The Dominator line has always been about one thing, looks. You want the looks, you pay the price. Quite often the actual RAM is the same and only the heatspreader is different.
That's not totally true. The PCBs are bigger and beefier too. How much that translates into actual performance/stability however is debatable. For the typical high-end user it is most likely not worth the premium, but if you are one to overclock everything to the max the extra engineering that goes into Dominator might be worth the premium.
Personally I've always had good experience with Corsair's more mainstream memory lines (XMS3 and now Vengeance) in terms of stability and compatibility. There is a benefit to economies of scale and popularity, as mobo makers will generally go out of their way to ensure Corsair kits' SPDs are supported. I can't say the same for some lesser known brands I've used, currently Adata kits that won't do their rated 2800MHz on my X99 board (most likely a BIOS SPD support issue).
That puzzles me. A gamer/tweaker with a penchant for the looks is unlikely to need 256GB or more of RAM in their rigs. Most enthusiast motherboards don't even support that much. Someone who needs that much RAM is likely not to care much for the looks and just needs lots of work done. We're taking high end workstations and servers here.
iirc corsair saying that dominator series using cherry picked chips + manually tested, so its OC better than corsair other series, basically it for OCer otherwise u dont get any value buying dominator series
The dominator platinum also can be connected to the corsair link system monitoring hardware and you can get speed and temp readings of the ram through the link software. Maybe some other things link can do that I am not sure of.
I use 3x4GB 12GB of ram and i rarely ever see my use above 25%. If I get reckless with things open and just go wild I still can't get it over 60% without being completely absurd.
sorry i lied they are 3x8GB G skill trident x with the removable heat spreader 2400Mhz Cas 10. Read anandtech's article on ram speeds compared. The combination of 2400mhz speed with CAS latency of 10 outperformed EVERY other speed and latency combination. Even the 3000 mhz+ speed got beat by 2400mhz CAS 10. The higher speeds get higher CAS latencies which ends up hurting them more than the speed makes up for. The best speed/CAS Latency combo based only on configurations that are available stock, no OC or tinkering only stock to stock comparisons is the 2400 Mhz Cas 10 combo, just destroys everything else.
even 16GB is plenty for most i believe. 128GB could be used for RAM disks, very specific software which professionals use or it is for Linus to build insane gaming dream machine for advertising purposes :)
I presume that with Skylake coming the year ,the prices of DDR4 will settle down to reasonable levels, Currently DDR4 is overpriced for what it offers.
Any kind of professional work done at "low cost" would need these kits. Buying something like this for a professional workstation is 2 to 3 times more expensive. So if you want to do this kind of work but are a bit cash strapped (if 2k for RAM can be called that), this is a good way.
This leaves the Dominator series for people buying bragging rights. The professionals mentioned above would rarely feel the difference between the 2400MHz LPX and the 2666MHz Dominator. Certainly a bit hard to justify the extra $400.
Because: rendering, VMs, photo/video editing, compute, etc. not everyone who does that has the option of going E5 and ECC (either monetary or otherwise impossible) I myself will get this immediately as it hits europe (or any other 128GB kit) because when i render, ill take all the ram i can
Servers hosting large databases with many concurrent users. Businesses running multiple VM's. Just because a regular mainstream home user has no need for it doesn't make it useless. If you don't need it just don't bother looking at it. It's not hurting you just because it exists. For the most part 4x4GB ddr4 kits for 16GB of ram total is enough ram for probably over 90% of home users and for the other 9.5% 4x8GB kits for 32GB of ram is enough and for the last .5% there are 64GB and 128GB configurations available. So it's good this came out, now there is something to make everyone happy.
OK as a home user I admit it would be fun having a 112GB ram disk and leave 16GB for system ram. Would be nice to have a little script programmed everytime you restart your pc it automatically creates the 112GB ram disk and then installs your most used applications and games right onto the ram disk. But how much faster could it really be vs one of those new sm951 pci ssd's. It already loads things so fast any improvement would be barely perceivable. For the home user it's a rich mans toy.
I have 8 GB in my main desktop and it's plenty. The simulation workstations at work have 64 GB, which is OK.. unless we have jobs for the servers with 256 GB.
Hey, are you perhaps the true author of "640K Ought to be Enough [RAM] for Anyone"? As a side note, I regularly use more than 32GB of RAM while running frame interpolation software to increase the framerate of my blu-ray media.
Not at today's prices! Closer to $8/GB for DDR3. And you miss out on the best value in computing power (X99 & i7) if you're not on DDR4.
You must not have been paying close attention for these 15+ years. To be able to get the newly released highest density RAM for barely more than the current density is a unique situation. Perhaps it's only possible because the lower density prices are artificially inflated (as it is on DDR3), but it's still uncommon.
Yup, I was thinking myself that for what you get it is not that expensive. Still, I might have been influenced by having searched for ddr2 sticks lately.
I love that you pay $225 extra just for 8 completely unnecessary heatsinks that look slightly more bling-y than the Vengeance. Given that the heatsinks probably cost less than $1 a piece to make, that's a nice income boost for Corsair, no doubt. People truly are suckers.
The headline got me exciting for a bit, thinking there were now individual DIMMs with 128 GB of RAM on them. But, alas, these are "128 GB kits" spread across multiple DIMMs. :( Was really hoping to be able to stick 16 of these into a server motherboard to get 2 TB of RAM in a system ... :(
I remember seeing the first 128MB dimms many (or so it seems) years ago at PC expo, here in NYC. Don't remember the manufacturer, but they were under glass, and cost $10,000 EACH.
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mjcutri - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
The chart has the DDR4-2666 C15 listed at DDR4-2400mjcutri - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
Also, why the big price jump from vengance to dominator with the same specs? Just for the larger heat sink?Flunk - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
The Dominator line has always been about one thing, looks. You want the looks, you pay the price. Quite often the actual RAM is the same and only the heatspreader is different.chizow - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
That's not totally true. The PCBs are bigger and beefier too. How much that translates into actual performance/stability however is debatable. For the typical high-end user it is most likely not worth the premium, but if you are one to overclock everything to the max the extra engineering that goes into Dominator might be worth the premium.Personally I've always had good experience with Corsair's more mainstream memory lines (XMS3 and now Vengeance) in terms of stability and compatibility. There is a benefit to economies of scale and popularity, as mobo makers will generally go out of their way to ensure Corsair kits' SPDs are supported. I can't say the same for some lesser known brands I've used, currently Adata kits that won't do their rated 2800MHz on my X99 board (most likely a BIOS SPD support issue).
Zak - Sunday, May 17, 2015 - link
That puzzles me. A gamer/tweaker with a penchant for the looks is unlikely to need 256GB or more of RAM in their rigs. Most enthusiast motherboards don't even support that much. Someone who needs that much RAM is likely not to care much for the looks and just needs lots of work done. We're taking high end workstations and servers here.slyphnier - Wednesday, May 20, 2015 - link
iirc corsair saying that dominator series using cherry picked chips + manually tested, so its OC better than corsair other series, basically it for OCer otherwise u dont get any value buying dominator seriesLaststop311 - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
The dominator platinum also can be connected to the corsair link system monitoring hardware and you can get speed and temp readings of the ram through the link software. Maybe some other things link can do that I am not sure of.Hrobertgar - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
In the table, the second Dominator Platinum kit lists its speed as 2400 instead of 2666 per the calculation in the article.Ian Cutress - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
My bad, should be changed now.ioconnor - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
I have 32GBs on my laptop and desktops and it is plenty. Why would you ever need 128GBs?hughlle - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
One opinion does not make a rule.I have 8gb on my desktop and it's plenty. Why would anyone need 32gb?
See what i'm getting at ;)
Laststop311 - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
I use 3x4GB 12GB of ram and i rarely ever see my use above 25%. If I get reckless with things open and just go wild I still can't get it over 60% without being completely absurd.Laststop311 - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
sorry i lied they are 3x8GB G skill trident x with the removable heat spreader 2400Mhz Cas 10. Read anandtech's article on ram speeds compared. The combination of 2400mhz speed with CAS latency of 10 outperformed EVERY other speed and latency combination. Even the 3000 mhz+ speed got beat by 2400mhz CAS 10. The higher speeds get higher CAS latencies which ends up hurting them more than the speed makes up for. The best speed/CAS Latency combo based only on configurations that are available stock, no OC or tinkering only stock to stock comparisons is the 2400 Mhz Cas 10 combo, just destroys everything else.milkod2001 - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
even 16GB is plenty for most i believe. 128GB could be used for RAM disks, very specific software which professionals use or it is for Linus to build insane gaming dream machine for advertising purposes :)I presume that with Skylake coming the year ,the prices of DDR4 will settle down to reasonable levels, Currently DDR4 is overpriced for what it offers.
close - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
Any kind of professional work done at "low cost" would need these kits. Buying something like this for a professional workstation is 2 to 3 times more expensive. So if you want to do this kind of work but are a bit cash strapped (if 2k for RAM can be called that), this is a good way.This leaves the Dominator series for people buying bragging rights. The professionals mentioned above would rarely feel the difference between the 2400MHz LPX and the 2666MHz Dominator. Certainly a bit hard to justify the extra $400.
LukaP - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
Because: rendering, VMs, photo/video editing, compute, etc. not everyone who does that has the option of going E5 and ECC (either monetary or otherwise impossible) I myself will get this immediately as it hits europe (or any other 128GB kit) because when i render, ill take all the ram i canyuhong - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
I don't think RDIMMs are that expensive though, and single socket E5 supports them perfectly fine.Laststop311 - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
Servers hosting large databases with many concurrent users. Businesses running multiple VM's. Just because a regular mainstream home user has no need for it doesn't make it useless. If you don't need it just don't bother looking at it. It's not hurting you just because it exists. For the most part 4x4GB ddr4 kits for 16GB of ram total is enough ram for probably over 90% of home users and for the other 9.5% 4x8GB kits for 32GB of ram is enough and for the last .5% there are 64GB and 128GB configurations available. So it's good this came out, now there is something to make everyone happy.Laststop311 - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
OK as a home user I admit it would be fun having a 112GB ram disk and leave 16GB for system ram. Would be nice to have a little script programmed everytime you restart your pc it automatically creates the 112GB ram disk and then installs your most used applications and games right onto the ram disk. But how much faster could it really be vs one of those new sm951 pci ssd's. It already loads things so fast any improvement would be barely perceivable. For the home user it's a rich mans toy.colinstu - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
"640K is more memory than anyone will ever need"MrSpadge - Sunday, May 17, 2015 - link
I have 8 GB in my main desktop and it's plenty. The simulation workstations at work have 64 GB, which is OK.. unless we have jobs for the servers with 256 GB.Xenonite - Sunday, May 17, 2015 - link
Hey, are you perhaps the true author of "640K Ought to be Enough [RAM] for Anyone"?As a side note, I regularly use more than 32GB of RAM while running frame interpolation software to increase the framerate of my blu-ray media.
ahtoh - Monday, May 18, 2015 - link
"640K ought to be enough for anybody"euler007 - Wednesday, May 20, 2015 - link
I can routinely eat up 64 GB working on large point cloud projects.Soulkeeper - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
These prices are insane, I don't think i've seen anything like this in the 15+ years i've been watching dram price.I'm still very happy with my $3.75/GB fast ddr3
DCide - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
Not at today's prices! Closer to $8/GB for DDR3. And you miss out on the best value in computing power (X99 & i7) if you're not on DDR4.You must not have been paying close attention for these 15+ years. To be able to get the newly released highest density RAM for barely more than the current density is a unique situation. Perhaps it's only possible because the lower density prices are artificially inflated (as it is on DDR3), but it's still uncommon.
valinor89 - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
Yup, I was thinking myself that for what you get it is not that expensive. Still, I might have been influenced by having searched for ddr2 sticks lately.Valantar - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
I love that you pay $225 extra just for 8 completely unnecessary heatsinks that look slightly more bling-y than the Vengeance. Given that the heatsinks probably cost less than $1 a piece to make, that's a nice income boost for Corsair, no doubt. People truly are suckers.DevilSlayerWizard - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
I wonder how cheap those Vengeance LPX modules will be without any heatsink.Refuge - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
What is the average increase in performance changing from DDR3 to DDR4?I'm under the half informed assumption that there really isn't an improvement except for a few very specific cases.
Anyone care to share their knowledge with me?
I know Anandtech did a comparison some time ago, but I don't remember them finding much of an improvement.
wintermute000 - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
The point is, if you go X99 or any of the upcoming platforms, you don't get a choice so the point is moot LOLphoenix_rizzen - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
The headline got me exciting for a bit, thinking there were now individual DIMMs with 128 GB of RAM on them. But, alas, these are "128 GB kits" spread across multiple DIMMs. :( Was really hoping to be able to stick 16 of these into a server motherboard to get 2 TB of RAM in a system ... :(mkozakewich - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
It's always kits, now. It's gotten me annoyed. I'll be searching online and see 16GB RAM, but then it'll end up being 4x4GB or something.lilthugger917 - Monday, May 18, 2015 - link
Here are 128GB DDR4 sticks... They DOO exist :) http://www.techpowerup.com/199648/sk-hynix-develop...sonicmerlin - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
I got 16 GB of DDR3 for $60 after rebate back in 2011. Then the mergers happened and they jacked prices up.Ytterbium - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
Look forward to the review of the new kits, did you get some low latency kits?Hrel - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
That's only $110 for 16GB, which is pretty damn good. I'd buy 16GB of it at that price.anonymous_user - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
It would be $110 for 8GB not 16GB.melgross - Sunday, May 17, 2015 - link
I remember seeing the first 128MB dimms many (or so it seems) years ago at PC expo, here in NYC. Don't remember the manufacturer, but they were under glass, and cost $10,000 EACH.So while these may seem expensive—well...