With Ivy Bridge available for a good while now, memory manufacturers instinctively release RAM modules for these new platforms. As newer platforms like Intel’s new processor provide support for higher and higher memory clocks, memory vendors and manufacturers compete on who can provide the most varied product line with the highest specifications. For today’s review we have Kingston’s offering for the Z77 crowd that comes in DDR3 2400, 2666 and 2800 frequencies: their flagship HyperX T1 memory modules. We’ll be testing the DDR3-2400 HyperX T1 variant to start a series of reviews for DDR3-2400 RAMs. Let’s get started and let’s make this showy!
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There’s no denying that Kingston is the top dog of the memory space. Enthusiasts can go front that their Corsair’s and G-Skill’s are better in whatever e-peen stroking they want but in sheer volume and sales, Kingston dominates the market and that’s a fact. With a highly varied product port-folio, this company has managed to insert itself into a lot of computers today. Their premier product line is the HyperX series: specially crafted hardware intended for power users, professionals, gamers and enthusiasts. As we’ve seen time and again, the HyperX line brings with it bleeding-edge performance and today’s product should be no exception. The HyperX T1 line of memory modules from Kington are their flagship model and is the pinnacle of Kingston’s engineering prowess. We check out the DDR3-2400 HyperX T1 for Ivy Bridge but first, some specs and images:
CLOSER LOOK
[singlepic id=8823 w=580 h=550 float=center]The most notable feature of the HyperX T1 is its super-tall heatspreaders that are over the double the height of regular modules. This is to easily dissipate heat in overclocking situations.
[singlepic id=8825 w=580 h=550 float=center]If you haven’t noticed it yet, Kingston uses green PCB. This is notable for their entire product line of memory modules and for an enthusiast product line, this is sorely out of place. We don’t know who got elected and said enthusiast PCB must be black or whatever but one thing is for sure, we just prefer it that way.
As we’ve said earlier, the HyperX T1 modules are more than double the height of conventional DIMMs. Not only that, they’re particularly heavier due to the fact that they use a thicker heatspreader. Some manufacturers employ removable extended fins but Kingston prefers its extended fins in-place.
[singlepic id=8830 w=580 h=550 float=center]The most notable issue with tall heatspreaders is that some users who use large heatsinks will have placement problems so be sure to check first if your cooler will have issues with the HyperX T1 before considering purchase unless you want to swap out to another cooler.
[singlepic id=8831 w=580 h=550 float=center]Not included in the package, Kingston also offers a HyperX memory fan which should help maximize cooling efficiency of the HyperX T1 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=8834 w=550 Â h=450 float=center] [singlepic id=8835 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]Download X264 HD Benchmark here.
[singlepic id=8836 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]We can see an even increase of performance as we increase memory clocks. There are instances though that won’t benefit from increased memory bandwidth and speed but any tangible result is still worth it. In a real-world sense though, the difference is nearly negligible between consecutive speeds.
Multimedia and Gaming Results
[singlepic id=8837 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]Starting off with Cinebench 11.5, we pit the Kingston versus the Kingmax NANO which has tighter 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 point away from the NANO in Cinebench.
[singlepic id=8839 w=550 Â h=450 float=center]Again, the Kingston shows off its superiority ousting the competition in this test.
[singlepic id=8840 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
When we first tried overclocking the HyperX T1, we were a bit held back with our motherboards. Gigabyte’s UD5H and UD3H both wouldn’t overclock past 100.99 BCLK and ECS A2X just won’t boot with XMP-2400. To remedy the situation, we got an ASUS ROG Maximus V GENE. At our first run, we tried to run past 101 BCLK and successfully relieved us of our feeling that the HyperX T1 sample we have was a poor OCer. That said, we went straight ahead and used the next multiplier which was for 2666 which didn’t work out as we’ve expected. That said, we went ahead and kep XMP-2400 settings and started from there. Raising the BCLK to 106Mhz with a bit of voltage increase (1.68v) we were able to get a stable DDR3-2544 overclock with default XMP timings. And that’s certainly a very good increase from DDR3-2400 for us considering this is still within it’s XMP timings. Speaking of XMP timings, tightening the timings to XMP-2133 10-11-10-27 didn’t get us anything and so did 10-12-12-28 which would work but simply was a bit too unstable for our tastes.
[singlepic id=8838Â w=550 Â h=450 float=center]As we can see from our test results, memories of higher speeds do give out some benefits but depending on the situation it’ll vary. Most of the times though, there won’t be much of an impact anyways. So why consider buying RAM like the HyperX T1? Coming in at around Php3,100 the dual-channel 8GB HyperX T1 kit is certainly a bit pricier than most offerings in the market but that premium nets you a very cool looking set of RAM that has plenty overclocking potential along with excellent performance out of the box not to mention Kingston’s trademark quality. Once again, Kingston impresses us with another excellent memory offering. With superb overclocking, stylish design and excellent performance in its rating bracket, the Kingston HyperX T1 is certainly amongst the top ranks of the high-end memory module market. Kingston backs their memories with lifetime warranties showing us their confidence in the stability of their products.
[singlepic id=8833 w=580 Â h=450 float=center] [one_half last=”no”]HOT
[checklist]- Very good performance
- Great overclocking potential
- Aggressive looks and styling
- Good build quality
NOT
[badlist]- Tall fins will cause issues with large CPU coolers
- Very loose timings out of the box
