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Kingston 4GB DDR2-1066 HyperX Memory

Author:	Michael Lynch
Date:	2008.07.11
Topic:	Memory
Provider:	Kingston
Manufacturer:	Kingston

Kingston 4GB DDR2-1066 HyperX Memory

Introduction:

Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is one of the larger well known memory manufacturers. With years of experience under their belt, they have been perfecting memory to work at peak performance. Since the release of the HyperX line in 2002, they have been designing memory to meet the highest of gaming demands. Lets see how well Kingston 4GB kit of DDR2-1066 HyperX Memory actually performs.

Kingstons Take:

HyperX DDR2 modules are specifically engineered and designed to meet the rigorous requirements of PC enthusiasts. HyperX DDR2 offers faster speeds, lower latencies, higher data bandwidths and lower power consumption than DDR.

Features:

• Power supply : Vdd: 1.8V ± 0.1V, Vddq: 1.8V ± 0.1V
• Double-data-rate architecture; two data transfers per clock cycle
• Bidirectional data strobe(DQS)
  
• Differential clock inputs(CK and CK)
  
• DLL aligns DQ and DQS transition with CK transition
  
• Programmable Read latency 5 (clock)
  
• Burst Length: 4, 8 (Interleave/nibble sequential)
  
• Programmable Burst type (sequential & interleave)
  
• Timing Reference: 5-5-5-15 at 1.8V / 5-5-5-15 at 2.3 - 2.35V
  
• Edge aligned data output, center aligned data input
  
• Auto & Self refresh, 7.8us refresh interval (8K/64ms refresh)
  
• Serial presence detect with EEPROM
  
• High Performance Heat Spreader
  
• PCB : Height 1.180” (30.00mm), single sided component

Performance:

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Kingston 4GB DDR2-1066 HyperX Memory

Packaging:

The memory came packaged very well. With all for memory modules packaged in separate containers and surround with plenty of foam to prevent any damage that may occur during the handling and shipping of these devices. You can also see on the box itself, it has a sticker informing you what exactly is inside the box.

Closer Look:

As you can see in the picture below, the memory came packaged in two separate containers, each containing two memory modules. The packaging is seal in sleek yet professional container, as it has a solid black backing with a clear front. Which allows you to see the memory before purchasing it, this would happen if purchased in a retail store and not online. This allows you to see that the product is not damaged in anyway and give you the costumer a sense of comfort.

Taking a closer look at the memory itself, you can see that the memory module is encapsulated by the HyperX heat spreader. This will allow heat to dissipate which in turns allows the memory to perform at a higher standard. Also on each module you can see two stickers, one that says "evaluation" and the other that states information about the ram. The "Evaluation" sticker is placed on the ram is to show that this is a review sample and will not be there when you go to purchase your set of memory. And to set things straight, companies do not take extra care or tweak the evaluation copies to receive a better review, they simply slap the sticker on the retail modules and ship it out. I know this is true because I have done some of my own testing to verify this.

Taking a closer look at the sticker, we see that it states the product number, where it was assembled, and the stock voltage of the memory. For this ram, the module number was KHX8500D2K4/4G, which stands for Kingston HyperX memory that performs at a PC-8500 standard with DDR2 and is a Kit of 4 modules totaling 4GBs. The stock voltage of this memory is 2.2V, which is required for having it perform at its 1066MHz speed, if running at 800MHzs this voltage can be lowered.

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Kingston 4GB DDR2-1066 HyperX Memory

Testing

For our testing we are going to using the following benchmarking software:

• SiSoftware Sandra XII SP2b
• PassMark Performance Test v6.1
• Everest Ultimate v4.2
• RightMark Memory Analyzer

For doing our testing we used the following system:

CPU-Z v1.45:

Below you will see the Memory and Speed tabs from CPU-Z for the various testing settings found on the following pages. Being tests is a 2gb kit of Cruical Ballistix and the four gigabyte kit of Kingston HyperX (shown using 2GB and 4GB). We decided to use both configurations of all four memory modules and just two, to try and give a proper comparison to the Cruical Ballistix.

SiSoftware Sandra XII SP2b

"SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software. It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what's really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc."

Cruical Ballistix 2GB Integer: 9.05 GB/s Float: 9.03 GB/s	Kingston HyperX 2GB Integer: 9.05 GB/s Float: 9.27 GB/s	Kingston HyperX 4GB Integer: 9.79 GB/s Float: 9.70 GB/s

We used the Memory Bandwidth benchmark to get a proper look at how the memory was performing. As shown in the results about, SiSoft Sandra reported the memory bandwidth using both integers and floats. As we can see, the results for the Cruical Ballistix 2GB and Kingston HyperX 2GB were pretty much the same, with a small improvement using floats on Kingstons HyperX. We can see the difference when we toss in the other two memory modules that are included in the four gigabyte kit. Once installed we notice that the bandwidth increased from 9.05 GB/s to nearly 9.8 GB/s.

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Kingston 4GB DDR2-1066 HyperX Memory

Testing (Continued):

PassMark Performance Test v6.1

"PassMark PerformanceTest is an award winning PC hardware benchmark utility that allows everybody to quickly assess the performance of their computer and compare it to a number of standard 'baseline' computer systems. PassMark PerformanceTest ™ also allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests."

Cruical Ballistix 2GB Overall: 73.7	Kingston HyperX 2GB Overall: 73.8	Kingston HyperX 4GB Overall: 77.5

PassMark Memory Tests reports nearly the same as SiSoft Sandra. With the Cruical Ballistix 2GB and the Kingston HyperX 2GB performing neck and neck, with a slight improvement for Kingstons HyperX Memory. When we install the other two modules, we notice that there is a significant improvement, resulting in a change from 73.8 to 77.5.

Everest Ultimate v4.2

"EVEREST Ultimate Edition is an industry leading 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. CPU, FPU and memory benchmarks are available to measure the actual system performance and compare it to previous states or other systems. "

The results from Everest's Memory Benchmark were showing very minor differences between the 2GB kits of Cruical Ballistix and Kingston HyperX. Kingston took the lead in both the Memory Latency and the Memory Copy, where as Cruical took the lead in the Memory Write and Read. When we tested the system with the 4GB kit of Kingston HyperX Memory, there was only a significant difference shown in the Latency, where most of the other scores remained the same.

RightMark Memory Analyzer

"Before RightMark Memory Analyzer was created there was no proper software for measuring vital system parameters such as CPU/Chipset/RAM providing steady and reliable (reproducible) test results and allowing for changing test parameters in a wide range. Vital low-level system characteristics include latency and real RAM bandwidth, average/minimal latency of different cache levels and its associatively, real L1-L2 cache bandwidth and TLB levels specs. "

Seen above is the results of the RightMark Memory Analyzer benchmark utility. The CheckSum portion of the test reported nearly the same results for all three memory configurations with a little addition performance with the four gigabyte configuration.

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Kingston 4GB DDR2-1066 HyperX Memory

Conclusion:

As you have seen on the previous pages, the comparison between the 2GB configurations of the Kingston memory and the Crucial memory were neck and neck, with a slight performance boost in the Kingston HyperX Memory. Overall both sets of memory performed extremely well and at amazing speeds. With the 2GB Crucial Ballistix memory being priced at $70.99 and the 4GB Kit of Kingston HyperX priced at $119.99, both modules have a fair price and are well-worth the money spent. From what we able to conclude, the Kingston HyperX slightly outperforms the Crucial Ballistix memory and has a better price tag on it.

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