CORSAIR DOMINATOR
PLATINUM RGB /£143 inc VAT
SUPPLIER scan.co.ukA
vailable in a huge range of speeds and
in dual-channel and quad-channel
kits, Corsair’s Dominator Platinum
RGB uses the familiar oversized Dominator
heatsink design that’s been a popular sight in PC
hardware circles for over a decade. This time,
though, you get full RGB lighting.
Rather than opt for a diffusing strip to
spread out the colours of the lighting and
allow them to intermix, the LEDs are instead
left as bright pinpoints of light, like a single
strip of LED pixels. They’re not any old LEDs
either, but Corsair’s new Capellix LEDs, which
are tiny but brighter and more power-efficient
than usual RGB LEDs. As a result, they’re
supremely vivid, making for an impressivedisplay. However, we’re undecided if they
ultimately look better than the more diffuse
lighting style of the Vengeance RGB Pro kit, for
instance. This may come down to how funky
a design you manage to program into the
lighting – zebra-striped memory, anyone?
Another advantage of the lower power draw
of these Capellix LEDs is potentially improved
memory performance. There’s limited power
coming from memory slots as standard,
so any extra power consumed by LEDs
leaves less power to drive faster memory
frequencies. That’s why, when RGB LED
memory kits were first introduced, they were
severely limited when it came to memory
speed. Capellix LEDs and their ilk help to close
up the gap to non-illuminated modules.
Our sample kit sits at 3466MHz, but there’s
plenty of options above and below this from
3000MHz to 4800MHz, but at nearly £150 for
our sample, it’s significantly more costly than
Corsair’s own Vengeance RGB Pro, which will
set you back just £125. You’ll also need to use
Corsair’s iCUE software to have full control over
the LEDs, but Corsair is currently working with
motherboard manufacturers to bring support
for their hardware in iCUE to allow you to
synchronise your hardware’s lighting.
The software offers a good amount of
control too, with countless lighting effects asVERDICT
A well-made and attractive RGB memory
kit with cutting-edge LEDs.PLATINUM
+ Excellent lighting
+ Great software
+ Decent overclocking^
headroomFOOL’S GOLD- Expensive
- Lighting not diffused
- No dummy modules
SPEC
Memory chip Samsung B-die
Timings 16-18-18-36
Voltage 1.35V
Height (from base) 55mm
Stated software compatibility Corsair iCUEPERFORMANCE
28 / 30DESIGN
34 / 35OVERALL SCORE
86 %
VALUE
24 / 35c
us
tom P
C
ccuuss
stommPP
CCA
P
PROVED
well as the ability to control the brightness
of the LEDs. Sadly, while Corsair offers
dummy modules for its Vengeance RGB Pro
modules, there are no dummy modules for the
Dominator Pro RGB to fill those DIMM slots with
lighting and eliminate gaps between modules.
You’ll need to buy the full four DIMMs for 4-slot
boards and probably spend a fortune populating
all eight slots on quad-channel boards.
Overclocking was surprisingly fruitful.
Setting the limit at 1.4V DDR voltage, the
Samsung B-die chips hit 4000MHz, equating
to a 534MHz boost, so if you want to overclock
your memory, there’s plenty of headroom
here, at least with our sample kit. There’s one
major drawback to the Dominator Pro RGB,
which is its height. At 55mm, it will hamper
efforts to install large CPU coolers so be sure
to check your cooler’s documentation first.Conclusion
We’ve always loved the elegance and
excellent build quality of Corsair’s Dominator
memory modules and the Dominator Pro
RGB is no different. The lighting will appeal
to those that prefer to see individual LEDs
and there’s plenty of overclocking headroom
thanks to the use of Samsung B-die chips.
The heatsinks looks fantastic too, although
achieving a continuous lighting show by filling
all your DIMM slots will be expensive. If Corsair
can galvanise support for motherboards in its
software to synchronise lighting, it will be even
more impressive. It’s a little pricey and there’s
stiff competition in this group test, but this is
still one of our favourite RGB memory kits.CORSAIR DOMINATOR
PLATINUM RGB /£143 inc VAT
SUPPLIERscan.co.ukA
vailable in a huge range of speeds and
in dual-channel and quad-channel
kits, Corsair’s Dominator Platinum
RGB uses the familiar oversized Dominator
heatsink design that’s been a popular sight in PC
hardware circles for over a decade. This time,
though, you get full RGB lighting.
Rather than opt for a diffusing strip to
spread out the colours of the lighting and
allow them to intermix, the LEDs are instead
left as bright pinpoints of light, like a single
strip of LED pixels. They’re not any old LEDs
either, but Corsair’s new Capellix LEDs, which
are tiny but brighter and more power-efficient
than usual RGB LEDs. As a result, they’re
supremely vivid, making for an impressive
display. However, we’re undecided if they
ultimately look better than the more diffuse
lighting style of the Vengeance RGB Pro kit, for
instance. This may come down to how funky
a design you manage to program into the
lighting – zebra-striped memory, anyone?
Another advantage of the lower power draw
of these Capellix LEDs is potentially improved
memory performance. There’s limited power
coming from memory slots as standard,
so any extra power consumed by LEDs
leaves less power to drive faster memory
frequencies. That’s why, when RGB LED
memory kits were first introduced, they were
severely limited when it came to memory
speed. Capellix LEDs and their ilk help to close
up the gap to non-illuminated modules.
Our sample kit sits at 3466MHz, but there’s
plenty of options above and below this from
3000MHz to 4800MHz, but at nearly £150 for
our sample, it’s significantly more costly than
Corsair’s own Vengeance RGB Pro, which will
set you back just £125. You’ll also need to use
Corsair’s iCUE software to have full control over
the LEDs, but Corsair is currently working with
motherboard manufacturers to bring support
for their hardware in iCUE to allow you to
synchronise your hardware’s lighting.
The software offers a good amount of
control too, with countless lighting effects asVERDICT
A well-made and attractive RGB memory
kit with cutting-edge LEDs.PLATINUM
Excellent lighting
Great software
Decent overclocking
headroom
FOOL’S GOLD- Expensive
- Lighting not diffused
- Nodummymodules
SPEC
Memory chip Samsung B-die
Timings 16-18-18-36
Voltage 1.35V
Height (from base) 55mm
Stated software compatibility Corsair iCUEPERFORMANCE
28 / 30DESIGN
34 / 35OVERALLSCORE
86 %
VALUE
24 / 35cc
uuss
tommPP
CCA
P
PROVED
well as the ability to control the brightness
of the LEDs. Sadly, while Corsair offers
dummy modules for its Vengeance RGB Pro
modules, there are no dummy modules for the
Dominator Pro RGB to fill those DIMM slots with
lighting and eliminate gaps between modules.
You’ll need to buy the full four DIMMs for 4-slot
boards and probably spend a fortune populating
all eight slots on quad-channel boards.
Overclocking was surprisingly fruitful.
Setting the limit at 1.4V DDR voltage, the
Samsung B-die chips hit 4000MHz, equating
to a 534MHz boost, so if you want to overclock
your memory, there’s plenty of headroom
here, at least with our sample kit. There’s one
major drawback to the Dominator Pro RGB,
which is its height. At 55mm, it will hamper
efforts to install large CPU coolers so be sure
to check your cooler’s documentation first.Conclusion
We’ve always loved the elegance and
excellent build quality of Corsair’s Dominator
memory modules and the Dominator Pro
RGB is no different. The lighting will appeal
to those that prefer to see individual LEDs
and there’s plenty of overclocking headroom
thanks to the use of Samsung B-die chips.
The heatsinks looks fantastic too, although
achieving a continuous lighting show by filling
all your DIMM slots will be expensive. If Corsair
can galvanise support for motherboards in its
software to synchronise lighting, it will be even
more impressive. It’s a little pricey and there’s
stiff competition in this group test, but this is
still one of our favourite RGB memory kits.