Corsair Vengeance RGB 48GB DDR5-8400 CUDIMM Memory Kit Review

As one of the few brands, Corsair released CUDIMM memory shortly after the premiere of the Intel Core Ultra 200 series processors. It took us some time to get our hands on one of those memory kits, but today, we can finally present the Vengeance RGB 8400MT/s at a total capacity of 48GB. As with all CUDIMM, it’s only compatible with the Intel Arrow Lake processors, so the platform choice is limited. However, you can be sure our test environment won’t limit the Vengeance RGB 48GB 8400MT/s memory kit.

Let’s begin with the specifications and features of the Corsair Vengeance CUDIMM memory kit.

Specifications and Features

Experience top DDR5 performance, higher frequencies, and greater capacities optimized for Intel® motherboards, while lighting up your gaming PC with dynamic, individually addressable ten-zone RGB lighting.

The key features below come from Corsair; you can find them on the product website.

Key Features

Corsair Vengeance DDR5 Advert

Specifications

The tested Vengeance RGB CUDIMM memory kit contains two 24GB modules rated at 8400MT/s and typical timings, looking at the competition, of CL40-52-52-135. The XMP profile is programmed to use a voltage of 1.40V, lower than some previously tested 8400MT/s memory kits. Once we enable the XMP profile, our motherboards set Gear 2 mode, which is optimal – the same on the B860 and Z890 motherboards we used for tests.

As some readers expect, the memory kit uses Hynix M-die IC, the only one that can handle such settings in 24GB modules. Two 24GB modules are single-rank, which is optimal for overclocking.

The tested Corsair Vengeance RGB memory kit is designed for Intel chipsets and has a single XMP profile programmed. Most Z890 motherboards from leading manufacturers support up to 9200MT/s, while most B860 motherboards should handle up to 8600MT/s. Considering motherboard limitations, the 8400MT/s perfectly fits as a speed available for all who decide on the latest Intel Core Ultra processors.

Above is a list of timings the Vengeance RGB CUDIMM runs using the XMP profile. It runs without issues even on cheaper motherboards like ASRock B860M Steel Legend WiFi, which we used for the stability test at the XMP profile. It confirms the wide compatibility of the Corsair Vengeance RGB memory.

Corsair Vengeance RGB 48GB 8400MT/s CUDIMM – ASRock B860M Steel Legend

Corsair Vengeance RGB 48GB 8400MT/s CUDIMM – ASRock B860M Steel Legend

Corsair Vengeance RGB 48GB 8400MT/s CUDIMM – ASRock B860M Steel Legend

Packaging and Product Photos

Packaging

The Vengeance RGB DDR5 memory kit arrived in retail packaging. We will find two memory modules and a quick user’s guide in a small, flat box.
The package looks typical for Corsair products, matches the whole product line, and suggests we find something exceptional inside.

Corsair Vengeance RGB 48GB 8400MT/s CUDIMM – Package

Corsair Vengeance RGB 48GB 8400MT/s CUDIMM – Package

Corsair Vengeance RGB 48GB 8400MT/s CUDIMM – Package

The installation is straightforward, and most users will have no problems. Those unsure how to install memory modules should check the motherboard’s manual, which provides a more detailed description.

Product Photos

The new Vengeance memory reminds me of the previous series, but the heatsinks reflect rainbow-colored light, giving a unique effect. The heatsinks arrive with protective foils, with no fingerprints or dust.

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Corsair included the 10-LED top bars as one of the key features of the Vengeance RGB memory. The well-known Corsair iCUE software controls the RGB illumination. The iCUE software allows us to manually set various modes or use a long list of pre-defined profiles. I won’t hide that I’m not a fan of the iCUE software, as it’s pretty heavy for the system and is far from easy for a regular user to manage. I also dislike that we need this specific software to manage RGB illumination, as no other software can. Nearly all competitive RAM series work with leading motherboard brands, so that we can use one application for all devices. With Corsair, we always have to use at least two applications or buy more Corsair products.

Universal RGB software like SignalRGB recognized the Vengeance RGB memory as Dominator Titanium, but couldn’t properly manage RGB illumination. ASRock software couldn’t recognize Vengeance RGB at all. On the other hand, iCUE couldn’t manage the RGB illumination of other brand devices.

One issue worth mentioning is that both modules had slightly different backlights. Once set white in a dark room, one module was slightly red, and one was slightly blue. This difference is barely visible in a dynamic mode like the rainbow and hard to catch in photos, where it looks like one module had a 0.5-second delay. It wouldn’t be possible if we wish to have a white-themed PC. I never had this issue with previously reviewed Corsair RAM so that it may be our luck and a rare problem.

After spending some time, we couldn’t synchronize all the RGB sources, but the result is still pretty good.

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Let’s move to the performance tests and our results.

Test Results

Stability at Rated Speed

The XMP profile passed the AIDA64 System Stability Test without problems. Multiple other tests, including tests at overclocked settings, confirmed the high quality of the memory modules tested.

Comparison Tests

Tests were performed on popular synthetic benchmarks and benchmarks included in popular games. The list consists of tests that react well to memory performance. Older popular benchmarks and tests based on pure CPU performance were skipped as we wouldn’t see any difference.

For readers’ convenience, I added the overclocking result for comparison so you can see if it’s worth the overclocking. Our maximum setting that passed all tests is 9466MT/s at the Gear 4 mode. However, because of memory controller ratios, the 9000MT/s Gear 2 mode gives better results and is recommended, so it was used in the comparison.

The benchmarks list includes:

• AIDA64 Cache & Memory Benchmark
• Blender 4.30 CPU
• Cinebench 2024
• PCMark 10 – applications benchmark
• 3DMark: Time Spy, Steel Nomad, and Port Royal
• Cyberpunk 2077 – 1080p, ultra details, no RT
• Cyberpunk 2077 – 1440p,  ultra RT preset
• Far Cry 6 – 1440p, high details, default benchmark
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage – 1440p, high details, default benchmark 

AIDA64 Cache & Memory Benchmark

AIDA64 offers the most popular synthetic memory benchmark. The results are easy to read and scale well with memory frequency.

Synthetic bandwidth tests look much better on the overclocked RAM, reaching over 130k GB/s memory read and copy! Memory copy, together with memory latency, is the most crucial result in this benchmark. Since I mentioned latency, it’s not listed here, but we can expect about 80ns at the XMP profile, 8400MT/s, and about 78ns at the overclocked settings, 9000MT/s.

PCMark10 Applications

PCMark 10 uses popular applications to perform tests close to daily tasks.
This benchmark suggests what we will see in most other benchmarks in our review. There is no significant difference between 8400MT/s and 8800 or 9000MT/s. We can see it in test results, but it barely affects daily experience.

3DMark – Time Spy

In the Time Spy, we can see that the Corsair Vengeance RGB is not much slower than 8800MT/s memory kits. The overclocked 9000MT/s result is at the top of the list.

The Time Spy benchmark shows performance gains with faster memory kits, but they’re not spectacular, as even lower-speed RAM is pretty fast nowadays.

3DMark – Port Royal

The Port Royal benchmark results are even closer to each other. This ray tracing-based benchmark uses more graphics card power than anything else. It also suggests results in higher-resolution games that support ray tracing.

3DMark – Steel Nomad

Steel Nomad is the latest addition to 3DMark benchmarks and is designed for high-end gaming PCs. In this benchmark, we can also barely see the difference in results, which translates into slightly above 1 FPS more between the Vengeance RGB and the fastest result on the same, but overclocked memory kit.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is not the latest game, but it is time it became very popular and still receives updates that improve graphics quality. The tests were made on the version with the 2.2 update. Above are our results at 1080p without ray tracing, but still Ultra preset, and below are our results at 1440p with the ray tracing Ultra preset.

Both Cyberpunk 2077 settings suggest the same scaling with RAM types, even though it affects lower resolutions more. The best results are at 9000MT/s and Gear 2 mode, while the XMP profile at 8400MT/s isn’t far behind, so we can expect a similar experience while playing this game, whether we decide to overclock the RAM or not.

Far Cry 6

Far Cry 6 tells the same story. The comparison barely shows a few FPS difference between all the memory kits. The Vengeance RGB kit is again not far from the top of the list.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage barely gains performance because of faster RAM. The Mirage was optimized for graphics effects and relies less on RAM performance, which is still high enough, even at 6400MT/s.

The Vengeance RGB memory kit’s performance is not the highest, as faster memory kits are available. However, it doesn’t make a significant difference whether we decide on an 8400MT/s kit or something higher that will be much more expensive, because of the limiting hardware architecture. The XMP profile performs well in all benchmarks and games we tested and is also widely compatible with available motherboards, even with a lower B860 chipset. It’s an advantage as new Intel processors don’t overclock well, so gamers may save some money and pick a larger SSD for better use with a more extensive game library.

Overclocking is always available for users who expect more performance than the manufacturer’s profiles. Even though a higher frequency doesn’t give us much higher performance, let’s look at our results.

Overclocking

Temperatures and Voltages

The memory kit has the XMP profile set at 1.40V, which isn’t low, but perfectly fine for extended work. The Vengeance RGB memory could reach about 67°C in an extended RAM test, which isn’t high and gives us headroom for additional overclocking. To set 9000MT/s CL42 or 9466 CL44, we had to set 1.45V, which was also not an issue, and the temperature was not much higher, up to 70°C.

I’m not recommending anything above 1.45V for daily overclocking, including games, as the performance gain at tighter timings or higher frequency won’t be apparent. At the same time, memory may generate random errors, or we may require direct cooling or multiple push-pull fans in the PC to force good airflow.

DDR5-9000 CL42-54-54-54 ~1.45V

Even though we could set DDR5-9466, it requires a Gear 4 mode, so the performance is lower than expected. In this case, we went to the highest Gear 2 mode, which is optimal for everything we do in the current generation of hardware. We ended up at a stable 9000MT/s CL42, which is still reasonable for extended work at 1.45V VDD/VDDQ.

These results would be better if we spent more time checking all possible timing configurations. However, the performance gain will be minimal, so it may only help in competitive overclocking. Since we have a limited time for every review, I will leave it to our readers.

If you are into overclocking, feel free to share your results on our forums.

Conclusion

Corsair Vengeance RGB is an interesting option if we are looking for a high-end CUDIMM memory kit for our new Intel-based PC. The CUDIMM version has refreshed heatsinks that look amazing and are already well-implemented with RGB illumination. What’s more, it performs well in all tasks.

The memory kit passed multiple tests using the XMP profile and was fully stable on three motherboards. On the top ASRock motherboards, we could achieve 9000MT/s at a Gear 2 mode, giving us the best performance possible on the Intel Arrow Lake. The 8400MT/s is also a well-balanced setting, which works with most new Intel motherboards, so we can save some money by picking a cheaper motherboard model.
If not a little hiccup with the RGB illumination, I could say everything is perfect.

The tested memory kit costs nearly $350 in the Newegg online store, which is quite expensive and a bit more than the price of competitive 8400MT/s kits. At the same time, there are no cheap CUDIMM memory kits, so we must pay a premium if we want the best performance. CUDIMM memory is a new addition to gaming hardware and is meant to be used by all those who want the best performance at all costs, so it’s hard to expect it will be cheap.

The Vengeance RGB 48GB DDR5-8400 memory kit is a good option for those who want high-performance RAM with wide compatibility. Gamers and overclockers will be satisfied with the exceptional performance and overclocking headroom.

Click the stamp for an explanation of what this means.

Bartosz Waluk – Woomack

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