Corsair to Pay $5,5M in Case Over Misleading DDR4/DDR5 Memory Speeds

Corsair agreed to settlement and payment of $5,5 million in a class action lawsuit over the marketing of Vengeance and Dominator DDR4/DDR5 RAM. The plaintiffs allege that the company misled buyers, indicating the stated frequencies as real, despite the fact that they are achievable only with manual activation of XMP/EXPO in BIOS and are not basic according to the JEDEC standard.

The lawsuit, "McKinney et al. v. Corsair Gaming, Inc.", was filed back in 2022. It alleges that the modules were marketed with an emphasis on high speeds — such as DDR4-3600 or DDR5-6400 — without clear indication, that by default the memory operates at much lower frequencies: DDR4-2133 and DDR5-4800 respectively. To achieve these speeds, you need the appropriate processor, motherboard and manual settings, which is not available to all users.

Corsair denied guilt, but after more than three years of litigation agreed to an out-of-court settlementIn addition to the compensation, the company is required to change its product packaging and pages to include "before" labels and disclosures about the overclocked nature of the frequencies in question.

The agreement applies to all buyers of Vengeance and Dominator modules purchased in the United States from 2018 to 2025. Owners of such modules can already apply for compensation, and up to five pieces, even without checks - for small amounts. Applications are accepted until 28 2025 October, the, and a hearing to confirm the outcome of the case is scheduled for 4 December.