Kingston HyperX DDR3-1800 C8

Josh Collins goes [for] broke chasing HyperX speed.

As a respected player in the memory manufacturing game, Kingston has spent recent months revitalising and invigorating its brand and its series of performance-oriented DRAM.

To that end, Kingston recently held a global design competition to create the face of the HyperX brand, the HyperX Girl. The global winner of the HyperX Girl competition is not only an Aussie, but Kingston also informed us the entrant was from an Atomican. So we thought it a good sign that the time was right to take a squiz at this HyperX-series memory kit from Kingston.

Rated for DDR3-1800 the Kingston HyperX modules certainly play the speed game. But when it comes to latencies, the modules are sitting back with the pack and playing a conservative match. The kit needs either higher frequency or lower latency to improve its overall performance position in the market. Corsair kits obtain faster speeds at stock due to the tighter latencies with a CAS 7 based lead time. On the flip side of the equation, Patriot is a step ahead with a higher stock frequency on its DDR3-1866 modules while maintaining the CAS 8 based timings.

The competition to these modules uses very similar ICs, so what’s the dealio?

There are a myriad of answers to this question but the most important for us, the enthusiasts, comes down to the not so simple task of binning. For many, this is believed to be focused purely on frequency. While this aspect is a focus, it isn’t the full picture.

When binning, not only does a manufacturer look to obtain sustainable frequencies but other areas such as sustainable latencies and operating voltages are tracked.

With an operating voltage of 1.9v, these sticks struggle to keep up with the Corsair Dominators in terms of out of the box flexibility, but with equivalent voltage supplied, the HyperX modules soon meet the mark.

If the extra voltage needed, that is outside of the factory tested values, to meet some of the competition doesn’t bother you, then this kit has some potential to bring the joy with a little electrical coercion.

(Note: these modules came into the labs after photography day -ed.)