The era of DDR4 memory has surfaced to consumer market just recently alongside Intel’s latest X99 chipset and Haswell-E processors. Since then, we’ve seen more and more companies aggressively rolled out their own DDR4 memory kits, from low-end to high-end range. Corsair is no exception, they introduced the high-end Dominator Platinum and the low-profile Vengeance LPX series of DDR4 memory kits.

Corsair’s Dominator series is well-known among ambitious overclockers and gaming enthusiasts for its excellent overclocking potential and fast speed. To meet new market demands, Corsair released Dominator Platinum series, which combines high performance with great aesthetic.

The memory kit that we are going to review today is the Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16, which is comprised of four 4GB modules with an operating frequency of DDR4 2800MHz and timings of 16-18-18-36 at a voltage of 1.2V. First of all, we would like to thank our friends at CUDO Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd for making our review possible.

Product Link: http://goo.gl/qxSflc

Suggested Retail Price: RM 1,999

 

Specifications

Unboxing

Like previous generation of Dominator Platinum series, the CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit came well packaged in a unique octagonal-shaped black coloured box with white and silver accents. There is a transparent windows on the top of the box reveals the luxury metal light bar that’s spanning on top of each module. Here you can see a big picture of the memory module in the background along with the Corsair logo on the top left and product name on the middle of the box. The two Intel logos located on the bottom of the box indicated that the memory kit supports Intel’s Core i7 and Core processors as well as Extreme Memory Profile (XMP). You can also see a Corsair LINK logo showing that this memory kit is compatible with Corsair LINK technology. The memory kit is consisted of four sticks of 4GB modules to make up a total of 16GB capacity in Quad Channel configuration.

 

The back of the box is still dominated by black colour. Here Corsair takes some efforts to explain some details about the features that come with the memory kit. You can also see two transparent windows showing the labels of each memory module. You will find a Corsair Link logo on top right on the box showing that the memory kit supports Corsair Link technology for memory performance monitoring. There’s a label on the bottom indicating the part number of the memory modules (CMD16GX4M4A2800C16).

 

Opening the box reveals the memory modules that are well packed in a plastic blister and protective foam to prevent rattling during transportation. The package is very simple in which Corsair only attached a piece of warranty manual apart from the memory modules. The warranty manual describes the duration of warranty backed by Corsair and the procedure of how to claim the warranty in the event of product failure.

 

Let’s take a closer look at the memory module itself. The Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit looks stunning and most probably one of the best looking memory kits that we have ever seen so far. The first thing that you would notice is that the silver coloured metal light bar that’s spanning across on top of the memory modules. Next is the black coloured heatspreaders that feature Corsair’s exclusive Dual-path Heat eXchange cooling technology which pulls heat away from the modules and allows it to run at cooler temperatures. You can see the silver coloured Corsair logo located on the middle of the heatspreader alongside a label indicating the product name (Dominator Platinum) and its operating frequency (2800MHz). The memory module also sports a matte black PCB which looks very nice.

 

On the other side of the memory module you will find a label indicating the part number (CMD16GX4M4A2800C16) of the memory kit, as well as its capacity (16GB = 4 X 4GB), operating frequency (2800MHz), timings (16-18-18-36), voltage (1.2V), version (ver5.29), bar code and country of origin (Made in Taiwan).The version number of 5.29 suggested that the memory module’s IC are made by Hynix.

 

Sitting on one end of the PCB is a small connector to connect the memory kit to Corsair LINK system for real-time activity and temperature monitoring.

 

The main difference between the Dominator Platinum DDR4 and DDR3 is the former has a total of 288 pin connectors against 240-pins on DDR3. Besides that, the DDR4 also features golden fingers which come in a slightly convex shape on the middle.

 

When the computer is powered up, the LED light bar will glow white without pulsating. The top surface of the metal light bar is imprinted with a white coloured “Dominator” word.

 

The light bar is removable and replaceable with other colour without voiding the warranty. To do that, you will need to unsecure the four pairs of screws and then detach the top metal heatsink covering the light bar and finally remove the heatspreaders on both sides.

 

Dismantling the heatspreader reveals the Hynix ICs, specifically the H5AN4G8NMFR DDR4 chips which are known for their excellent overclocking potential and efficiency.

 

Features

Designed for Intel X99 systems

Dominator Platinum DDR4 modules are designed to take advantage of the improved clock speeds, bandwidth, and capacity of the DDR4 platform. Corsair’s modules are tested across multiple X99 Series motherboards for reliably fast performance.

XMP 2.0 support for trouble-free, automatic overclocking

Dominator Platinum is fully compatible with the XMP 2.0 standard supported by Intel X99-based motherboards. Turn it on, and it will automatically adjust to the fastest safe speed for your Dominator Platinum kit. You’ll get amazing, reliable performance while maintaining full data integrity.

Get more performance and Corsair Link control with a Dominator Airflow Platinum LED fan

Dominator Platinum DDR4 modules already have generous overclocking headroom, but to push them to extreme performance levels, you need active cooling. The Dominator Airflow Platinum (available separately) is designed for quiet operation and optimal cooling efficiency, and it works with Corsair Link for customization and control. With Corsair Link, you can control PWM fan speed directly from your Windows desktop, and change the built-in LEDs from their default red to any of 16.8 million colors to indicate fan speed, ambient system temperature, or GPU temperature. Or, just set the LED lighting color to match your system or your style.

 

 

Compatibility tested across X99 Series motherboards for reliably fast performance

Part of our exhaustive testing process includes performance and compatibility testing on most every X99 Series motherboard on the market – and a few that aren’t.

World-famous reliability and performance

There’s a reason why world-champion overclockers, extreme gaming enthusiasts and high-end system builders all trust Corsair for high-performance memory that they can install with confidence and pride. Whether you’re breaking your own records or you’re simply building a dream gaming rig, you can count on Corsair memory.

Lifetime limited warranty

Your performance investment is protected. All of Corsair’s memory products are backed by a limited lifetime warranty.

The Corsair Advantage

With a long history of building enthusiast-grade memory and components, Corsair have earned a reputation for quality, compatibility, and performance. Need help? We’re available by phone call, email or web forum.

 

Test Setup & Testing Methodology

A good overclocking RAM deserves a good motherboard with a decent memory overclocking potential and that’s why we chose the ASUS Rampage V Extreme motherboard as our overclocking engine. In addition, we used an overclocked octa-core Intel Core i7-5960X “Haswell-E” processor to handle the multithreading activities. Our trusty custom watercooling kit will be taking the charge to keep the temperature as low as possible. As for graphics processes, our beloved ASUS ROG Matrix R9-290X Platinum graphics card was used to handle the 3D benchmarks.

For comparison sake, we tested the Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit in various frequencies according to the range of DDR4 memory modules available on the market. These include 2133MHz 15-15-15-35-2T, 2400MHz 15-15-15-35-2T, 2666MHz 15-15-15-35-2T, 2800MHz 16-18-18-36-2T (XMP1), 3000MHz 17-18-18-39-2T (XMP2), and 3000MHz 15-15-15-35-1T.

 

BIOS settings used for various memory frequencies.

Corsair programmed two different XMP profiles into their Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit which specify the modules to operate at 2800MHz 16-18-18-36-2T @ 1.2V and 3000MHz 16-18-18-36-2T @ 1.35V, respectively. The memory kit was tested by simply enabling the Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) in the UEFI BIOS after clearing the CMOS. Maximus Tweak selected was Mode 2 to help overclocking and performance.

UEFI BIOS shows two XMP profiles available.

To allow the memory kit to operate at 2800MHz 16-18-18-36-2T (XMP1), we had to as well overclocked our Core i7-5960X processor to 4.58GHz due to the nature of the Haswell-E architecture that requires BCLK of 125MHz or higher to push the memory frequency over 2666MHz. At the same time the cache (uncore) frequency was set to 4.07GHz. Hence take note that most of the synthetic benchmarks would be affected by this extra 0.08GHz core frequency advantage. Screenshots of the BIOS settings that we’ve made for the 2800MHz are shown as below:

DDR4 2800MHz 16-18-18-36-2T (XMP1)

As for the 3000MHz 17-18-18-39-2T (XMP2) profile, we overclocked our Core i7-5960X processor to a core frequency of 4.5GHz and a cache (uncore) frequency of 4.0GHz. Screenshots of the BIOS settings that we’ve made for the 3000MHz are shown as below:

DDR4 3000MHz 17-18-18-39-2T (XMP2)

Synthetic Benchmarks

Synthetic benchmarks are artificial programs that are constructed to try to match the characteristics of a large set of programs. The goal is to create a single benchmark program where the execution frequency of statements in the benchmark matches the statement frequency in a large set of benchmarks. When it comes to memory benchmark, generally the higher the memory frequency and the tighter the timing the better the performance score produced by the memory kit. Overall, the Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit that we are reviewing today did not disappoint us at all when it performed well in in all of the benchmarks that we’ve tested. Generally the performance trend from lower frequency to higher clock is increasing. Once again, it must be mentioned that for the 2800MHz profile set, the CPU frequency was set to 4.58MHz instead of 4.5GHz.

 

Game Benchmarks

The game settings used.

The game titles selected demand GPU power more than the CPU power therefore in each test the difference is rather marginal. The Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit performed well in our game benchmarks. There was no performance difference observed regardless of how fast or slow the memory kit was clocked.

 

OverClocking

High-end performance memory kit always comes with plethora of overclocking features in pursuit for highest overclocking potential. The Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit is designed using highly binned memory chips which were tested rigorously for high level of stability even under overclocking. It is also equipped with Corsair’s most advanced cooling solution in the form of Dual-path Heat eXchange (DHX) technology which allows ambitious overclockers push it to the limit.

Our overclocking journey with the memory kit was as smooth as butter thanks to Corsair’s chip binning workmanship, ASUS’s great BIOS and Intel’s strong Integrated Memory Controller. Corsair employed Hynix H5AN4G8NMFR chips which are known for their excellent overclocking potential.

We started our memory overclocking process by finding a memory frequency which is stable for 24/7 usage, we’ve run the AIDA64 Stability Test. The end result was 3000MHz @ 15-15-15-35-1T at a voltage of 1.35V in which we didn’t get any error or whatsoever during the test therefore we can conclude that this overclock is fine for daily use. Screenshots of the BIOS settings that we’ve used for the 3000MHz 15-15-15-35-1T are shown as below:

 

 DDR4 3000MHz 15-15-15-35-1T (OC)

Then, we continued tightening the timings and pushing the frequency as higher as possible. Below are the Super Pi 32M benchmark results that we obtained during our overclocking process.

DDR4 3000MHz 12-14-16-15-1T – voltage 1.65V:

DDR4 3100MHz 17-22-22-40-2T – voltage 1.5V:

DDR4 3200MHz 17-25-29-50-2T – voltage 1.3V:

 

To add more fun, we then attempted to run eight sticks of 4GB memory modules to make up a total of 32GB in capacities. We paired our Corsair memory kit with the Ripjaws4 DDR4 2666MHz C15 4x4GB supplied by G.Skill. The end result was impressive in which we managed to push both memory kits to a memory frequency of 3000MHz at timings of 13-15-21-21-2T.

Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 2800MHz C16 4x4GB + G.Skill Ripjaws4 DDR4 2666MHz C15 4x4GB @ 3000MHz 13-15-21-21-2T 8x4GB (32GB):

 

Thoughts & Verdicts

Corsair has done a really great job in maintaining their Dominator Platinum series to be one of the world’s well-known and best overclocking memory kits. The Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit that we’ve reviewed today is engineered using only highly binned memory chips to ensure highest level of reliability and stability during overclocking. Like previous Dominator Platinum series, it also features Corsair’s exclusive Dual-path Heat eXchange (DHX) cooling technology to dissipate the heat generated by the memory in a more efficient way and eventually allow for higher overclocking headroom.

On aesthetic aspect, the Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit appears to be to be one of best looking DDR4 memory kits that we’ve ever seen so far. It comes equipped with an attractive LED light bar featuring white lighting effects which looks very nice in the dark. The light bar is removable and replaceable with another colour of interest to match other components of your rig.

To get the memory kit running at the manufacturer’s specified speed and timings is not a plug-and-play job. Users would need to use either the XMP profile method or manually set the speed, timings and the voltage by their own. In our opinion we believe that the first method is easier to do because it doesn’t require so much of BIOS alterations. However, the second method is not a tough job as well provided that users filled in the values correctly then you should get the system running perfectly as per specifications.

During our testing process, the Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit delivered good results within our expectation. We had no problem to get the memory kit operated at Corsair’s specified speed and timings. On synthetic standpoint, generally higher clocked memory kit outperforms slower kit and that was the case with the Dominator Platinum memory kit as well. When overclocked the memory kit will beat its lower frequency. The Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit also performed well in our gaming benchmarks. Because memory kit regardless of any frequency clock will not affect much in real world situation so you can expect that overclocking the memory modules will not achieve any performance gain.

Speaking of overclocking performance, the Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 memory kit showed that it has a great overclocking potential. We were able to push our Corsair memory kit from 2800MHz all the way up to 3200MHz 17-25-29-50-2T with a voltage of 1.3V on air cooling. Some of you might think that the memory kit has hit its headroom wall but we believe that it could go higher with further tweaking and of course under extreme cooling like Liquid Nitrogen (LN2).

In the end, the Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 CMD16GX4M4A2800C16 is a great memory kit for ambitious overclockers and modding enthusiast. The memory kit is retailed for RM 1,999, which is not a small amount for average users. A quick check at the market you can find the G.Skill Ripjaws4 DDR4 3000MHz C15 4x4GB for just around RM1,099. But if you’ve been a fan of Corsair’s products then this Dominator Platinum DDR4 series is the memory kit for you.

 

Performance: 5/5
Materials: 5/5
Specifications: 5/5
Appearance: 5/5
Performance/Price Value: 4/5

Pros:
+ Excellent stock performance
+ Lightning-fast DDR4 bandwidth
+ Impressive overclocking potential
+ Best aesthetic looks
+ Highly selected best-of-the-best memory ICs used
+ Unique Dual-path Heat eXchange (DHX) cooling solution
+ White LED lighting effects
+ Lifetime warranty

Cons:
- Extremely pricey
- Not plug-and-play
- High latency
- White colour scheme of LED lighting might not suit your rig’s theme

CORSAIR Dominator Platinum DDR4 2800MHz C16 16GB Memory Kit received Gold Award from OCDrift.com

Disclaimer: OCDrift.com gives out our own award based on the Hardware Performance, OverClocking Ability, Innovation, and Value as determined by the reviewer