Corsair replaces $1,000 96GB DDR5 memory kit with $35 RGB-only RAM

Worst. RMA. Ever.

by · TechSpot

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WTF?! For the second time this week, there's been a Corsair memory-related incident in which someone received DRAM they weren't expecting. This time, a user who RMA'd a 96GB kit of DDR5, worth about $1,000, was sent some $35 lighting-only dummy modules as a replacement.

Redditor u/Loudenoughforme wrote that one of his memory modules from the 96GB kit he had wasn't working. That's an unfortunate discovery at any time, especially when the memory crisis has sent the price of this item up to $1,069 on Corsair's website.

The user sent the memory kit back to Corsair for RMA. When the replacement arrived, Loudenoughforme noticed a few worrying discrepancies: the sticks looked different and had fewer gold connector pads. Check out the comparison between the original (bottom) and replacement (top) in the image below.

Sure enough, while the RAM did fit, it didn't work.

It turned out Corsair had sent out a light enhancement kit as a replacement instead of the real memory. These aesthetic-only products have been around for a while now. The empty DIMMs are used to fill RAM slots – they contain no memory and usually feature RGB lighting to complement an RGB-filled case's look.

The Corsair Light Enhancement Kit that the user received in this instance cost just $35, or $1,034 less than the RAM they were supposed to receive.

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Thankfully, the person who runs the official Corsair subreddit and Discord server contacted the Redditor and put him in touch with someone at the company's support team.

It's unclear if this was an unintentional error on the company's part or the work of a single bad actor – Loudenoughforme believes it was the latter.

Coincidentally, this incident happened in the same week that someone purchased a Corsair Vengeance DDR5 memory kit and found that the included modules were actually DDR4 memory disguised to look like DDR5. It appeared that someone had simply opened up the modules and stuck the outer casing from some DDR5 onto DDR4 RAM. The sticks came from Amazon Warehouse, where customers can buy discounted, open-box, returned, or slightly used (or potentially scam) items.