Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 2133MHz 16GB Kit Review
Overview
Today at pcG we are looking at the Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2133MHz Kit. The memory kits from Corsair are available in various speeds and capacities, but the 8GB modules that we have today for review are rated at 2133MHz and with memory timings of 9-11-11-31 @1.65v. The Corsair Dominator Platinum modules come in the trademark black and silver design with an integrated light bar which can also be customised with an upgrade kit from Corsair. The patented dual-channel DHX cooling sytem enables the Dominator Platinum modules to run at cool temperatures allowing overclocking potential. Also, the Corsair Link System supports connection with the modules so you can monitor the activity and temperature of your Dominator Platinum Kit. So let’s see how much the Dominator dominates…
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‘Corsair Dominator Platinum builds on the legacy of the world’s most awarded high-performance memory, adding a striking new industrial design and LED lighting effects. Like all Dominator memory modules, they are built using only select memory ICs, highly-screened for performance and stability, and feature our patented DHX (Dual-path Heat eXchange) cooling technology, so you can push them to the limit’ |
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The Corsair Dominator Platinum memory arrived at pcG in a flimsy but well designed cardboard package. There is an image of a single Corsair module on the front with some information showing that it supports Intel Core i7/Core. There is a window in which you can see the top of the module in its plastic blister. The colour scheme of the packaging is in keeping with Corsair’s design and all done in black and silver.
On the back of the box we have some highlighted features in multiple languages which are about the Iconic heatspreader design, customisable light bar, Corsair Link and the dual-path DHX cooling technology. Apart from this we have the barcode and serial number, this is where you can see that it is the 2133MHz frequency (this is nowhere else on the packaging).
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Once the box is opened you are presented with a solid foam insert, luckily the foam is very strong and gives the packaging some sturdiness. The foam insert holds the plastic blisters and both the modules in place. Corsair have been kind to us here and there is no need to get out the first aid kit as the plastic blisters are not sealed, they can be opened very easily. 🙂
At the time of review, the Corsair Dominator Platinum Series 2133MHz 16GB Kit (CMD16GX3M2A2133C9) is available from ebuyer for approximately £151 and come equipped with a lifetime warranty.
Specifications/Features
courtesy of Corsair
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* Additional details available here
First Impressions
The first thing that struck me when I first saw the Corsair Dominator Platinum modules is their height (51mm), almost twice the height of our HyperX Savage 8GB 2400MHz Kit
I have to give top marks to Corsair for their design of the these modules. The heatspeader and the light bar have a very futuristic feel to them which is one of the things that hits you when you first see them. This design aspect even goes as far as the two tiny Allen/hex keys on each side of the module so that you can add different colour/brighter LED’s to the module, they look like a lot of thought has gone into how they look and where they are positioned. Every part of the module is dripping class from a looks point of view. The upgrade for the light bar sold separately on the Corsair website and comes with all the tools needed.
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The modules are pretty much identical on the back apart from a sticker which has the warranty and specification details.
Hardware Installation
Installing the Corsair Dominator Platinum modules is as simple as installing most memory modules. Line up the slot in the connector to the motherboard DIMM slot and gently push into place.
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A word of warning, the modules are pretty tall and have a height dimension of 51mm which is a lot more than most modules that usually sit comfortably under the fan of our test Raijintek Themis CPU Cooler, but these definitely don’t. If your fan/cooler combination encroaches over your memory slots you might want to think twice before buying these modules.
- Test Rig Setup
| Case | Cooler Master HAF XB | Power Supply | Corsair AX760i |
| Motherboard | ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer | CPU | Intel Core i5-4690K CPU |
| CPU Cooler | Rajintek Themis | RAM | Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2133MHz Kit |
| Graphics Card | XFX R9 290X Black DD Edition | SSD | HyperX FURY 120GB SSD |
I had no problems when booting up my Test Rig and after an initial boot I went into the ASRocks UEFI to check the Corsair Dominator Platinum module’s settings. As you can see from the first screenshot the two modules were in RAM slots A2 and B2 and were both at running at out of the box frequency of 1333MHz
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Next I went into ASRocks UEFI OC Tweaker and clicked on the Load XMP Setting tab to change the memory speed of the modules from the default 1333MHz to the Dominator’s overclocked frequency of 2133MHz, by selecting the option ‘XMP 1.3 Profile 1: DDR3-2133 9-11-11-31 1.65V’. After saving the BIOS and rebooting I went back to the main tab and as you can see in the image below right the speed of the modules have been increased to 2133MHz as required.
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The first thing I wanted to check when my Test Rig was up and running was the LED illumination of the modules. I was looking forward to seeing the much talked about Corsair illumination and how it would enhance the inside of my case. But… alas, maybe I was expecting too much or maybe I am expected by Corsair to purchase the Illumination upgrade kit which retails at approximately £20. 🙁
As you can see from the photo above, the standard Illumination is weak at best and if not for the fan reflecting most of the lighting effect you would not get much benefit at all. You can only really see the LED illumination at each end of the module so if you want more then you will have to buy the Corsair “Dominator Platinum Light Bar Upgrade Kit”.
Testing Methodology/Setup
The Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB Kit was tested on our standard Test Rig, using Windows 7 64Bit (Service Pack 1) with all relevant Drivers installed. Prime95 (Blend) was used to test stability and the following benchmarks were also used.
Hardware Performance
 Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 2133MHz 16GB Kit (9-11-11-31) |
 Kingston HyperX Savage DDR3 2400MHz 8GB Kit (11-13-14-32) |
| Memory | Read | Write | Copy | Latency |
| HyperX Savage DDR3 2400MHz 8GB @ 11-13-14-32 | 33409 | 34811 | 29523 | 48.9 ns |
| Avexir Raiden Series DDR3 2133MHz 8GB Kit @ 9-11-10-27 | 30478 | 31445 | 28178 | 48.9 ns |
| Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 2133MHz 16GB Kit @ 9-11-11-31 | 32180 | 33437 | 31298 | 48.9 ns |
Some interesting results from AIDA64 here with our test figures showing that the Corsair Dominator Platinum are running at 94% the speed of the HyperX Savage according to the Copy test, which is interesting based on the Corsair MHz ratings being approx 88% of the HyperX, tighter timings of the Dominator’s memory is probably the reason.
To give us some idea of the effect of Speed over Timings on actual Gaming, we’ve run the benchmarks below on both the Corsair Dominator Platinum and our HyperX Savage test memory. The Corsair Dominator Platinum was run at its full rated speed of 2133MHz (via its XMP Profile), whilst our DDR3 test RAM, the Kingston HyperX Savage kit was run using their 2400MHz XMP profile. Let’s see how they compare!
TEST SYSTEM: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer/ Intel Core i5-4690K/ XFX R9 290X Black DD Edition
| Memory | 3DMark (FireStrike) | Batman Arkham Origins | Tomb Raider | Unigine Heaven | Metro Last Light |
| HyperX Savage DDR3 2400MHz 8GB | 9593 | 178 | 87.9 | 1422 | 81 |
| Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR3 2133MHz 16GB | 9615 | 183 | 87.9 | 1399 | 82 |
As can be seen from these results above having faster RAM does not mean you will have a faster gaming experience. The Corsair memory is better but only in the smallest of percentages, Batman is 3% higher, Metro is 1% higher, 3D Mark is 0.2% higher, Unigine is 2% lower and Tomb raider is the same (all these percentages are approximate). This proves that once again that tighter memory timings are proving their worth and giving that little bit more performance, but this does not equate to faster gaming at the end of the day.
Final Thoughts
I was looking forward to reviewing the Dominator’s with its well designed and illuminated modules. But, sadly the effect you get from the supplied LED light bar is not going to blow you away. Luckily for Corsair the module’s tight memory timings seems to equate to higher bandwidth.
The Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2133MHz Kit arrived in well designed packaging, the cardboard cover was very nicely presented in black and silver, but the packaging a little on the flimsy side. Luckily the foam insert was sturdy enough to give the package some support and thank you Corsair for those well designed easy opening plastic blisters. 🙂
The memory modules themselves were very nicely designed, the colour scheme, logo and futuristic styling comes off very well. It is nice to see that Corsair has put a lot of thought into how the modules look. They are very sleek with that black ribbed heatspreader and the futuristic light bar on the top, even the two tiny Allen/hex keys had a quality look to them and positioned with some thought. Sadly this excitement doesn’t stretch to the illumination of the modules, to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Maybe the upgrade was an afterthought by Corsair when they saw how weak the illumination was or maybe they just want you to spend more money for better lighting, whose to know?
The memory timings showed us some good gaming benchmark results, with the Corsair Dominator Platinum beating the HyperX memory in four out of five of our Gaming benchmark tests and coming close in the other one. This still only equates to such marginal percentages as you can see, Batman being the highest at approximately 3% and the rest around 1% or 2%. This of course makes no difference to your gaming experience as with percentages this close they are virtually the same.
When it came to gaming there of course will not be much difference between this kit and the others we have tested, as can be seen from the results above. But rather than spend money on faster modules with loose timings you can get as good a performance by buying some slower modules with tighter timings. One thing offsets the other but at least you can save some money in the process.
With a retail price of approximately £150 the Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB Kit is higher priced than similar speed memory kits, plus, if you want the cool lighting you are expecting you will have to spend more to buy the upgrade kit. This will certainly out price the memory modules from my point of view. The Corsair modules do perform well, there is no arguing with that, but with so many other kits out there also giving you that extra bit of bling you might be tempted to forget about this memory.
Verdict
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Many thanks to Corsair for providing this sample for review
