CORSAIR VENGEANCE PRO RGB vs G. SKILL TRIDENTZ RGB

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Hello Tom's Hardware community,

I'm currently looking for a nice RGB kit which will be solid performance wise. I narrowed down my options between the Corsair Vengeance PRO RGB (CMW16GX4M2C3200C16) and the G. Skill TridentZ RGB (F4-3200C16D-16GTZR).

Which one do you recommend?

My motherboard is Z370 MAXIMUS X HERO paired with Intel's i7-8700K.

PS. I use iCUE compatible devices (RGB Fans, H115i PRO, K70 Keyboard) so, the common sense says go for the Vengeance PRO but I don't know if it's worth it versus TridentZ RGB. Plus I have no info on compatibility with the MOBO but as far as I know, it works fine with the XMP Prof.

Hopefully someone could help me out

Kind regards

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'd take Trident Z sticks over Vengeance sticks pretty much every hour of every day of every week, unless there was a budget concern, if performance and quality are the primary concerns. As far as the compatibility of the RGB, that's a different story. I've seen a variety of both Corsair and G.skill RGB memory that have had issues with certain, or even with non-specific, RGB controllers, so really I think the think to do would be to ask this question on the G.skill forum where there is a higher probability that somebody has experience regarding the RGB use of those sticks on THAT board.

https://www.gskill.com/en/forum

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

I'd take Trident Z sticks over Vengeance sticks pretty much every hour of every day of every week, unless there was a budget concern, if performance and quality are the primary concerns. As far as the compatibility of the RGB, that's a different story. I've seen a variety of both Corsair and G.skill RGB memory that have had issues with certain, or even with non-specific, RGB controllers, so really I think the think to do would be to ask this question on the G.skill forum where there is a higher probability that somebody has experience regarding the RGB use of those sticks on THAT board.

https://www.gskill.com/en/forum

There's no compatibility problem with Corsair's one as they are controlled via Corsair's iCUE Software, plus there are some extras like temp monitoring through the software etc.

Anyway, may i ask why would you pick Trident Z over Vengeance? There's no budget issue anyway, the kits are about the same price.

PS. I'm talking about the new series of Vengeance.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Vengeance is a budget series for Corsair. It's a mainstream module, not Corsair's high quality series. The Dominator platinum sticks are Corsair's high quality series. Trident Z is G.Skill's high quality upper tiered series. While there are Ripjaws sticks that are very good due to the use of Samsung B-die memory chips on them, they are not overall built with the same level of quality as the Trident Z modules and Corsair's Vengeance series is about on par with the G.skill Ripjaws.

Ripjaws and Vengeance modules tend to usually have lower quality ICs (memory chips), looser timings and are generally more budget oriented than the Trident Z or Dominator platinum sticks.

If you use the link software anyhow, then for you it might be better to stick with the Corsair sticks, because I know there are issues with practically all of the G.skill RGB modules when it comes to lighting problems. Honestly, I don't think Corsair is much better and that most of this stuff doesn't work the way it was actually intended to. Plus, it creates some otherwise not present vulnerabilities.

Might want to read this FULL thread, and maybe look at some others similar to it on the Corsair and G.skill forums before deciding to go with RGB RAM. There are a lot of other ways to get your RGB fix on.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?p=945749

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Vengeance is a budget series for Corsair. It's a mainstream module, not Corsair's high quality series. The Dominator platinum sticks are Corsair's high quality series. Trident Z is G.Skill's high quality upper tiered series. While there are Ripjaws sticks that are very good due to the use of Samsung B-die memory chips on them, they are not overall built with the same level of quality as the Trident Z modules and Corsair's Vengeance series is about on par with the G.skill Ripjaws.

Ripjaws and Vengeance modules tend to usually have lower quality ICs (memory chips), looser timings and are generally more budget oriented than the Trident Z or Dominator platinum sticks.

If you use the link software anyhow, then for you it might be better to stick with the Corsair sticks, because I know there are issues with practically all of the G.skill RGB modules when it comes to lighting problems. Honestly, I don't think Corsair is much better and that most of this stuff doesn't work the way it was actually intended to. Plus, it creates some otherwise not present vulnerabilities.

Might want to read this FULL thread, and maybe look at some others similar to it on the Corsair and G.skill forums before deciding to go with RGB RAM. There are a lot of other ways to get your RGB fix on.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?p=945749

Thank you for your time darkbreeze. I decided to go for 4x4 GB 3600C17 by G. Skill TridentZ non RGB as the red-silver heat-spreader fits to the rest of the build. If I were to go for a RGB Kit though i'd go for the 32GB (4x8) of Corsair's new series Vengeance PRO RGB 3200C16. Hopefully there won't be any issues as the TridentZ are on the QVL list same as the Corsair's one..

According to ASUS due to T-Topology of Maximus X Hero it's always better to go for 4xYGB of RAM on that motherboard.

PS. If I'm not mistaken the 3600C17 are Samsung B-Dies as well, so I could use them in a future Ryzen build if that will be necessary .

I also had a look over HyperX 32GB Predator 3200C16, but I decided that 16GB are more than enough for my daily routine which is mostly gaming and if at some point get a decent internet connection, I would like to try some streaming over Twitch with OBS.

Kind regards

 

[Darkbreeze]

According to ASUS due to T-Topology of Maximus X Hero it's always better to go for 4xYGB of RAM on that motherboard.

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and if ASUS is actually saying that, I need to have a conversation with Raja about what the heck they are making recommendations like that for. On ANY system, it is ALWAYS better to go with 2 x however many GB per module is necessary in order to achieve the full amount of memory you want UNLESS you are working with a board that has triple, quad, octa or any other higher than dual channel memory configuration that offers better performance with a minimum of that many sticks installed.

Even then, it's STILL a lot more stress on the memory controller so you want to use as few modules as possible to achieve the desired memory capacity. So on a quad channel board you wouldn't want to use 8 x4GB, just because it has that many slots, to achieve 32GB. You'd want to use 4 x8GB, which would still give you quad channel operation but with half as many modules, therefore half the stress on the MC and CPU.

Z370 only has dual channel memory operation, so if you can get the full amount of memory you WANT to run, using only two sticks, that is ALWAYS what you want to do. Plus, even though I don't recommend using mixed memory and always buying the full amount you need, or will ever need, right from the start, it still does leave you room to add additional memory later if you discover that "Wow, I need to run a big VM on this machine but I don't have enough memory without replacing ALL my sticks, because I populated all of them from the start" instead of getting only what you needed via two modules, leaving room for two more later.

It's bad advice, what ASUS is offering, if in fact that is actually something ASUS themselves is saying, and I highly doubt that their main forum agent Raja, who is an ASUS employee and writes most of their guides and articles in their forum, would agree with it.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

According to ASUS due to T-Topology of Maximus X Hero it's always better to go for 4xYGB of RAM on that motherboard.

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and if ASUS is actually saying that, I need to have a conversation with Raja about what the heck they are making recommendations like that for. On ANY system, it is ALWAYS better to go with 2 x however many GB per module is necessary in order to achieve the full amount of memory you want UNLESS you are working with a board that has triple, quad, octa or any other higher than dual channel memory configuration that offers better performance with a minimum of that many sticks installed.

Even then, it's STILL a lot more stress on the memory controller so you want to use as few modules as possible to achieve the desired memory capacity. So on a quad channel board you wouldn't want to use 8 x4GB, just because it has that many slots, to achieve 32GB. You'd want to use 4 x8GB, which would still give you quad channel operation but with half as many modules, therefore half the stress on the MC and CPU.

Z370 only has dual channel memory operation, so if you can get the full amount of memory you WANT to run, using only two sticks, that is ALWAYS what you want to do. Plus, even though I don't recommend using mixed memory and always buying the full amount you need, or will ever need, right from the start, it still does leave you room to add additional memory later if you discover that "Wow, I need to run a big VM on this machine but I don't have enough memory without replacing ALL my sticks, because I populated all of them from the start" instead of getting only what you needed via two modules, leaving room for two more later.

It's bad advice, what ASUS is offering, if in fact that is actually something ASUS themselves is saying, and I highly doubt that their main forum agent Raja, who is an ASUS employee and writes most of their guides and articles in their forum, would agree with it.

The exact answer on their board by Silent Scone@ASUS:
"For the Hero, 4 DIMM kits will always be the better option and will often overclock better due to the boards T-Topology layout."

 

[Darkbreeze]

Minimally better memory performance in benchmarks, and the longevity of your hardware, are not always (And usually aren't) the same thing. But as long as it's working out for you, so be it. Best of luck to you.

 

[thetiesthatbind2018]

Minimally better memory performance in benchmarks, and the longevity of your hardware, are not always (And usually aren't) the same thing. But as long as it's working out for you, so be it. Best of luck to you.

Well I'm sorry if I transferred the message in a wrong way. Anyway, I just want to enable my XMP profile and that's all. I won't tweak anything. Plus, I just want to provide a complete look on my system by populating all the RAM Slots. Thanks though for all your help and advises. It helped me a lot, and I got some new knowledge out of it. 😉 Much appreciated! I don't care for the benchmarks obviously, I care for the overall performance/longevity.