Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1866MHz C9 Review

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Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1866MHz C9 Review


Introduction

Corsair.. a name that all enthusiasts should of heard. Corsair are a company specialising in the production of enthusiast grade PC memory, Power Supplies, and Liquid CPU coolers among other things. Today we will be looking at the 8GB CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9 Vengeance kit from Corsair, boasting specially selected ICs for overclocking and low voltage can the memory live up to it's boasts? Let's find out.

Specification

Here is what Corsair have to say about their memory. They certainly aren't shy about talking about this memory's overclocking mentioning it no less than 4 times in one form or another.



Test Setup

Today the test rig will be;

Asrock Z68 Extreme4 w\ UEFI 1.6
i5 2500K @ Stock
Corsair Vengeance 8GB @ 9-10-9-27 1N (XMP)
MSI Cyclone GTX460 1GB
640GB WD Caviar Black
800W Corsair HX
Win 7 Ultimate 64bit w\ SP1

Stock Performance

Running Aida64 We can see that stock performance is right around what you would expect from a Dual Channel 1866MHz 8GB kit with 9-10-9-27 1N timings. Let's move on and see how they overclock.



Overclocking

I tried everything to coax these modules to OC like Corsair claim they are capable of, a full CMOS reset, changing DIMM banks, even setting very relaxed sub timings, nothing worked. As a result there are no OC numbers, this kit just has nothing to give. Absolutely pitiful.

Here is a full list of timings and voltages I tried;

9-9-9-25-1N @ 1866 1.5v Boots, unstable
9-9-9-25-1N @ 1866 1.6v, Boots, unstable
8-9-8-25-1N @ 1866 1.5v FAIL
8-9-8-25-1N @ 1866 1.56v FAIL
8-9-8-25-1N @ 1866 1.6V FAIL
9-9-9-25-1N @ 2133 1.6v FAIL
10-10-10-25-1N @ 2133 1.6v FAIL
11-11-11-25-1N @ 2133 1.6v FAIL

8-9-8-25-2N @ 1866 1.56v FAIL
8-9-8-25-2N @ 1866 1.6v FAIL
8-10-8-28-2N @ 1866 1.6v FAIL
8-9-8-28-2N-7-8-8 @ 1866 1.6v FAIL

Conclusion

Well.. that was certainly unexpected. Corsair bigging up the "amazing" overclocking of these memory modules only to find they will not OC for squat, literally. So let's get this straight Corsair.. you very publicly advertise these modules as being designed for intel's new generation CPUs and chipsets, and proclaim over and over how overclockable this memory is and that the memory is made with overclockers in mind, yet the memory doesn't overclock, at the very least appear to not be fully compatible with intel's Z68 chipset, and if that wasn't insult enough you can't even tweak for tighter timings at stock frequencies with this kit. Is there anything positive I can say about this memory? Given the product brief and all it claims and not delivering on a single one of those things.. no. With a average price ranging between £58-70 I wouldn't even say this kit represents good budget value for money as the most excellent G.Skill RipjawsX F3-12800CL7D-8GBXH can be found and delivered to your door for £93. The extra £20 or so is money well spent.

Final Verdict: A real howler of a product. Abysmal, Terrible, Poor, Dreadful, Awful, Woeful. Avoid.