Kingston HyperX PC8500 DDR2 1GB Memory Kit ReviewSeptember 18th, 2006 Call it a mid-life crisis, but both AMD and Intel have traded in their versatile DDR coupes in favor of DDR2 muscle cars. With this transition, the focus shifts from low latency kits to higher timed chips capable of top speeds never before seen in the world of RAM. In fact, the kit we're looking at today comes spec'd at DDR2-1066, nearly twice the speed of where the fastest DDR kits left off at DDR-600!
Call it a mid-life crisis, but both AMD and Intel have traded in their versatile DDR coupes in favor of DDR2 muscle cars. With this transition, the focus shifts from low latency kits to higher timed chips capable of top speeds never before seen in the world of RAM. In fact, the kit we're looking at today comes spec'd at DDR2-1066, nearly twice the speed of where the fastest DDR kits left off at DDR-600!
The model we're looking at today belongs to Kingston, a company respresenting nearly two decades of experience in the memory manufacturing business. Targeting gamers and enthusiasts, their HyperX line is well known in the overclocking community and instantly recognizable by their blue heatspreaders. But regardless of manufacturer, does DDR2-1066 offer enough to get excited over once we get past the spec sheet, or will the higher latencies that DDR2 brings to the race track beg for a tune up? Join us in the driver's seat as we take these sticks for a ride and put the pedal to the metal.
| Kit |
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| Type |
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| Size |
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| Timings |
- 5(CAS)-5(tRCD)-5(tRP)-15(tRAS), 1t(CMD)
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| Speed |
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| Voltage |
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| Density |
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| Warranty |
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Just like most high end kits of RAM, the 1GB HyperX DDR2-1066 kit ships in a clear plastic package. Immediately visible are the familiar blue heatspreaders that Kingston has been using since the HyperX made its debut. Also visible is an Asus sticker indicating these sticks are " best for P5B Deluxe," a claim that we take with a grain of salt. This past year we've seen Asus team up with Corsair to promote their highly popular (at the time) TWINX1024-3500LLPRO kit in conjuction with the also popular A8N32-SLI motherboard, and now we're seeing this same cross branding with Kingston. As far as the end user is concerned, there's nothing inherently special about these combinations, so don't feel as though you're missing out on any secret society performance benefits if you don't own an Asus P5B based motherboard.
While the lables tell us the model number and voltage specification for these sticks, what they don't reveal are the specific ICs (integrated circuits). Why is this important? Well, the ICs are directly related to what kind of performance can be expected from a kit of RAM, and different chips have characteristics that separate them from one another. You will not find the same chips on an enthusiast level kit as those used on value oriented RAM, and underneath the hood on our review sample are Micron D9GKX ICs. These chips excel at hitting high frequencies, and hence why they're being utilized in a DDR2-1066 kit.
All RAM comes equipped with SPD (Serial Presence Detect). What this hrefers to is a way in which manufacturers can store latency and voltage perimeters onto the RAM itself so any compatible motherboard can automatically adjust the correct settings. Sometimes, however, the SPD settings are incorrect or misread by the BIOS and require user intervention to squeeze out the most performance. In the case of our kit, Kingston rates these sticks for a tRAS of 15 at a frequency of 533MHz (DDR2-1066), yet CPU-Z reports 16 at 400MHz (DDR2-800). To ensure that you're getting what you paid for, always verify that the timings are correct and manually tweak as necessary.
For testing memory modules, HardwareLogic uses SiSoft Sandra's memory bandwidth benchmark, Sciencemark 2.0, Everest 3.0 Ultimate Edition's memory read and write benchmarks, and Super Pi MOD v1.5 1M and 32M benchmarks. All testing was performed on the following test system:
All testing was done using a fresh install of Windows XP Professional w/ SP2. To see what kind of performance dividends can be expected from purchasing faster clocked RAM and whether or not higher frequencies are worth the latency tradeoff, we ran our gauntlet of benchmarks at DDR-533, DDR2-667, and DDR2-800 at the tightest timings each speed grade would accept. And speaking of timings, some AMD boards are finicky when it comes to running a 1T command rate, and we experienced stability issues when trying to benchmark on that setting. For this reason and because the performance hit is minimal, all of our testing was performed at 2T.
Overclocking
AM2 platforms currently cut off support at up to DDR2-800, so in order to run this kit at it's rated speed, we overclocked the processor. Specifically, we raised the frontside bus (HT) to 266 keeping the stock x10 multplier, which netted us a 2.66GHz clockspeed and a memory frequency of 533MHz (1066MHz doubled pumped) on the /5 divisor. We then attempted to go even higher, but ran into a wall of instability. While we would have preferred some additional headroom on our AMD platform, our kit ran as advertised and took our 3800+ X2 processor to a higher frequency than an FX-60! And as shown in the benchmarks below, at the end of the day clockspeed still reigns supreme. Sisoft Sandra Memory BandwidthSiSoft Sandra (the System Analyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is a 32 and 64-bit Windows system analyser that includes benchmarking, testing and listing modules.
Everest Ultimate Editon 2006
EVEREST Ultimate Edition is a system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for enthusiasts PC users, based on the award-winning EVEREST Technology. During system optimizations and tweaking it provides essential system and overclock information, advanced hardware monitoring and diagnostics capabilities to check the effects of the applied settings. For testing memory we use Everest's Memory Read and Memory Write tests.
Super Pi Mod v1.5
Super Pi is a program used by enthusiasts to benchmark system performance. Owned and maintained by XtremeSystems.org, Super Pi is as much a competition as it is a benchmark, with many forums cataloging users times in the 1M and 32M calculations. For testing memory we use the 1M claculation.
Super Pi v1.5 Calc to 32M
|
DDR2-533 @
3-3-3-10 |
DDR-667 @
4-4-4-12 |
DDR2-800 @
4-4-4-12 |
DDR2-1066 @
5-5-5-15 |
|
39M, 02.453S |
37M, 34.062S |
36M, 40.922S |
28M, 12.562S |
Sciencemark 2.0
Science Mark 2.0 is an attempt to put the truth behind benchmarking. In an attempt to model real world demands and performance, SM2 is a suite of high-performance benchmarks that realistically stress system performance without architectural bias. For benchmarking memory, we use MemBench, an unbiased, synthetic benchmark that sweeps through more than 15 different, publicly available, memory copy algorithms to measure the peak memory performance of your CPU's caches and your memory subsystem.
Section |
Score |
Comments |
Stock Performance
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19/20
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- Sticks put on a good showing at 1066 with performance dividends in the benchmark department
- 5-5-5-15 is a bit higher than we'd like, even if academic when considering the real world performance impact
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| Overclocking |
18/20 |
- Our 3800+ X2 purred nicely at 2.66GHz, giving us FX-60 performance levels at a fraction of the price!
- We're a bit disappointed that we couldn't get these sticks to budge past the 1066 mark, but in all fairness, that's already a high spec, and our CPU may have simply hit a wall as well
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| Versatility |
19/20 |
- Running at DDR2-800 allowed us to tighten the timings down to 4-4-4-12, and even tighter at DDR2-533 (3-3-3-10). Between the tight timings at lower frequencies and the overclocking headroom afforded with a DDR2-1066, these Kingston sticks are pretty damn versatile.
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Warranty and Support
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20/20 |
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Price / Value
|
16/20 |
- Streets for around $250, which is about on par for a 1GB DDR2-1066 kit, but still high
- Limited availability in the retail segment at the time of this writing
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Our Recommendation
AMD and Intel were on to something when they made the switch to DDR2, and if you walk away with nothing else from this review, put your mind at ease knowing that the higher timings characteristic of DDR2 are outweighed by the higher frequencies. Now that both camps have jumped on the bandwagon, RAM manufacturers can concentrate their efforts on tweaking their kits to bring us the best of both worlds, reminiscent of what Samsung TCCDs did for DDR. Kingston is well on their way, with their 1GB HyperX PC2-8500 kit boasting the versatility of tight timings at lower frequencies and the headroom to ramp up the clockspeed for a performance boost. Granted the cost of entry is a bit steep at the moment, but we expect DDR2 RAM prices to level out once the new platforms from each camp settle into the marketplace. Anyone looking for a high end kit to compliment a that juicy Core 2 Duo or swag AM2 rig would do well to check out Kingston's HyperX PC2-8500.
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