Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 C30 Review: Optimized For Zen 4

With the debut of AMD's custom EXPO memory overclocking certification, memory vendors have prepared new memory kits to entice Ryzen 7000 owners. Corsair has started to offer EXPO memory kits from the company's hallmark Vengeance and Dominator Platinum lineups that have served enthusiasts over the last few years. The Vengeance family, in particular, offers buyers ample options ranging from DDR5-5200 to DDR5-6400, with capacities varying from 32GB (2x16GB) to 64GB (2x32GB).

AMD's EXPO (Extended Profiles for Overclocking) technology debuted with the chipmaker's Ryzen 7000 processors. EXPO, equivalent to Intel XMP, offers consumers the ease of automatic overclocking — a single click from the user is enough to enable the onboard EXPO profiles. Therefore, pairing your Zen 4 chip with an EXPO memory kit is not mandatory. However, it's beneficial to do so since EXPO-certified offerings are optimized explicitly for Ryzen 7000, so you don't have to worry about compatibility.

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On the outside, the EXPO version of the Vengeance RGB DDR5 memory modules is identical to the vanilla ones. They still ship with the same aluminum heat spreader with a predominant pattern with many small triangles and a brushed aluminum area in the middle. Corsair preferred to keep a clean aesthetic on the memory modules. Hence, you won't find any EXPO branding on the memory modules. The packaging, which has the AMD EXPO logo, is the only way you'll tell these apart from the standard Vengeance RGB DDR5 memory modules.

The Vengeance RGB DDR5 measures 44mm (1.73 inches) in height. The memory modules arrive with a light bar featuring a ten-zone RGB illumination where you can individually control the ten RGB LEDs. In addition, Corsair's iCUE software provides tons of options for consumers to fiddle with.

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The Vengeance RGB memory kit offers a total capacity of 32GB, so you get two 16GB DDR5 memory modules. The memory modules have a single-rank design. The integrated circuits (ICs) carry the Corsair brand and have the R048M8FDCGHYM0142236 marking. It's just the company's way of disguising these SK hynix M-die ICs. On the other hand, the power management IC (PMIC) doesn't require deciphering. The P8911 (P8911-Y0Z001GR-2208DK) is from Renesas.

On your first system post, the memory will run at the default DDR5-4800 with the timings at 40-40-40-77 for maximum compatibility. It only has one EXPO profile, which sets the memory kit to DDR5-6000. The advertised timings for DDR5-6000 are 30-36-36-77, requiring a 1.4V DRAM voltage to maintain stability. See our PC Memory 101 feature and How to Shop for RAM story for more timings and frequency considerations.

Comparison Hardware

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Our Intel test system revolves around Intel's Core i9-13900K processor and MSI's MEG Z690 Unify-X motherboard, running the 7D28vA8 firmware. In contrast, the AMD testbed leverages the Ryzen 7 7700X and ASRock X670E Taichi currently on the 1.11.AS06 firmware.

Corsair's CUE H100i Elite LCD liquid cooler keeps the Raptor Lake and Zen 4 processor temperatures in line. In addition, the MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming Trio tackles our gaming RAM benchmarks.

Our Windows 11 installation, benchmarking software, and games reside on Crucial's MX500 SSDs, whereas the RM650x feeds our entire system with the necessary power. Lastly, the Streacom BC1 open bench table ensures that our hardware is well-kept and tidy.

Intel Performance

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The Vengeance RGB DDR5 memory kit catapulted to the top of the performance chart on our Intel system. It excelled in many areas, including rendering, compression, and decompression workloads.

AMD Performance

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Curiously, the memory didn't place first on the AMD test system, which the memory is certified for. Instead, the Vengeance RGB DDR5 memory kit finished in the middle of the pack. However, the memory had its strongest showing in the compression benchmark, where it bested the competition.

Overclocking and Latency Tuning

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Corsair aggressively binned the memory kit for 1.4V, leaving little headroom for us to play with the voltage. Additionally, the maximum voltage for the PMIC is locked at 1.435V. We've unlocked the voltage with our MEG Z690 Unify-X motherboard, but the additional voltage didn't help improve overclocking. Therefore, we stuck with 1.435V.

We got the Vengeance RGB DDR5 memory to DDR5-6133, but not without a small compromise, of course. We increased the tRCD, tRP, and tRAS timings by two clock cycles to stabilize the overclock.

Lowest Stable Timings

The memory timings wouldn't go below the rated values at DDR5-6000, even at 1.435V. The tRAS could run at 72 instead of 76, but that was all. Optimization margins were almost non-existent on the Vengeance RGB DDR5 memory kit, at least on our sample.

Bottom Line

Over the years, the Corsair memory brand has become the mainstream synonym for performance and reliability. That's precisely what you get with the Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 C30 memory kit. It works great and doesn't require tweaking, especially on AMD platforms where enabling EXPO gets the memory up to speed. Unfortunately, while fast, overclocking headroom is limited because the memory requires 1.4V to run at the advertised data rate and timings.

Corsair memory typically carries a slight premium over the competition. However, the Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 C30 retails for $212.99, so it's not overpriced in a segment where similar DDR5-6000 C30 options span between $159.99 to $249.99. In addition, the market has an excess of available EXPO-ready memory kits, and Corsair offers a convincing option with the Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 C30.