Kingston HyperX T1 Series DDR3-2000 3GB Triple Channel Memory Kit Revisited

[ad#review955-top]About a month ago I reviewed Kingston’s HyperX DDR3-2000 3GB Triple Channel kit with their new HTX heatspreaders. The review was incomplete, as I was unable to run the memory even as high as DDR3-1600 due to my Engineering Sample i7 processor, and the memory clock configuration of the three motherboards I had to work with. It was embarrassing because I was unaware of the problems I would have until the review was already rather late. Dave, our Kingston rep, was really cool about it, so I promised him that I would perform a “revisited” review of the memory as soon as I was able. He was so nice about it that he didn’t even ask for it. But it definitely is owed. Here ya go, Dave.

Today, armed with a retail i7 920, and a shiny new BIOS from Gigabyte, I will have another go at this memory. Will I be successful, or will I once again end up with egg on my face? Read on to see!

A quick recap, the memory runs at DDR3-2000 9-9-9-27, at Intel’s mandatory 1.65v. The modules sport some really nice pin-fin styled heatspreaders in Kingston’s traditional HyperX blue. The memory supports Intel’s XMP with a pair of preset configurations, DDR3-2000 and DDR3-1866, in case the motherboard won’t make the trip to a full 2000mHz.

As all high-performance triple-channel memory modules, the HyperX DDR3-2000 modules default at DDR3-1066, to allow any motherboard to POST with the memory, in case for some reason the motherboard won’t support DDR3-2000. Many complain about this, but imagine what would have happened to me with this memory earlier. Advertised speeds and timings are set in the BIOS.

Installation

Test Rig:
Intel i7 920 (retail version)
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P X58 motherboard (F6 BIOS)
Sparkle Calibre P980X+ geForce 9800GTX+ video card
OCZ EliteXStream 800 Watt power supply
NZXT Tempest extended midtower
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

I went into the BIOS, set the XMP to Default 2 (DDR3-2000), pushed F10 and held my breath. Paydirt! The rig easily POSTed, and Vista launched just fine. I ran some benchmarks just to make sure it was stable. I couldn’t make it crash, even with my favorite memory-killers.

Overclocking

So I immediately went to work overclocking the HyperX DDR3-2000 Triple Channel. Keep in mind that with the i7 you are limited to a VDIMM of 1.65v, Intel warns against clocking memory any higher due to the danger of damaging the CPU’s memory controller. I was able to attain a DDR3-2036 overclock at CAS 7. Running some performance benchmarks, I saw that I had actually taken a hit in performance over DDR3-2000, so there really isn’t any use in trying to run the memory any higher at CAS 7.

After spending a considerable amount of time experimenting, I got a rock-solid stable overclock of DDR3-2142 10-9-9-30. That is probably a little higher than I expected to get. I tried hard trying to get a really respectable overclock at CAS 9, but I just couldn’t pass the DDR3-2100 mark. Keep in mind that you really affect benchmark scores when loosening the timings, so when trying to get a max overclock, you will likely lower at least some of your scores.

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