smoothly. For the first time, RAM was launched at a frequency of 2133 and a voltage of 1.2 v.
The operating frequency of the RAM declared by the manufacturer is 2666 MHz, but in my opinion this is not enough and when choosing a memory I counted on its overclocking. I will not activate the XMP protocol embedded in the memory and leave it to work at the frequencies declared by the manufacturer. I’m interested in the ability of stable memory operation at a frequency of 3600 MHz.
According to various reviews and tests of this memory, it became known that it is built on various chips and it would be nice to know what my version is built on.
In my opinion, I was lucky, my memory was built on Samsung B-die chips. It is believed that the memory on Samsung chips has the best overclocking potential.
The memory overclocking potential was studied on the basis of a computer with a motherboard – Asus X370-F Gaming and a processor – Ryzen 5 3600.
Only the memory frequency, voltage, and primary timings were affected by changes in BIOS settings.
So, at the first start with automatic settings, the memory started at a frequency of 2133 MHz and CL timings 15-15-15-36. The work of memory at these frequencies is of no interest to me. To begin with, I tried to set the common settings for many memory bars, which include a frequency of 3200 MHz with CL timings 16-18-18-18-36 and a voltage of 1.35v. The computer did not detect any problems and booted the operating system the first time. Then, to be sure, a test was launched and successfully passed in the TestMem5 utility.
The next step in overclocking the memory was to increase the frequency to 3600MHz while maintaining the voltage of 1.35v and previous timings, but the computer refused to start and showed a black screen. Further, by manually selecting the timings, I was able to load the operating system with CL indicators 18-19-19-19-19-38. With a voltage of 1.35v at a frequency of 3600 MHz, the memory could not pass the error test. As a result, the stability test was successfully passed at 1.38v
This RAM has the ability to work at higher frequencies, but in conjunction with the Ryzen 5 3600 processor, this makes no sense. By raising the frequencies even higher, the memory bandwidth decreases.
For the sake of interest, the memory bandwidth was measured at a frequency of 3666MHz with the previous voltage and timings.
The test showed a decrease in the speed of reading and copying.
The memory strips are equipped with RGB controlled backlight. Management is carried out using proprietary software from Corsair – iCUE.
The program has a nice interface and has ample opportunities for setting the backlight.
The choice of this set of RAM is not at all disappointed. Pleased with the possibility of impressive overclocking in relation to the base frequency. In a white case with a transparent side window, this memory looks especially beautiful. I can surely recommend it for purchase.
The article is written on the basis of materials of this site.