One thing we’ve been very keen on is the definition of gaming products and by that we mean they’re all marketing. One thing common though with all supposed gaming products is that they all possess much higher specification or quality than their consumer counterparts. Memory modules aimed mainly for enthusiasts, gamers and overclockers will usually sport higher frequencies and snazzy heatspreaders but what we have today breaks that mold. Today we have KINGMAX’s NANO memory modules dubbed as their gaming line and features their “invisible heatsink” technology and no, we ain’t trippin’. Let’s make this showy!
To those not familiar, KINGMAX (yes, it is supposed to be spelled that way) is a memory and flash storage solutions provider. Most enthusiasts will probably not have them in their radar but they’ve recently released some enthusiast-class products including high-end gaming RAM and SSDs. For this review we have their gaming memory module offering: the KINGMAX NANO Gaming RAM memory modules which are rated for DDR3-2400 at 10-11-10-30 2T at 1.80v. You read that right, these RAM modules gets fed 1.80v and they don’t don any sort of physical heatspreader. KINGMAX has a lot to prove to us to overcome that initial air of skepticism about their solution so let’s get some specs and images out of the way and get to testing.
FEATURES & SPECIFICATIONS
- 1600MHz / 2000MHz Support Intel & AMD all series
- 2200MHz / 2400MHz Support Intel P55, Z68, P67, X79, Z77 Chipset
- Adopting Nano Thermal Dissipation Technology
- ASIC chip embedded for anti-counterfeiting purpose
- Lead-free production process
- 100% product compatibility and stability
- High data transfer performance for overclocking enthusiasts and hardcore gamers
- Support Intel XMP (Extreme Memory Profile)
KINGMAX Nano Gaming RAM is the world 1st overclocking memory module has no heatsink; Thanks to Nano Thermal Dissipation Technology, Nano Gaming RAM adopts high heat conductive mediums, such as Si and DLC to increase the dissipation efficiency through radiation. Base on the test of KINGMAX Lab., heat dissipation can be improved up to 10%— causing the reduction of 2 degree C working temperature. Nano Gaming RAM series offer great variety of choice: at speed: from 1600MHz up to 2400MHz and at capacity 1GB/2GB/4GB/8GB, and can support dual / triple or quad channel memory operations. It reduces the size and weight than normal DRAM module, making it a more environmental friendly choice for consumers. KINGMAX Nano Gaming RAM has been credited for 100% compatibility and stability as well as outstanding overclocking performance from consumers. All memory products provide life warranty to guarantee consumers the most satisfaction.
CLOSER LOOK
[singlepic id=8910 w=580 h=350 float=center]Behold the KINGMAX NANO: clad in black PCB and very surprisingly, no heatspreader. Notice the teal/blue-green film on the memory ICs with the KINGMAX NANO logo? This is what KINGMAX refers to as the “invisible heatsink” which is certainly disturbing for anyone not used to seeing overclocking RAM without any actual physical heatsink. As stated above, KINGMAX uses a different thermal solution than other manufacturers.
Besides the lack of a heatspreader, everything about the KINGMAX NANO is of your regular 240-pin DDR3 modules.
PERFORMANCE
Test Setup
| Processor | Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7 3770K 3.5Ghz (Turbo up to 3.9Ghz) |
| Motherboards | ASUS ROG Maximus V GENE |
| Cooling | Corsair H80 (Maximum Fan Speed) |
| Power Supply | Silverstone Strider Plus ST65F-P 650W |
| Memory | Kingston HyperX T1 DDR3-2400 |
| Video Cards | ASUS HD7870 DirectCUII |
| Hard Drive | Kingston HyperX SSD 120GB |
| Operating System | Windows 7 64-bit SP1 |
Performance Scaling
[singlepic id=8920 w=550 Â h=450 float=center] [singlepic id=8921 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]Download X264 HD Benchmark here.
[singlepic id=8922 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]We’ll keep the commentaries here a bit thin. Looking at the graphs, we see increases in memory bandwidth which should prove beneficial in some applications but in more CPU intensive tasks like X264 we notice little to no improvements. There’s a slight drop in 3DMark 11 results and we’ve tried re-testing but this is the best it got.
Potential Bandwidth
[singlepic id=8924 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]Here we compare the KINGMAX’s NANO Gaming RAM against the similarly locked Kingston HyperX T1 and quad-channel solutions. We see the KINGMAX leads the pack with its tight timings coupled with 2400Mhz DDR clock rate.
Multimedia and Gaming Results
[singlepic id=8923 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]Starting off with Cinebench 11.5, we pit the KINGMAX NANO versus the Kingston HyperX T1 which has loose timings. We kept the values at their respective XMP settings for a level out-of-the-box comparison. The Kingston squeezes out a couple of points away from the NANO in Cinebench.
[singlepic id=8925 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]The NANO fades in this test showing some drop in the performance score.
[singlepic id=8926 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]Now for a more realistic game test, we ran Civilization V’s built in benchmark mode which tests systems with a late game view rendering a ton of units on screen simulating a playthrough well within the 200 turn mark. As we can see, both memories are just a hairline away from each other.
OVERCLOCKING & CONCLUSION
We’re certainly not that confident about the overclocking potential of the KINGMAX NANO seeing as its bare self looks like some weak attempt to pass them off as something they’re not but alas, we went ahead with it. We tried increasing the multiplier first to see if the aggressive voltage is enough to lift these modules to DDR3-2600 but we failed and moved on to increasing the BCLK to see how much we can push these modules’ clock on XMP timings.
[singlepic id=8930 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]We managed to get a game-stable DDR3-2520, any higher or tighter timings and the system just won’t boot. Now notice we say game-stable as we’ve encountered some weird behaviours from these modules even at stock with computation benchmarks.
[singlepic id=8933 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]All in all, we’re having a hard time providing any last thoughts for the KINGMAX NANO Gaming Memory modules. From what we see in our graphs, we see it manages to close in with Kingston’s highest-end module. Still, tighter timing and all doesn’t even close the gap between the two as the more relaxed HyperX T1 still edges the NANO at every test we did. In addition, the lack of any physical heatspreader will certainly scare a lot of would-be overclockers along with the already aggressive 1.80v that these modules require to function at their rated specs whereas everyone else in the market is within the 1.65v range that we’re all used to. We do however stress that KINGMAX’s Nano technology works as these modules are ice-cold (figuratively) during operation.
We appreciate KINGMAX’s effort in the gaming and enthusiast market but it’s hard to see past the shortcomings this product has. Don’t get us wrong, the NANO delivers straight-up performance as it delivers figures relative to any DDR3-2400 modules, but we really feel this is not enough to attract their intended customers. Retailing locally for Php2,400 for a 4GB stick, it’s also quite expensive for something without any metal covering it that could help justify that asking price. Yes, they’re using a different cooling technology but you can’t help but take away from enthusiasts that expectation of having a stylish heatspreader to go along their high-performance system.
We look forward to seeing where KINGMAX takes this product in the future but for now, the NANO will have a hard time competing in a style meets function market, and it lacks style.
