Review: Kingston HyperX Predator DDR3-1,866 memory

Final thoughts and rating

Kingston's revised HyperX Predator line enacts a new range of enthusiast-orientated DDR3 memory suitable for both AMD and Intel's latest desktop platforms.

It fills all the common speeds and capacities expected of quality memory, rising up to 2,666MHz, but we feel that some of the higher-speed kits use looser timings than the competition.

The reviewed set, a pair of 8GB DDR3-1,866MHz sticks, provide a reasonable uptick in performance over cheaper, slower DDR3-1,600 memory, though the benefits of using double-density modules aren't apparent in our benchmarks.

Huge drops in DRAM chip pricing means that system memory has increasingly been sold on a lowest-price basis, even from big-name manufacturers, and this is where the £110 Kingston set ultimately suffers.

The same quality of memory - and most manufacturers use the similar underlying Hynix chips - can be purchased for around £75, leaving Kingston in an uncomfortable position. Superior construction and rock-solid stability can only mask a 10 per cent premium, we feel, not the near-50 per cent witnessed here.

Though we're loathed to use pricing as a stick to beat a manufacturer with, in this instance we'd encourage Kingston to take another look at the retail position and adjust pricing accordingly.

Bottom line: a high-quality set of DDR3 memory compromised by a currently untenable price.

The Good

Superb construction
Solid performance

The Bad

HEXUS Rating

Kingston 16GB HyperX Predator DDR3-1,866

HEXUS Where2Buy

The reviewed memory is available here.

HEXUS Right2Reply

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