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Kingston HyperX 2GB DDR3-1375 RAM kit
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Overclocking:
After opening the package, I wondered just how far we could push this beast. The voltage is rated at 1.7V, and the frequency was rated for 1375MHz. I thought 1425MHz seemed realistic, but my goal was 1500MHz. You see, at TechwareLabs, our job is to either push things to their limits, or fry everything. I could not possibly rest with anything under 1500MHz. If you are a bit hazy on your overclocking terms, please open up my Overclocking Guide as a reference along the way.
As with most overclocking, it is a slow and tedious process to reach the numbers you want. Through the testing of the ASUS Striker II NSE motherboard and it's "Crazy" CPU Level-Up mode, I saw that the FSB would go to 1400 with no problem. Being an ASUS tool, I figured the overclock must be stable with the voltages they used, so I took note of each setting. On a whim, I decided to sync the RAM with the FSB and see if it booted. I know, it seemed like a longshot for the Kingston 1375MHz rated RAM to pull off 1400MHz right off the bat.....the machine booted! I immediately saw the 1500MHz mark as achievable, so I continued puahing it. The chart below shows my progress:
| Attempt | FSB | Vdimm | Vcore | Speed | RAM |
| "Crazy" | 1400 | 1.64V | 1.42V | 3.5GHz | 1066MHz |
| 1 | 1400 | Auto | Auto | 3.5GHz | 1400MHz |
| 2 | 1420 | Auto | Auto | 3.55GHz | 1420MHz |
| 3 | 1440 | Auto | Auto | 3.6GHz | 1440MHz |
| 4 | 1450 | Auto | 1.41875V | 3.63GHz | 1450MHz |
| 5 | 1467 | 1.66V | 1.41875V | 3.67GHz | 1467MHz |
| 6 | 1485 | 1.84V | 1.41875V | 3.71GHz | 1485MHz |
| 7 | 1490 | 1.92V | 1.41875V | 3.72GHz | 1490MHz |
I would like to point out that it was stupid to take the RAM voltage past the rated values. I could have damaged the RAM, but more importantly, I could have damaged the whole computer or hurt myself. On the same hand, I managed to think the whole time that the RAM was rated for 1.8V. By this point, I was so close to achieving my 1500FSB that I got determined. Ladies and Gentlemen...don't ever, EVER, get determined when it comes to tweaking expensive hardware far past the rated limits. Because I'm an insane human being, I cranked the RAM voltage up to 2.10V and it finally booted. I made it to the Windows screen, and managed to take a few screenshots before the computer rebooted.
| 8 | 1500 | 2.10V | 1.41875V | 3.75GHz | 1500MHz |
Memtach v0.93 Alpha:
MemTach was now blazing fast. The entire benchmark took 22.73 seconds to run, which was ~5 seconds faster than the stock RAM rating. Comparing the overclocked results to the initial data, we get the following:
Test Name: |
Min MB/sec |
Avg MB/sec |
Max MB/sec |
memset @ 1375MHz |
1979.8
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2351.4
|
2443.8
|
memcpy @ 1375MHz |
1689.1 |
1872.9 |
1932.8 |
memset @ 1500MHz |
2567.5 |
2695.6 |
2761.3 |
memcpy@ 1500MHz |
1885.9 |
2134.5 |
2219.3 |
RightMark Multi-Threaded Memory Test:
Once this data is compared to the screenshot from the 1375MHz, you see that the total time has gone from 4 minutes, 3 seconds, to 4 minutes, 27 seconds. This was strange since we increased the speed of our RAM.
| Frequency | Time |
1375MHz |
4:03 |
1500MHz |
4:27 |
Unfortunately, once the computer re-booted, there was an error with CI.dll, and the hard drive had been fried. After putting in a Linux CD for testing, the Kingston DDR3-1375MHz RAM still worked! Even after a 0.4V gain and 125MHz, the RAM was still intact while the hard drive had fried. This proves to us just how intense Kingston HyperX RAM really is.
Real Time Pricing: