Prior to buying this, I was torn between Crucial, Samsung and Kingston memory modules of more or less the same frequency and memory capacity. They had more reviews and ratings than this Corsair Vengeance kit, but I decided to go with it because I have always purchased Corsair flash memory and it served me great at blazing speeds. I do a lot of Graphic Design work as a student and needed the extra memory, and being tech savvy I couldn't help but do a lot of research before buying this. That said, I'm impressed by Corsair yet again!
The timings of this memory are 9-9-9-24 (Lower means Better!), which is extremely fast for a module running at 1600Mhz. My processor is the Core i5-2520M (Sandy Bridge) and can only accept memory frequency ranges of up to 1333Mhz :( but I bought it knowing this would happen anyway. Why? Because of the benefits from downclocking this to 1333MHz!
-[Unlike the newer series up from the i7 2720QM which accepts 1600MHz. So if you have the 2720QM, 2760QM or better you can run this at its rated frequency]-
It downclocks to 1333Mhz and runs at LOWER timings of 8-8-8-20 at this frequency. It is priced the same as 1333MHz Crucial and Samsung and has timings that are way better, and this makes a noticeable difference when you're running a lot of resource-hogging applications like Photoshop and Illustrator, and even while gaming.
I already had a 4GB module on my HP Elitebook 8460p, but I swapped it out for this kit and am running this in dual channel mode while I figure out how on earth I survived with just 4GB of memory that was so much slower! Also, I tested out 1 Vengeance module versus my older pre-installed Samsung memory and it's still noticeably faster!
Pros:-
- Easy to attach, if you know what you're doing. Took me five minutes and only because I had trouble finding my screwdriver lol
- Remains cool and no heating issues (yet).
- Excellent timings even at 1600MHz. If you're running it at below 1333MHz, expect timings even better than the 8-8-8-20 I'm getting. [As Joe MacBu pointed out, it runs at 6-6-6-16 at 1066MHz. That's blazin'!]
- An option to consider if you have a gaming notebook and want more memory without having to buy higher frequency (and more expensive) performance memory. Consider this for more performance @ 8GB -
Corsair Vengeance 8 GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1866MHz PC3 204 Pin 15000 SODIMM Laptop Memory CMSX8GX3M2A1866C10
for it's 1866MHz frequency and fab timings (but only if you have the latest i7s - 2720QM and up). You could also try looking for a good 16GB kit with at least a frequency of 1600MHz. (I tried looking on Amazon but didn't find anything I liked). But this is entirely up to you.
- Comes in a small, easy to open, easy to dispose package. When I saw the box I couldn't believe how small it was! It's the size of my palm.
Cons:-
- Runs at 1.5V, which is fine since almost every other memory module you will find runs at 1.5V, but I would have loved it if this ran at 1.35V like certain power-efficient memory kits in the market.
- Should have come with the custom heatsink design like the other Vengeance models... or maybe that's asking for too much! Sorry haha
- The biggest problem is that I am hard-pressed to find something wrong with this kit for you. But I'll keep an eye out and update in the next few months...
In short, this is probably the best upgrade you can give your laptop for a noticeable boost in performance for less than $50. I'd be hard-pressed to say 'no'.... Highly recommended! You won't be sorry :)
**PS - Note that this is a 204-pin module so ensure that your notebook can use it!**
| RAM | 32 GB DDR3 2400^DDR 400 |
|---|---|
| Memory Speed | 2666 MHz |
