Now that we have benchmarked this memory, performed a bit of overclocking, and checked out the accompanying Corsair iCUE software, there is a fair amount to go over. Being that DDR5 is brand new to AMD, there are considerations to be had when deciding which memory is best for your system and personal needs. We will start off this section with what Corsair could improve upon to make a better product, and try to wrap things up on a positive note.

RGB lighting software has been problematic for consumers from the start. As each brand tries to implement it into a internal echo system, often it is accompanied by proprietary technology. Each motherboard manufacturer has some software for its products, even some memory companies provide complimentary software as well. Then you have the outliers like Lian Li UNI RGB fans that need specialty software for control. Other companies have their own proprietary software which may not be compatible with anything else, or cause software conflicts with multiple RGB programs running at once. Unfortunately, what this means is that nobody is getting a good experience out of this. Corsair has designed many of its products to use the company's own software called iCUE. That is great for consumers who want to load up on Corsair products, because you don't need multiple applications to control different peripherals. However, this also means you must use Corsair iCUE software. Anyway you slice it, you the consumer must install this software for the many Corsair products that require it for all listed features to function. Admittedly, there is third-party software that can be used in place of iCUE for the memory RGB functions and fan control. Just understand that it is not officially supported by Corsair and as such should not be considered as a reliable alternative.

Corsair iCUE software was placed on the negative list because If you don't have any other Corsair products, the idea of having to install this just for RGB light control of the memory adds to the inherit problem of this ongoing software "bloatware" epidemic. It is understandable Corsair wants its products inside a contained ecosystem for compatibility reasons and better customer support. The software is far from actually bloatware and has very low resource usage while running. However, at the same time this does have a negative effect on the consumer experience. Ultimately, it comes down to your personal system and software preference. If the iCUE software was able to control the motherboards RGB settings and fans as well, this would be a different story all together. Maybe future updates will bring cross-compatibility, or maybe the solution is that Corsair needs to partner with a motherboard manufacturer, like Razer has done with ASRock for a special edition.

Next up is not really a complaint rather, something to be aware of. This memory kit only has a single "overclock" profile. That profile is the new EXPO (Extended Profiles for Overclocking) created by AMD, which is also an open standard that can be implemented into Intel motherboards too. This is designed to rival Intel's XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) that has long been the only option and industry standard since its introduction in 2007. Because EXPO is so new, most Intel motherboards will need a BIOS update for support, if it is ever actually implemented by the manufacturer. While this Corsair Vengeance memory is strictly marketed towards AMD users, it still would have been nice to have an XMP profile as a backup, just on the off-chance it is re-purposed and used with a Intel based system at a later date. Corsair did its due diligence to provide the customer with appropriate information, making sure that the consumer is aware that this is indeed intended only for AMD systems. If the Intel motherboard does not support EXPO, the kit will default to DDR5-4800 JEDEC specifications. Setting memory timings manually is always an option, even on Intel.

Now that some of the bigger concerning issues are covered, we can switch gears and focus on why this memory kit is perfect for that new AMD system. As explained in the overclocking section of this review, the ideal configuration for DDR4 was to keep a 1:1:1 Ratio for the memory system, CPU memory controller and Infinity Fabric. AMD has slightly changed the formula from the previous platform on the technical side. Now, the Infinity Fabric is generally a set static value regardless of the memory speed, while the CPU memory controller is still synced with a system memory. Everybody who buys the AMD Ryzen 7000 series is part of this early adoption phase of DDR5. Throughout this first year, we will see improvements through future BIOS updates from motherboard manufacturers for overall better memory support and different configurations. That being said, it's safe to say for the Ryzen 7000 series, anything above DDR5-6200 will cause a lot of headaches with stability issues, or the system just not booting at all.

AMD has dubbed DDR5-6000 the "Sweet Spot" for good reasons. Increasing the memory frequency above this not only can be a challenge, but also does not significantly change the performance (as seen in the benchmark results). Just like how AMD has configured their CPU turbo function, the engineering team has optimized the system memory portion as well. In fact, there is a good argument against going above DDR5-6000 because of the increase in cost, especially when the graphics card is the overall limiting factor. It is not that higher speed memory lacks the ability to have a meaningful impact. Rather, depending on the graphical settings, only minor gains in the overall frame rate will be seen. This is because at higher graphical settings, often the bottleneck is not the processor, but rather the graphics card. For example, if the graphics card is waiting for the CPU to finish its calculations for the next frame, higher memory frequency can help reduce frame times. The opposite can occur as well. For instance if the processor is waiting for the graphics card to finish, time saved from using faster system memory will not change the outcome. Often, large framerate gains can be accomplished simply by using a faster processor or upgrading the graphics card to something more powerful. It is only when your system is CPU limited, will system memory play a vital role in higher frame rates in games. Even at 1920 x 1080 with medium settings, this margin in average frame rate is fairly low between DDR5-5600 and DDR5-6200. It will not be until much more powerful graphic cards enter the market will we once again see a noticeable performance gap between different memory frequencies. Those who are not competitive gamers chasing every single frame will be unlikely to ever notice a difference at max settings.

Those who want the maximum performance out of their system will want to look into memory tuning beyond the EXPO profile. It can often provide a noticeable improvement in games that are memory speed or latency sensitive. This is where things get a lot more complicated, as no overclock is ever guaranteed, and copying values from forums, Discord or Reddit will often just result in a unstable system. The AM5 platform is still in its infancy. As such, memory overclocking is very much on a per case basis. Each (B650/X67) motherboard I've tried presents itself with a different "problem." For example; using the Gigabyte X670E Master, the DRAM voltage cannot be changed or the system will not boot, yet this same memory kit works fine in other X670E motherboards. A different memory kit using that same motherboard has no issues with changing the voltage. Sub-timings issues, such as tRFC cannot go below a value of 480, or it simply will refuse to boot. These are early adopter issues that will be resolved either by BIOS updates or future (Zen 5) AMD processors. For now though, overclocking on this new AMD platform is a major timesink with no guarantee of success. This is where Corsair shines with a well binned memory kit that is for the most part, universally Plug and Play for AMD. While these type of performance memory kits are often priced outside the budget of the casual users, this particular kit is priced competitively with other brands in the same category. Combined with a limited lifetime warranty and great PCB build quality, the Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 CL30 (AMD) is a memory kit worth a closer look for that next AMD based computer.