CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Desktop Memory Model CMK32GX4M4C3000C15

Pros: + Corsair is a great company that backs their products with vigor. Customer service and RMA support is always fast and courteous. They're flexible in their rules if your requests are reasonable. Basically, Corsair is one of the better companies out there in regards to supporting their customers.

+ Low profile heatsink allows virtually every CPU cooler to work without conflict.

+ Good average timings and voltage.

+ XMP 2.0 works just fine IF! your CPU can properly handle the settings. XMP 2.0 isn't magic. You need a CPU and Motherboard that can handle the way it sets up the memory. When in doubt, contact Corsair or your Motherboard manufacturer before purchase.

+ Build quality and quality control seem to be above average. I don't see any widespread complaints or problems with this line of memory from Corsair. This is good and stable memory.

+ The biggest advantage for DDR4 memory as of this review is simply capacity. You get a lot more per DIMM and overall system memory is a lot easier to achieve. Since having several tabs open in browsers can literally take up 4-8GBs of space, there isn't such a thing as too much memory these days for power users. Games are also slowly starting to consider 16GB base minimum configurations. So, it's not a bad time to switch platforms.

Cons: - Technically it's some of the slower memory of its class and it doesn't overclock well (it works wonderfully stable for overclocking your CPU but the memory itself is very tight in tolerance - don't expect it to go beyond the XMP profile).

I do mean technically in the strongest sense. We're talking negligible differences and in the real world a fraction of a frame per second in gaming. Fractions of a percent in other applications and synthetics. Truly negligible in the real world.

As such I'm not going to even bother posting numbers because less than 1% of a difference in the real world is meaningless for mid-grade consumer memory, and I feel it would only serve to mislead and confuse. However, if you're looking for the best of the best, or best technical performance for value, you won't find it in a midgrade budget line of memory here.

- The real world difference in gaming of speeds with DDR4 from 2333 to 4000 is 1-3 FPS with an integrated GPU and .5-1 FPS with a dedicated GPU. Basically, raw speed doesn't matter as much as it did with DDR3, at least right now on Intel. I'd suggest you get whatever memory has tighter timings or just what's the best bargain under current platforms.

Overall Review: These days buying memory couldn't be easier and configuring them is also extremely easy if you have a motherboard that supports XMP and almost all do these days. Just don't go expecting to get "top of the line" performance out of memory when you use the lowest binned CPU and motherboards.

More importantly, as of today, you'd need very exotic situations, such as professional movie editing, to even care about the settings on DDR4 memory. The real world difference in gaming is absolutely negligible so don't get hung up on getting the highest speeds and the tightest timings. They just don't matter like they used to, certainly not with first generation DDR4 memory.

Ultimately with memory if you're a novice or if this is your first time building your computer you want a company that backs their products and responds to you in a timely manner. I often get responses from Corsair the same day and never longer than 24 hours. I'm not a Corsair fanboy by any means, but after reviewing their products for a while now I can say their company is one of the more friendly, helpful and timely ones on the customer service side of things.

Considering that support is basically the most important thing for memory these days, that's why I'm focusing on it.

Pros: None

Cons: A year ago, this RAM was Samsung B die, but today it's SK Hynix. Originally I had purchased 16gb, and now added another 16gb. I am NOT ABLE to run at 3000mhz with the specified timings.

If I run only the old memory, or only the new memory, then it works fine at the specified timings. However, using all 32gb, I am unable to use the proper timings -- I had to loosen the timings way out for it to work.

This is obviously highly irritating to not get what you pay for, especially when Corsair did not change their product nomenclature or advertising whatsoever. I got an inferior product compared to a year ago, completely subverting my expectations.

Overall Review: Look elsewhere -- find real Samsung B-die.