Kingston KHX3200AK2/2G
Kingston is the world's largest manufacturer of computer memory, with manufacturing plants around the world. If it's memory, Kingston has it in their catalog. That even includes high-end, enthusiast memory that Kingston markets under the HyperX name.
Specifications
Kingston rates their 2GB kit conservatively at 2.5-3-3 at DDR400, at standard voltage.
When we first saw these published specifications, we suspected that Kingston might be using a new memory chip for this 2GB kit. However, you will see in the test results that the actual performance is a mirror of how we have come to expect Infineon B die to perform.
Test Results
To be considered stable for test purposes, Quake3 benchmark, UT2003 Demo, Super PI, Aquamark 3, and Comanche 4 had to complete without incident. Any of these, and in particular Super PI, will crash a less-than stable memory configuration.
While rated at 2.5-3-3, our Kingston 2GB HyperX performed at DDR400 at 2-3-2 timings - much better than rated. Performance was good all the way to DDR480, but we could not achieve stable performance at any setting above DDR480. This was the poorest overclock among the nine 2GB kits tested in this roundup.
In the range from DDR400 to DDR480, the Kingston HyperX 2GB kit is competitive with any of the other memories. If that range is all that is required, the HyperX will do an excellent job. If you want greater overclocking abilities, however, you need to look at one of the other eight memories tested in this roundup. Kingston HyperX is often an excellent value in the memory market. It is also worthwhile to compare pricing of the Kingston 2GB kit to competitors' pricing.
Kingston is the world's largest manufacturer of computer memory, with manufacturing plants around the world. If it's memory, Kingston has it in their catalog. That even includes high-end, enthusiast memory that Kingston markets under the HyperX name.
Specifications
Kingston rates their 2GB kit conservatively at 2.5-3-3 at DDR400, at standard voltage.
| Kingston KHX3200AK2/2G Memory Specifications | |
| Number of DIMMs & Banks | 2 DS |
| DIMM Size Total Memory |
1GB 2GB |
| Rated Timings | 2.5-3-3-7 at DDR400 |
| Rated Voltage | Standard (2.6V) Voltage |
| SPD | 3-3-3-8 |
When we first saw these published specifications, we suspected that Kingston might be using a new memory chip for this 2GB kit. However, you will see in the test results that the actual performance is a mirror of how we have come to expect Infineon B die to perform.
Test Results
| Kingston KHX3200AK2/2G (DDR400) - 2x1GB Double-Bank | |||||||
| CPU Ratio at 2.4GHz | Memory Speed |
Memory Timings & Voltage |
Quake3 fps |
Sandra UNBuffered | Sandra Standard Buffered |
Super PI 2M places (time in sec) |
Wolfenstein - Radar - Enemy Territory fps |
| 12x200 | 400DDR | 2-3-2-7 2.6V |
539.2 | INT 2511 FLT 2648 |
INT 6040 FLT 6008 |
82 | 117.6 |
| 11x218 | 436DDR | 2.5-3-2-7 2.6V |
541.9 | INT 2648 FLT 2811 |
INT 6435 FLT 6382 |
82 | 118.0 |
| 10x240 | 480DDR | 3-3-3-7 2.8V |
550.1 | INT 2830 FLT 2908 |
INT 6675 FLT 6602 |
81 | 119.1 |
| 11x240 (2.64GHz) |
Highest Mem Speed DDR 480 |
3-3-3-7 2.8V |
561.7 | INT 2846 FLT 3001 |
INT 7079 FLT 6984 |
77 | 125.3 |
While rated at 2.5-3-3, our Kingston 2GB HyperX performed at DDR400 at 2-3-2 timings - much better than rated. Performance was good all the way to DDR480, but we could not achieve stable performance at any setting above DDR480. This was the poorest overclock among the nine 2GB kits tested in this roundup.
In the range from DDR400 to DDR480, the Kingston HyperX 2GB kit is competitive with any of the other memories. If that range is all that is required, the HyperX will do an excellent job. If you want greater overclocking abilities, however, you need to look at one of the other eight memories tested in this roundup. Kingston HyperX is often an excellent value in the memory market. It is also worthwhile to compare pricing of the Kingston 2GB kit to competitors' pricing.
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Beenthere - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
Crucial use to be a pretty good memory supplier at one time and I've bought plenty of their products. There seems to have been a philosophical change at Crucial a number of years ago and I stopped buying and recommending their products after a major hassle over one failed DIMM out of the many we had purchased. Seems like their submission of a discontinued product to this 1 Gb review is another example of mis-management and manipulation of the media...In regards to 1 Gig. DIMMS vs. 512 Mb it seems to me relatively few people really need these DIMMS. If you are a serious gamer playing the latest game versions, sure you'll see some small performance improvement for a PRICE. And that is the point really - what do you get in tangible system performance gain and is it of enough emotional value to you to pay the premium price. Obviously for some it is as they will pay $1000 for a CPU, $700 x 2 for 7800 GTX 512 Vid cards, etc. I doubt however that most PC enthusiasts can really justify those prices nor the price premium for 1 Gb DIMMS based on system performance gains.
And along those lines... how often do PC enthusiasts and / or gamers replace their entire PC hardware??? If for instance you are building a new PC now because the Opti 165 / X2 3800+ are a sweet deal, would you really be in the market for a new AMD AM2 system in a 4-6 months when they are readily available??? I doubt many folks replace their hardware that often but I could be wrong. If it is true then I wonder where all the good hardware ends up after it's used for a couple months and then trashed for the latest trick-of-the-week hardware???
xsilver - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
its called ebay - or as some say "egay" :por I think option 2 is the not so rich friends who suck up a lot
option 3 is "damn, I overvolted the cpu to attain max overclock and the damn thing fried itself -- oh well, just buy another fx-60"
note that option 3 people probably fuel the reason for why manufacturers think they can charge us $500+ for a gfx card and $1000+ for a cpu
JarredWalton - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
Worth note - and not shown in the benches here - is that 2GB of RAM can have a massive impact on load times for some of the latest games. It is also incredibly useful when you're editing a bunch of images in Photoshop. The difference in level load times on BF2 is amazing, even when comparing 4x512MB 2T to 2x512MB 1T.BF2 is something of an exception right now, but over the next year I expect more and more games to push the memory requirements beyond 1GB. FEAR is another reasonable example, though not quite as pronounced as BF2. Some of the MMORPGs also get a lot of use from 2GB.
Personally, I won't be buying 512MB DIMMs anymore, but I still use them in systems I build for other people.
johnford64 - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
Why is the OCZ PC4000 XTC and Normal Gold not covered in either article??? The Platnium EB's are too much money, and i would like a good read and comparison on the XTC/Golds. As a side note, Crucial stopped making their 2GB DDR1 kit, so they couldnt replace my dead det, which is why i got the OCZ'sbigtoe36 - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
XTC and golds do feature the same IC, OCZ are moving to replace all old heatspreaders with XTC so you will see some older stock using the old spreader in stores.So apples to apples they should clock near the same but the XTC moduls running a little cooler.
johnford64 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link
But my question is why neither XTC or Gold kits have been reviewed here, if there have please let me know whereMiggle - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
not much difference (in RTCW at least) between 400mhz and 533 (must be the timings). Good review tho.Now, i'm looking for a link that shows how mem timings impact A64 (2-2-2-6 vs 2.5-3-3-7). Hope someone could give me one.
still, me thinks that fast mem = costs too much and not that worth-it. I just bought geil value ram that does 2.5-3-3-6 @ 200mhz and quite happy /w it (on AXP still tho).
android1st - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
I was just trying to decide about my next system whether I should wait for DDR2 or increase the memory on my old system. I think I'm going to wait for DDR2, hopefully AMD will roll out 65nm around the same time as the new socket. And prices will be reasonable and availability will be high. Guess we'll wait and see...Nocturnal - Monday, January 23, 2006 - link
Crucial recently pulled their Ballistix 2GB kits due to unforseen circumstances. Everyone at XS is speculating that all of the RMAs that have been going on is culprit.johnford64 - Friday, January 27, 2006 - link
That happened to me, 2 dead kits. They tried to offer me 2GB of PC3200. Like hell i am taking $150 ram in place of my $400 USD ram.