How we test, plus overclocking
Comparison Memory |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kingston Predator HyperX 1866 |
Corsair XMS-1333 |
Corsair Vengeance 1600 |
G.Skill Ripjaws 2133 |
Patriot Viper 3 2133 |
||
| Model | KHX18C9T2K2/16X
|
CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 |
CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B |
F3-17000CL11D-8GBXL |
PVI38G213C1K |
|
| Capacity | 16GB (2x8GB) |
8GB (2x4GB) |
8GB (2x8GB) |
8GB (2x4GB) |
8GB (2x4GB) |
|
| Speed | 1,866MHz |
1,333MHz |
1,600MHz |
2,133MHz |
2,133MHz |
|
| Timings | 9-10-9-27-2T |
9-9-9-24-2T |
9-9-9-24-2T |
11-11-11-30-2T |
11-12-12-30-2T |
|
| Voltage | 1.50V |
1.50V |
1.50V |
1.50V |
1.50V |
|
| Price* | £110 |
£30 |
£30 |
£40 |
£45 |
|
| Cost per GB* | £6.87 |
£3.75 |
£3.75 |
£5 |
£5.63 |
|
| *Approximate, correct at time of writing | ||||||
Test bench |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD A10-5800K APU | ||||||||
| Motherboard | Gigabyte F2-A85X-UP4 (F3G) | ||||||||
| Storage device | Samsung 830 Series 256GB SSD | ||||||||
| Graphics card | AMD HD 7660D integrated | ||||||||
| Power supply | Corsair AX750 | ||||||||
| Operating system | Windows 7 Ultimate SP1, 64-bit | ||||||||
Benchmarks |
|---|
| AIDA64 (download) |
| HEXUS.PiFast (download) |
| 3DMark 11 v1.0.3.0 (homepage) |
| 3DMark Vantage v1.2.0 (homepage) |
| Batman: Arkham City (homepage) |
| DiRT Showdown (homepage) |
Notes
We're testing the modules on an AMD FM2 platform. The A10-5800K APU just loves faster memory, for its HD 7660D IGP's performance scales by up to 25 per cent in Batman: Arkham City when run with DDR3-2,133 memory instead of DDR3-1,600.
Overclocking
We run the overclocking test by inputting standard 9-9-9-24-2T timings and seeing just how well the test modules can scale. Voltage was increased from the default 1.50V to 1.60V. Perhaps more of a limitation of the test setup than ceiling of the modules themselves, our set managed to clock up to 2,000MHz at these settings - the same as two other previously-tested sets of 1,866MHz-rated RAM.
Going the other way and loosening-off timings to 11-13-13-35-2T resulted in a top speed of around 2,300MHz - we had to increase the APU's base clock once the modules were set to 2,133MHz speeds.
So where does this put Kingston in the grand scheme of DDR3 modules? The reported figures are a little shy of those produced by both the Patriot and G.Skill DDR3-2,133 packs but higher than obtained by the Corsair DDR3-1,600 Vengeance duo. Kind of makes sense, right?
Chip manufacturer Hynix appears to have a sweetspot of between 1,866MHz and 2,400MHz for this grade of memory.