Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 memory review

Our Verdict

88%

These RGB memory modules look great and offer superb value for their performance.

We’ve used Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro modules in features and systems more times than we’ve had hot dinners and for good reasons. These gamer memory modules are always very well priced, look fantastic and have other benefits too. We’re still big fans, and these modules offer good value, with our 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600MHz test kit having a price of just $75 (£74).

At Custom PC, we’ve been reviewing the latest memory since 2003, and we’ve tested and overclocked hundreds of kits, going right back to the original DDR era. We run both synthetic and application benchmarks to assess performance, and also see how far we can overclock each kit. In addition, we look at any RGB lighting features and assess how good it looks, as well as how well the control software works. For more information, check out our How we test page.

The Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro kit doesn’t come with the tightest timings, though, which sit at 18-22-22-42, but other timing options are available, as is a huge range of frequencies. The Vengeance RGB Pro modules look good too, with their towering heatsinks, and they’re even more visually appealing once illuminated. The lighting is the Vengeance RGB Pro’s party piece, as it’s as vibrant and accurate as any other modules we’ve recently tested but also benefits from full Corsair iCUE software.

The diffusing bars across the tops of the modules do a great job of evening out the photons from the LEDs underneath, with less visible gaps between them than we saw with the Kingston Fury Beast kit. Like any modules, they look best placed together, but that’s a tad wasteful if you don’t need 32GB of RAM and they only come with a minimum of 8GB per module.

To solve the gaps created with 16GB dual-channel kits on boards with four slots, Corsair also offers Light Enhancement kits of dummy modules, which cost a fraction of the price of real modules, but have lighting that’s controlled by its iCUE software to mimic having four modules. It’s an advantage that this memory enjoys over every other DDR4 memory kit we’ve recently tested, including Corsair’s own Dominator Platinum RGB modules.

Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro performance

In terms of thermals, the large heatsinks didn’t seem to offer much of an advantage over the smaller G.Skill Trident Z Neo kits, sitting just below 50°C under load too, but were a couple of degrees cooler than the Kingston Fury Renegade RGB, possibly due to its much higher frequency.

With the joint lowest frequency we’ve recently tested, as well as average timings, it wasn’t surprising to see the Vengeance RGB Pro sit at the bottom of the AIDA64 Extreme results for read and write speeds, and only just short of the highest latency too. Thankfully, this didn’t result in the lowest results in the RealBench tests, where it sat at second overall, albeit largely within the margin of error we’d usually expect.

Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro overclocking

We also managed to push up our 3600MHz modules to 3866MHz by just increasing the memory speed, but couldn’t push it further, making it the join lowest overclocked frequency we’ve recently tested.

However, that’s still enough headroom to push most motherboards to their limits if you want to synchronize your memory with your AMD CPU’s fabric clock. Even without doing that, it saw a small gain in the system score as well as AIDA64 read and write speeds once overclocked, although latency was mostly unchanged.

Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro pros and cons

Pros

• Fantastic lighting
• Great software
• Reasonable overclocking headroom

Cons

• Might interfere with low-rising CPU heatsinks
• Lower-latency models can be pricey
• Aging design

Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro spec

The Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro specs list is:

Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro price

Price: Expect to pay $75 (£74).

Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro review conclusion

If you have room for tall memory modules, want top-notch RGB lighting, aren’t too fussed about overclocking headroom and have a limited budget, the Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro is a great choice, with our 3600MHz test kit offering particularly good value.

With so many variations of speeds and timings available, it can be a daunting experience picking the right kit, but with this 3600MHz kit now priced at $75, now is a fabulous time to pick up some affordable, high-frequency DDR4 modules, especially as we expect AMD Ryzen 5000-series CPUs to see price cuts ahead of the Zen 4 launch later this year. They might be long in the tooth now, but Corsair’s Vengeance RGB Pro modules still strike a great balance between performance, value and looks.