Corsair ships customer $35 decorative memory sticks instead of $1,000 worth of 96 GB of DDR5 memory — buyer accidentally receives dummy RAM in unlucky warranty claim

With the memory crisis reaching its peak and expected to only worsen, even the slightest of mix-ups are exacerbated and feel almost absurd. That's what happened to an unlucky user on the r/pcmasterrace subreddit, who sent in their 96 GB kit of Corsair Vengeance DDR5 memory for an RMA, but received seemingly fake RAM in return that didn't work.

Corsair sent me DDR5 Ram Replacement Sticks and the new RAM looks like this? from r/pcmasterrace

For some context, 96 GB of DDR5 desktop memory will run you at least $1,000 today — that's how much it is listed for on Corsair's website — so, obviously, you don't want it to get misplaced in some warranty claim. What happened in u/Loudenoughforme's case, though, was instead of receiving the proper replacement, Corsair sent them dummy sticks known as a "Light Enhancement Kit."

As the name suggests, these are empty DIMMs designed to look like real RAM, but they contain no memory inside, as they're only meant to enhance aesthetics. They have RGB strips on top that light up when slotted in, making their sole purpose to populate all the RAM slots on your motherboard for that complete look, without spending the extra money.

There's real logic behind doing this as running 4 (or more) sticks of RAM at the same time can reduce performance; in most cases, two sticks are ideal and preferred for high-speed DDR5, so decorative kits can really come in handy. Anyhow, Corsair's Light Enhancement Kit only costs $35 and is really easy to spot, thanks to the oddly-spaced pin layout that stands out against the dense contact points for actual memory.

Therefore, the commenters were quick to point this out and someone from the Corsair team even managed to directly get in touch with the user, asking for their ticket number. So, it seems like the case is closed and OP should receive their highly-coveted, working RAM soon. As for who this mix-up can be attributed to on the back end, well, that's anyone guess at this point.

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