Kingston HyperX Predator 2800MHz 8GB Memory Kit Review

1. Introduction2. Kingston HyperX Predator 2800MHz Memory3. Configuring the BIOS4. System Configuration5. SiSoft Sandra6. MaxxMem27. Cinebench R11.5 64 bit8. Super Pi9. Overclocking10. Closing Thoughts11. View All Pages

It's Kingston's turn to take shot at the ultra-high frequency memory market. Can the 2800MHz HyperX Predator kit grab the attention of enthusiast benchmarkers and extreme overclockers?

With the vast improvements in memory frequency support brought about by Haswell's powerful IMC, manufacturers took the opportunity to release ultra-high frequency memory kits which target overclockers and benchmarkers. With the market's lust for high-speed memory re-kindled, Kingston has released the 2800MHz 12-14-14 HyperX Predator 8GB kit as its flagship memory product.

We've seen 2800MHz and 3100MHz kits from ADATA, a 3GHz set from Avexir, and G.Skill's 2933MHz TridentX modules, but how does Kingston compare with its 2800MHz CL12 HyperX Predator memory?

Specifications:

• PC3-22400 (2800MHz).
• Timings: 12-14-14-32-2T.
• Voltage: 1.65V.
• Dual Channel Kit: (2x4GB).
• XMP 1.3 Ready.
• Lifetime Warranty.

Kingston ships the HyperX Predator memory modules in an easy-to-open package. The kit's product name and specifications are located on the front side of the packaging.

The Kingston HyperX Predator 2800MHz memory modules are covered by a tall blue heatsink which is not too dissimilar to the company's T1 heatspreader. Kingston has chosen to use a green PCB which is inferior to its black alternative in terms of aesthetic appearance.

Giving a capacity of four gigabytes per DIMM for our 8GB 2800MHz kit, eight memory chips are located on one side of the PCB, with a spacer occupying the other.

The configuration, rated speed, and performance (as we will show later in the review) of Kingston's HyperX Predator kit screams out Hynix MFR-based memory chips in a single-sided configuration. MFR memory from SK Hynix is known for its excellent ability to offer strong scaling of frequency with increased voltage. Our Kingston representative confirmed that the kit uses Hynix M-die memory chips.

Measuring in at 54mm-tall, the potential for interference with CPU coolers is high when using the HyperX Predator modules. I would typically criticise the Kingston memory for using heatsinks which would generally be considered needlessly oversized. But in this case, Kingston's use of 54mm-tall metal heatsinks is entirely justified.

The type of person who buys Kingston's 2800MHz memory kit will be pushing DRAM voltages to a level where the chips require an effective cooling solution. For an air-based system, the memory's heatsink is obliged to rise to the task of dissipating the chips' over-volted heat output.

And for extreme users whose first task will be to remove the heatsinks, Kingston uses a heatspreader design which pieces together two separate metal plates. Theoretically, this type of implementation should make it easier to remove the heatspreader and replace it with sub-zero cooling equipment.

Given the rapid switch of colours that motherboard vendors implemented in tandem with the release of their Z87 products, matching the light blue heatsinks of the HyperX Predator memory may be more difficult than it would first seem.

In fact, a quick look at OverclockersUK's Z87 motherboard section reveals that none of the high-end, overclocking-geared boards even feature blue as part of their colour scheme.

I can understand Kingston wanting to retain their long-term brand image with the high-rise blue heatsinks, but perhaps black or another colour would have been the more appropriate choice at this point in time. Even inverting the current ratio and positioning of blue and black may have been a good idea.

Arguments for and against the kit's colour scheme can be made. In the end the scheme's likeability comes down to individual preference. But I can confidently say that colour-coordination will be one of the main buying points to many enthusiast users purchasing a memory kit. Overclockers, on the other hand, are unlikely to care about appearance.

We are using the ASRock Z87 OC Formula motherboard to test today's memory kit. It supports RAM from many manufacturers and gives us a large amount of flexibility to tinker with memory multiplier, base clock and timings settings. It has also reached the highest DRAM frequency of all the Z87 motherboards that we have tested.

Our full review of the ASRock Z87 OC Formula motherboard can be read here.

The fully-functioning XMP profile configured the memory kit for use at its 2800MHz frequency and correct timings.

Kingston includes a secondary XMP profile which operates at 2666MHz with tighter timings. This profile may be of interest to users with older processors that don't feature an IMC as strong as Haswell's, such as those from the Ivy Bridge series.

Windows and CPU-Z registered the memory's functioning settings as correct.

Our system's CPU-Z validation running at a 2800MHz DRAM frequency can be found here.
We are using an Intel Core i7 4770K processor with an ASRock Z87 OC Formula motherboard.

The memory kit's stock speed is: 2800MHz 12-14-14-32 @ 1.65V

Note: CPU and CPU Cache frequencies for the Avexir Core Extreme Series 3000MHz and ADATA XPG V2 3100MHz memory sets are different to the speeds set for the comparisons kits. This is due to the Avexir and ADATA memory’s use of out-of-spec BCLK frequencies which then result in non-standard CPU and CPU Cache speeds. Due to this fact, the results and charts should be viewed with care, and our performance analysis should be read to make the results clearer.

Z87 Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 4770K.
• Motherboard: ASRock Z87 OC Formula (BIOS V1.80)
• Graphics Card: nVidia GTX 760 2GB.
• System Drive: 500GB Samsung 840 Series SSD.
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i.
• Case: NZXT Phantom 630.
• Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum 1000W.
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

Comparison memory:

• 8GB (2x 4GB) Patriot Viper Xtreme Division 2 2133MHz (11-11-11-30).
• 16GB (2x 8GB) Corsair Vengeance Pro 2400MHz (10-12-12-31).
• 8GB (2x 4GB) ADATA XPG V2 2800MHz (12-14-14-36).
• 8GB (2x 4GB) Avexir Core Extreme Series 3000MHz (12-14-14-35).
• 8GB (2x 4GB) ADATA XPG V2 3100MHz (12-14-14-36).

Software:

• MaxxMem 2.
• SiSoft Sandra 2013.
• Super Pi.
• Cinebench R11.5 64 bit.

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.

It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.

Native ports for all major operating systems are available:

• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86)
• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64)
• Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64)
• Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01)
• Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02)

All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of:

• SMP – Multi-Processor
• MC – Multi-Core
• SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading
• MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions
• GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics
• NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access
• AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86
• IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit

Sandra's set of memory-intensive tests put Kingston's HyperX Predator memory kit at an identical performance level to ADATA's 2800MHz XPG V2 modules.

This comes as little surprise, given the identical frequency and very similar timings that both kits operate at, not to mention the same calibre of memory chips used on each.

MaxxMem2 PreView is a handy, free program to rate memory performance. It can be downloaded over here.

MaxxMEM continues to show the two 2800MHz memory kits at near-identical performance levels.

As we have experienced in the past, default bandwidth levels of the high-speed, Hynix-based, single-sided memory modules suffer in comparison to lower-speed kits; Corsair's 2400MHz 16GB kit shows 12% better copy speeds.

Latency shows tangible improvements, however. The same Corsair kit trails Kingston's 2800MHz option by around 6% in regard to latency performance.

CINEBENCH R11.5 64 Bit is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all – it’s completely free.

Cinebench continues to put Kingston's HyperX Predator kit at an identical performance level to ADATA's competing 2800MHz option.

The remaining sub-3GHz kits are both within one one-hundredth of a point either side of the 2.8GHz sets.

Super Pi is used by a huge audience, particularly to check stability when overclocking processors. If a system is able to calculate PI to the 2 millionth place after the decimal without mistake, it is considered to be stable in regards to RAM and CPU.

We used Super Pi’s ’16M’ benchmark setting.

According to our chart, Kingston takes a one-second lead over ADATA's similar-spec option. But at 0.45%, the difference between each set of memory is likely to be within the margin of error of testing, and is too small to define a clear winner.

The same can be said for all of the memory kits contributing to our comparison data.

With memory modules of this calibre, it is fair to assume that a large proportion of the user base will be looking for the kit's highest attainable frequency with good enough stability. That doesn't mean that the ability for the overclocked kit to run every benchmark with stability is crucial, but it does place an importance on being able to boot and run at least one test flawlessly.

We will be tweaking the base clock to fine-tune the memory overclock. Due to the above point, and the fact that the processor frequency will be different to when the RAM was running at stock speeds, there is little point in showing comparison benchmarks. Instead, we will use a single run of Super Pi 16M to verify stability.

After breezing past the 2933MHz divider, we opted for the 1.25x CPU strap so that we could use a BCLK around the 125MHz-mark for our overclocking attempts. The 1.00x CPU strap would require the maximum Haswell memory multiplier and a high base clock which may have limited the sticks’ overclocking headroom.

To eliminate base clock bottlenecks, we used a number of increased voltages for the CPU and system. With each increase in the base clock, the CPU multiplier was dropped to a level which put the frequency near its stock level.

The tweaks applied included a 1.7015V DRAM voltage, various CPU voltage increases and setting changes for BCLK overclocking stability, and a CPU input voltage of 1.900V. ASRock’s automated settings proved favourable for overclocking performance and didn’t require changing.

The highest DRAM frequency we managed to achieve using stock timings was 3024MHz. This consisted of a 126MHz BCLK and 18x memory multiplier (while also using the 100:133 BCLK:DRAM frequency ratio).

3024MHz is a strong result for an already high-speed kit. The 224MHz speed bump didn't require much more work than the effort taken to tweak a few voltage settings.

Our system validation with the Kingston HyperX Predator modules running at 3024MHz with stock timings can be viewed here.

Timings were loosened to 14-15-15-40-2T in an attempt to attain the highest possible DRAM frequency.

The highest Super Pi 16M-stable memory overclock that we achieved with the Kingston HyperX Predator memory modules was 3136MHz. This consisted of a 168MHz base clock, 100:133 BCLK:DRAM frequency ratio, and a 14x memory divider.

Our quick run of tests showed this overclock to be relatively stable in a Windows environment. As always, though, we wouldn't call an overclock 24/7 stable without completing the necessary long-term stability testing procedures.

We made multiple attempts to boot at a higher memory speed, but it was clear that 3136MHz was the highest frequency that our specific sample was capable of when partnered with our test hardware and configuration.

Our validation running at a 3136MHz DRAM frequency can be viewed here.

The Kingston HyperX Predator 2800MHz 8GB memory kit features high-performance modules with substantial overclocking headroom. Assisted by the large heatspreaders, we managed to push Kingston's flagship kit way past the 3GHz memory frequency barrier.

Overclocking performance of the HyperX Predator 2800MHz memory kit was very strong. At stock timings we had no problems pushing the kit past 3GHz with a 50mV bump in DRAM voltage and tweaking to motherboard settings.

With loosened timings, the Hynix M-die memory chips incorporated by Kingston had the HyperX Predator modules operating at 3136MHz with valid stability over our short-term tests. This 12% frequency boost speaks greatly for the overclocking potential of Kingston's memory modules.

With enhanced cooling and further tweaking, we have no doubt that Kingston's 2800MHz HyperX Predator memory kit has more frequency left in its tank.

Compatibility is another strength for the HyperX Predator 2800MHz kit. Kingston equips the set with a pair of XMP 1.3 profiles – one for 2800MHz and the other for 2666MHz – which gives users greater flexibility when using the modules in their system. The 2666MHz profile is particularly convenient for users with older processors such as those from the Ivy Bridge era.

Style is an odd point with the HyperX Predator modules. While the tall blue and black heatspreaders utilise an eye-catching design, colour coordination with modern motherboards is likely to be awkward. Many of the high-end, overclocking-geared Z87 motherboards have moved away from the use of blue in their colour scheme. On the other hand, extreme overclockers purchasing Kingston's modules are unlikely to show concern towards appearance or matching hardware.

Performance-wise, Kingston's Hynix M-die HyperX Predator modules operate exactly as we would expect single-sided MFR memory sticks to operate. Performance is lacking in comparison to many slower, tighter latency alternatives. But with the correct tweaking and a large amount of patience, the high-frequency capability of Kingston's kit opens up the possibility for excellent performance numbers.

Priced at £191.21 from CCL, Kingston's HyperX Predator 2800MHz kit is anything but cheap for an 8GB set of memory. But when compared to alternative 2800MHz memory kits, the price of Kingston's HyperX Predator 2800MHz set is in the same region as the competing options from the likes of Avexir and Team Group.

Kingston‘s fast, highly-overclockable 2800MHz HyperX Predator memory kit is worth buying if you're an overclocker looking to push frequency barriers or a power user with time to tweak the performance.

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Pros:

• Strong overclocking potential.
• Our sample hit more than 3.1GHz.
• Effective heatspreaders.
• Good compatibility with two XMP profiles.

Cons:

• Tall heatsinks may cause CPU cooler interference.
  
• Need tweaking to obtain the best performance numbers.

KitGuru says: A solid memory kit with strong overclocking potential and an effective cooling design.

 

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