Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1866MHz C9 Review

[Ket]

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.

[Vivi]

Abysmal, Terrible, Poor, Dreadful, Awful, Woeful. Avoid.

hahaha

[Ket]

One word simply wasn't enough to describe how bad the modules are. Not even being able to tweak for tighter timings at stock frequencies.. Corsair have used some real sh|t to make these Vengeance kits.

[Hondacity]

hynix?

[Gunslinger]

Kind of odd that they're described as overclocking memory, when that title fits the Dominator line more fittingly.

With that said, I'm running 4x4GB of this exact memory at it's rated speed in my 24-7 system and couldn't be happier with them.

[Ket]

Don't know. I've had some success with tightening timings now I'm slamming the kit with almost 1.7v, but the timings still aren't any better than 8-10-8-25 1N @ 1866. I'd expect those kinds of timings with a touch over stock voltage at best, nevermind 1.7v. I think I'm just going to slam the kit into the ground then RMA the sh|t when it dies. Vengeance (pun intended ) will be mine. Corsair owe me something for the waste of time they have caused me today.

[Ket]

Kind of odd that they're described as overclocking memory, when that title fits the Dominator line more fittingly.

With that said, I'm running 4x4GB of this exact memory at it's rated speed in my 24-7 system and couldn't be happier with them.

The kit I have is revision 8.16, what is the revison on your kit out of curiosity?

[theix]

hynix?

The kit I have is revision 8.16, what is the revison on your kit out of curiosity?

If it's Hynix then the revision should be 5.11.

[Hondacity]

8.x is nanya..thanks for pointing that out...

[Ket]

Nanya?! Corsair use that on higher end modules? I find better ICs than that on value kits

Update on the miserable OC attempts: The best seemingly stable result I can get is 9-9-9-25 1N @ 1866 1.65v. There are no words in the English language to describe how awful that result is.

ED - Checking my PMs some chap from Corsair has contacted me offering to switch the kit for another, so I will do that and make any necessary revisions to the review. Right now I think it's safe to say if you buy a kit of Vengeance memory and it's revision is 8.16, either return it or don't expect much from the kit.

[Hondacity]

which 4gbx2 kits are better?

[massman]

Ow!

Kudos to you, Ket. First time since loooooong I've seen someone be so clear about a 'bad'* product. I like it

*: the product is not bad, but it's just nowhere near what marketing promises.

[Gunslinger]

The kit I have is revision 8.16, what is the revison on your kit out of curiosity?

Both kits are ver. 5.11

I'm not sure why you think these are "high end"
I paid a total of $170 for 16GB.

[Hondacity]

ED - Checking my PMs some chap from Corsair has contacted me offering to switch the kit for another, so I will do that and make any necessary revisions to the review.

the power of marketting lol

[Ket]

Ow!

Kudos to you, Ket. First time since loooooong I've seen someone be so clear about a 'bad'* product. I like it

*: the product is not bad, but it's just nowhere near what marketing promises.

Regardless of the results this kit was begging for a review. I'm a honest person, so good or bad I will always give the results to people straight

Both kits are ver. 5.11

I'm not sure why you think these are "high end"
I paid a total of $170 for 16GB.

I never said this kit was high end, I did however reiterate what Corsair said themselves about these modules, which is designed for overclocking, with overclockers in mind. Obviously, this kit at least is far from up to snuff. I had very modest expectations of this kit, if they had managed 8-9-8-25 1N @ 1866, or 8-8-8-25 1N @ 1866 with around stock voltage I would of called that a win considering its a 8GB kit, but the kit can't even do that.

the power of marketting lol

Pun intended?

ED - Even 9-9-9-25 1N @ 1.65v isn't stable. Sooner Corsair get this kit switched the better.

[massman]

Ask for the GTX7 kit instead. Now, you'll just end up with a kit that has a different revision (but the same marketing name) doing a lot lot better.

GTX7 seems to be where it's at for 8gig ...

http://kingpincooling.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1377

[Leeghoofd]

I have used these in several builds and they are pretty good value for the buck... but the 4 kits I used ( all 1600C9 versions) didn't even go up to 1866...while the 1600C8 Vengeance modules seem to fair a lot better for the OC claim...

Kudos for being honest Ket... it takes some serious balls to do that... whished there were more honest reviews like yours... if it sux it sux...

I luv the G.skill 1600C7 Snipers but they cost an arm and a leg... at least they did 2133CL9 on Intel...

[G.Foyle]

I tried several sticks of 1600 CL8 - none would run CL7 or 1866 at CL8 with 1,65V, and then I lost interest.
This certainly is not Corsair's finest hour.

[Ket]

Glad you guys like the honesty, I did wonder how people would take the honesty. Its nice to see there are still people like me around

[BeepBeep2]

Regardless of the results this kit was begging for a review. I'm a honest person, so good or bad I will always give the results to people straight



I never said this kit was high end, I did however reiterate what Corsair said themselves about these modules, which is designed for overclocking, with overclockers in mind. Obviously, this kit at least is far from up to snuff. I had very modest expectations of this kit, if they had managed 8-9-8-25 1N @ 1866, or 8-8-8-25 1N @ 1866 with around stock voltage I would of called that a win considering its a 8GB kit, but the kit can't even do that.



Pun intended?

ED - Even 9-9-9-25 1N @ 1.65v isn't stable. Sooner Corsair get this kit switched the better.

I responded in the other thread where you asked for suggestions but I will respond here too.
No 2x4GB kit I believe, except for the 2000 8-9-8 GSkill flare will do 1866 8-8-8. <---(I said this multiple times already)

I see you tried 2N now...ouch. The kit does suck. I believe Hynix kit has trouble with 1N...

However, why not raise your BCLK 2-3 Mhz and try to see how far they go at 9-10-9? Otherwise, nice honest review

[Vivi]

maybe its the asrock board?
although new mem IC's are quite bad at OC;ing

[zsamz_]

maybe its the asrock board?
although new mem IC's are quite bad at OC;ing

not the board
they just plain cheap ics

[dinos22]

I've tested Corsair Vengeance when i first started playing with SB and i was impressed with the sticks taking into consideration they are very inexpensive in Australia and what they could do above their stock timings and frequencies even in 16GB configuration with mixed RAM

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...sults-amp-info

I have absolutely no problem recommending this ram to anyone for their PC builds. It's definitely not benching RAM at all but surely that's to be expected.

Maybe try an Asus or Gigabyte board and test the sticks again

[CodeRush]

dinos22, i agree. I don't know much about 1866 kits, but i have 1600C8 2x4Gb, based on Hunix chips, and it worked on 2133-9-11-10-24-1T 1.62v while running 14 hours Prime Custom with 6600 Mb for it.

[Ket]

As most of you know, I've worked very closely with Asrock ironing the bugs out of their P67 and Z68 boards, this included testing multiple configurations in which I used Mushkin, Patriot, no-name and G.Skill memory, all of which operated flawlessly. In this case, the problem is extremely cheap ICs or at the very least ICs which would suit a 1600MHz kit being used on a 1866MHz kit where to put it bluntly the ICs come across simply as sub-standard. While I don't dispute some Vengeance kits will be good, that is going to be because they use much better ICs and that will be reflected by the revision number on the modules. The kit I tested is revision 8.16 as I already mentioned, and they certainly do not meet any of Corsairs claims.

@ Beep, as I said in the other thread, good high capacity kits in the UK are hard to come by . With the exception of the G.Skills the only other option I could find appeared to be the Vengeance kit. As there were no reviews for the 1866 Vengeance kit I figured what the hell aquire a kit and review it. Anyways, a offer has been made from a chap at Corsair to make sure I get a different revision kit, I've taken him up on his offer and just waiting to hear back from him, we shall see how the replacement fairs and I'll make any necessary amendments to the review.