# Corsair Vengeance Or Corsair Dominator



## Ellewah (May 29, 2012)

Hi, so i'm planing on building a new gaming PC with these specs:
MB: Asus Z77 Maximus V Formula ( to be released in few days )
CPU: Ivy Bridge i7 3770K
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100
HDD: Western Digital 1TB Black
SSD: Intel 520 Series 240 GB

And for the RAM I narrowed my choice to either one of these
Corsair Dominator 16 GB DDR3 2133 MHz ( http://alturl.com/9bh9y )
Corsair Vengeance 16 GB DDR3 2133 MHz ( http://alturl.com/3zbz6 )

So if any expert could tell me which one would work better i'd appreciate it.
Just so you know, I'm planing to overclock both the CPU and the RAM.

Thanks in advance!


----------



## Protagonist (May 29, 2012)

I would take the Corsair Vengeance for that speed and price considering i would not want to OC it more, may be you can take the Corsair Dominator if you want more than 2133MHz out of the memories, but as for me I'd be more than fine with the Vengeance


----------



## Ellewah (May 29, 2012)

Thanks for the reply, 

I have a question, is it better to have high or low RAM timing? and do I increase or decrease the timing when I OC them?


----------



## entropy13 (May 29, 2012)

Get an 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 kit instead. 8GB or 16GB makes no difference in gaming, likewise with 1600, 1866, or 2133.

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR...

You'll save $113. Then get an i5-3570K instead of the i7-3770K, that's $110 in savings for a total of $223. Then put those $223 for a better video card (you haven't mentioned this - this is *more important* for gaming) and/or a bigger SSD (that's not Intel; since they're still not exactly the best choice in price/perf among SSDs).


----------



## Huddo93 (May 29, 2012)

entropy13 said:


> Get an 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 kit instead. 8GB or 16GB makes no difference in gaming, likewise with 1600, 1866, or 2133.
> 
> G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR...
> 
> You'll save $113. Then get an i5-3570K instead of the i7-3770K, that's $110 in savings for a total of $223. Then put those $223 for a better video card (you haven't mentioned this - this is *more important* for gaming) and/or a bigger SSD (that's not Intel; since they're still not exactly the best choice in price/perf among SSDs).



I *highly* agree with Entropy13, Corsair memory is highly overpriced (not so much the vengence line). Go for a G.Skill kit, the perform exactly the same and for alot less. Been using G.Skill for a long time and have never had a issue, very reputable brand. 

I'd pick something like G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DD... if you are 100% set on 16GB. Really 8GB is still more than enough for almost every user who games. 

Use the saved money to buy a better graphics card, you will see much larger performance gains by spending the money there.


----------



## Ellewah (May 29, 2012)

Thanks for the replies,

I didn't mention the graphic card because I already own an EVGA GTX 590.

Now after doing some reading, would it be better if I get the Dominator and run it at 1600 with lower CAS?


----------



## entropy13 (May 29, 2012)

Ellewah said:


> Thanks for the replies,
> 
> I didn't mention the graphic card because I already own an EVGA GTX 590.
> 
> Now after doing some reading, would it be better if I get the Dominator and run it at 1600 with lower CAS?



You'll get the $200+ Dominators, and then run it at 1600MHz and lower timings??? 

The G.Skill 2x4GB (DDR3-1600 CL9) RAM I posted is more than enough. Put your savings instead to a bigger SSD and/or HDD.


----------



## Huddo93 (May 29, 2012)

Ellewah said:


> Thanks for the replies,
> 
> I didn't mention the graphic card because I already own an EVGA GTX 590.
> 
> Now after doing some reading, would it be better if I get the Dominator and run it at 1600 with lower CAS?



Is there any particular reason you are so keen on the Dominator series? its seriously overpriced >.<


----------



## cadaveca (May 29, 2012)

Huddo93 said:


> Is there any particular reason you are so keen on the Dominator series? its seriously overpriced >.<



Probably color...notice both sets are red. Perhaps the red $156 G.SKill C11 2133 1.5V kit will be a bit more appealling.


Corsair has some nice warranty, or they did at least. When I ran into issues with my last Corsair Dominator kits, they gave me a refund for the full retail value of the two kits...a wee bit over $500, beuase they didn't have similar in stock.


----------



## Ellewah (May 29, 2012)

After reading your replies and reading about 2133 vs 1600 I decided that its not worth it.

Now as I said before I plan to OC my CPU, my question now will a 1600 RAM be okay with that? And what do you recommend a 16GB RAM for me?

Cheers!


----------



## cadaveca (May 29, 2012)

Ellewah said:


> After reading your replies and reading about 2133 vs 1600 I decided that its not worth it.
> 
> Now as I said before I plan to OC my CPU, my question now will a 1600 RAM be okay with that? And what do you recommend a 16GB RAM for me?
> 
> Cheers!



Yes, that'll be fine. Actually, 1600 MHz is supported by IvyBridge CPUs right out of the box.

You sohuld be able to find a 1600 MHz 16 GB kit for around $100 or so. Most memory makers are suing the same memory ICs, so it really doesn't matter what brand you buy. You'l notice that most brands ahve the exact same timings at teh same speeds...because they isn't much other options or leeway for tweaking things that there was with memory in the past. Currently, with the market the way it is, teh best idea is to buy what you want, and do not expect any overclocking of memory at all. They are soem kits that will clock decently well, of course, but not many.


You may want to consider the $99 G.skill F3-2400C10D-GTX, if looking for 8 GB. I shoudl have a review of them live on the front page here soon.


----------



## Ellewah (May 29, 2012)

Thank you for the quick reply,

I don't know if you can tell but i'm a fan of Corsair 
Now I ended up with this RAM ( http://alturl.com/v4awm ) I plan to buy two of them which gives me 16GB in total for the cost of $120

What do you think of this?


----------



## cadaveca (May 29, 2012)

Those are decent sticks...not the best(I do think the red ones are the "best" clocking kit, at least, tehy were at launch many moons ago), but 9-10-9-27 @ 1.5 V is pretty standard, adn the vengeance line is priced to compare with other brand optinos out there. THe domiators are much higher-priced, but have far more features, like the plug to use with the Airflow Pro and Corsair-LINK stuff that the H60/H80/H100 have, and hence them costing so much more(plus, Corsair really does expect you to clock Dominators a fair bit).

So compatibility reasons (ie, ram heatsink being to tall for some coolers), you may also want to consider the Low-Profile Vengeance kits, if you want Corsair.


----------



## Ellewah (May 29, 2012)

What model do you exactly mean by the red ones?

For the Domiators features I don't really care about them really.

You know if you could tell me your best recommendation for a 16GB RAM ,either quad set or two dual set, with a 1866 frequency speed I'd so much appreciate it.


----------



## cadaveca (May 29, 2012)

Ellewah said:


> What model do you exactly mean by the red ones?
> 
> For the Domiators features I don't really care about them really.
> 
> You know if you could tell me your best recommendation for a 16GB RAM ,either quad set or two dual set, with a 1866 frequency speed I'd so much appreciate it.



The red ones are the same model as teh ones you linked, but have an "R" at the end, and red heatsinks. CMZ16GX3M4X1866C9R i think.


My personal choice right now is G.SKill, but if you likew Corsair, nothing wrong with those, either. I suggest you choose a kit from this list:

http://www.intel.fr/content/dam/doc/datasheet/core-i7-memory-suppliers-1111-datasheet.pdf

I will never recommend buying two seperate 2-stick kits to make one 4-stick kit. No memory maker will either, so buy EXACTLY what you want, in one kit.


----------



## Ellewah (May 29, 2012)

Thank you so much cadaveca you have been very helpful, now I know what I want


----------

