ocaholic - Memory > DDR3 > Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 2x4GB DDR3-2133 CL11 1.5V Review

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Closer Look

As usual with Corsair products, memory comes in transparent plastic packaging that fits tight into a cardboard case.

At first glance, the modules make a solid impression by using silver and black color scheme, which also extrends to a use of a non-standard PCB color.

Feelings change when one actually gets the modules in hand – the detachable silver top feels flimsy and the sticks weigh as if they are made out of thin paper. As the heatspreaders are only attached via a strip of thermal tape, they are quite easy to detach come the need.

Version number 4.21 of this memory suggested that it is based on Samsung’s 4Gbit memory ICs, more specifically, on ones of revision B. This is exactly what we have found under the heatspreaders. As this is the stuff Corsair and other manufacturers also put on higher rated modules, we are looking forward to see what kind of numbers we can get out of the kit in hand.

The SPD of the Vengeance Pro provides some basic information about the memory. It also features four JEDEC profiles up to DDR3-1333 and an XMP with DDR3-2133 using which a potential buyer won’t have to go though the routine of setting all the subtimings manually.

Page 2 - Closer Look

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Photo Gallery

Page 3 - Photo Gallery

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Testing Method & Test Setup

To test the overclocking capabilities of the memory we are going to use Intel’s recently released Haswell platform. As memory overclocks are known to vary between different motherboards, we are going to perform the tests using two different platforms to be sure that our numbers are reliable.

Motherboard	ASUS Maximus VI Gene (BIOS 0607) Gigabyte Z87X-OC (BIOS F4)
CPU	Intel Core i7-4770K ES @ 4.0 GHz
Graphic card	ASUS GTX 580
Memory	Corsair Vengeance Pro CMY8GX3M2A2133C11
SSD	Samsung PM840 Pro
PSU	Seasonic Platinum 660 Watts
OS	Windows 7, 64 bit SP1

Even though Haswell is very flexible on the memory frequency one can set, very few people actually do base clock (BCLK) overclocking on their daily setups. Therefore, instead of our previous procedure of fixing the voltage and raising the frequency in 10MHz steps we are now going to fix the frequency and minimize the voltage in 0.01V steps.
As usual, our stability method of choice is HCI Memtest. Since we are dealing with a 8GB kit, we use eight 800MB instances and call things stable if we see all of them to go past 100% without showing a single error.
Not to get things too complicated, we only set the primary timings, command rate (1T) and the memory voltage by hand while the rest of the settings is left for the motherboard and SPD to agree on.

Results

As typical for most of the memory these days, raising the voltage only affects the CAS latency by allowing to run potentially lower values while the other primary timings remain unaffected with lowest stable values only depending on the frequency.
As usual with the Samsung high-density memory, stability at frequencies above 1250MHz is non-existent; then again, there is a good reason why high-density memory rated DDR3-2600+ costs as much as it currently does.
Overall, the results are very impressive taking into account how low of a specification this memory kit has. For something with CL11 written on it ability to run CL8 at rated speeds is nothing to be shy of, even if it takes 1.77V to achieve. For those not comfortable with running such voltages for daily use, there are always CL9 and CL10 options both of which can be scale up all the way to DDR3-2400.

Page 4 - Results

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Conclusion

According to geizhals, offers for 2x4GB sets of Vengeance Pro 2133C11 start at 77 Euros excluding shipping across the EU. Despite Corsair having been able to get away with selling a number of overpriced products in the past, we don’t think that their reputation can justify paying 15-20 Euros more than competition this time around. Even when these can directly compete with some of the more expensive DDR3-2400 rated kits, the low specs do not guarantee that all kits will overclock the same or, let alone, have the same ICs.
Looking back at the original Vengeance series, the Vengeance Pro cannot be called a step forward for Corsair. While the overclockability and excellent support are still there, the things that left the old Vengeance down, namely, the pricing and questionable heatspreader quality did not get any improvement so it’s hard to claim that the Pro are worth the money just because they bear a “Haswell ready” and “Corsair” tags.

Award

The Corsair Vengeance Pro CMY8GX3M2A2133C11 receives 3.5 out of five stars.