A Closer Look

The Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 kits are available in White, Matte Black for Intel and currently are only shipping in Cool Grey for AMD. The appearance takes inspiration from the DDR4 Vengeance Pro and RT lines that came before it, with a few minor alterations. Because this is the RGB version, the DIMMs height is increased to accommodate the LEDs and light diffuser.


The Vengeance logo is centered across a bushed aluminium section. The white and yellow lettering are as expected, following the Corsair Vengeance color branding. The memory also has a repeating pattern of triangles that start small on the sides and steadily increases in size towards the center. These are most visible on the Cool Grey version, but are still prominent in the matte black as well. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to see with the white heatspreaders. It is a nice touch Corsair has done here, but regardless, it will be hard to see beyond the RGB lighting once inside a computer.



On one side of each DIMM module is the identification sticker listing the SKU, rated XMP operating frequency, corresponding voltage of 1.45, and XMP related timings. One thing Corsair does well is to include a revision number on the sticker that quickly identifies which memory ICs are used. Corsair changes this number every time an internal revision is made.


Laying the DIMMs on the side, you can barely see the Corsair logo in the center. The entire plastic strip in the middle will be illuminated when the system is powered on and lighting can be controlled with the iCUE software.


The Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-7000 kit weighs in at 49 grams on the scale. For Z-height, it comes in at 45 mm rounding up.


After taking the heatspreader apart, we see that Corsair once again is using a custom PCB for the entire Vengeance RGB and Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB series so far. A few changes to the PCB and LED implementation makes the Dominator series different, while still similar enough in dimensions and layout. The Dominator series has the LEDs separated onto a secondary PCB and attached with a ribbon cable. In contrast, the Vengeance RGB has its LEDs on the main PCB instead. The last thing to note here is this Corsair kit does have a thermal pad for all the ICs and critical components. This is extra important due to increased temperatures from the higher voltages accompanying increased memory frequencies.


A closer look at the ICs shows that these are SK Hynix (H5CG48AGBD-X018). Currently, Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix are the three suppliers of DDR5 ICs. When it comes to higher frequency memory, SK Hynix is currently unmatched and without a direct competitor. Micron's first DDR5 iteration Rev.A only reached a mere 5600 MT/s, with the recently released Rev.G coming in at 6600 MT/s. The new Micron (Rev.?) 3 GB ICs able already showing a promising start with binned retail kits of 7000 MT/s. Next is Samsung whom has been mostly absent so far, with Samsung B-Die (DDR5) rarely seen in retail kits above 6400 MT/s. While each of the companies continue to improve speeds with each revision, SK Hynix's A-Die memory is currently the only one breaking the 7200 MT/s retail barrier.

The kit we have here today is using SK Hynix A-Die. It will overclock the highest of all the current memory ICs offerings. With this revision, it does come with a small increase to primary timings as well that we will see in the overclocking section of this review.


With DDR5, one of the major changes is how the motherboard directly provides 5 V to the memory module's PMIC, which is then stepped down and split accordingly. No longer is the motherboard responsible for regulating the voltages, as with DDR4. The PMIC has the part number "0D=9DC B4F" of which software reports Richtek being the manufacturer. Internet investigation provides no additional information.