Kingston and MSI Mainstream Gaming Combo Tested

Kingston and MSI are some of the most recognizable names in the DIY PC and gaming community and they have recently joined forces to bring their products closer to gamers. From the budding PC gamer all the way to the enthusiast elite, MSI and Kingston has something to bring to the table, notably what both companies excel at: Kingston being the mainstay in the memory and storage space and MSI, one of the leaders in gaming motherboards.

Dubbed #PowerUpYourGames, MSI and Kingston’s partnership will see both companies introduce their products in unison to compliment gamers of all facets. This promotion will see Kingston and MSI introduce combo solutions and go-to templates so gamers and PC builders will have an easy guide on what system to buy or their builds.

The builds are below:

The list below are the suggest builds that MSI and Kingston recommends for gamers that utilize both of their product and I wanted to discuss this in this article.

So starting off with the mainstream recommendation, we’re provided the option of the MSI MAG series and the Kingston A400 SSD as well as the HyperX Fury memory. The HyperX Fury memory has been a staple since its introduction, and it is one of the most well known memory models around. Its also one of the more affordable. Coupled with the Kingston A400, a budget-friendly, high-performance SSD, it’s a great start for gamers that just want to play games but want it in fast storage. Finally, all of this is based on an MSI MAG series motherboard. The MAG series is an evolution of the MSI mainstream family featuring the highly popular Mortar-class of motherboards.

Featuring a mecha-armor theme, MSI has went from pure militaristic to future-tech with their MAG series. The MAG series has reached an excellent point of features, quality and value this current generation and is an excellent start for builders and gamers that want an affordable yet superb quality for their motherboard.

This configuration is aimed at FPS, RTS and MOBA games which make up much of the esports titles available right now making it quick and easy to jump right into the game.

Stepping up from the mainstream class is the High Performance tier in the #PowerUpYourGames prescription list. This recommends a MAG or MPG series motherboard and the Kingston A2000 and HyperX Fury memory. We actually have this combo in the lab and I’ll share with you some benchmarks to show you the performance on an entry-level build.

Finally for AAA gamers, Kingston and MSI introduces the Extreme Gaming tier for their presctiption. Bringing together the best of the company, we see the MSI MEG gaming motherboard series paired with the KC2500 SSD and the top-end HyperX Predator memory.

So let’s see some numbers. We set-up a #PowerUpYourGames High Performance tier build using an RTX 3070. Here’s some quick charts featuring DOTA2 and Valorant at 1080p:

The Core i9 is for comparison purposes and just to give you a benchmark and to show you where we are. The Core i5 10400 is a good starting CPU, especially with its availability and price. If you don’t need the IGP, the cheaper 10400F is a nice consideration. In terms of games, esports titles should work well with all tiers with performance increasing based on the GPU and CPU choice of the builder, the good thing here is that these parts actually scale well and HyperX has a lengthy offering of various memory speeds as well as capacities.

MSI on the other hand has extensive offering for both AMD and Intel systems starting with feature-rich entry-level motherboards all the way to heavily-decked out gaming models in the MSI MEG series. There’s a board for anyone and everyone so be sure to check out MSI’s library of motherboards. Not sure, which one’s for you? Leave a comment so I can help you out along with which memory is best for you.

Final Thoughts

MSI and Kingston’s #PowerUpYourGames isn’t a performance boosting combination but rather a guide for the optimal value combination. Both companies’ offer excellent quality products which are guaranteed to last with MSI extending 3-year warranties on their motherboard and Kingston a 5-year warranties on their SSDs and a remarkable limited lifetime warranty on their RAM. This is a combination meant to last gamers and should they upgrade, these parts would still hold value afterwards.

MSI and Kingston are poised to announce updates on this partnership, they’ve recently concluded the opening promotion for #PowerUpYourGames but promises more in the future. Make sure to stay updated with MSI and Kingston and follow them on social media for announcements and promotions.