Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8GB Kit (2x4GB) – DDR3 1866MHz Review
Overview
Kingston have been around since 1987 and we have seen numerous memory modules from them in the past, all of which have performed well. But today we will get to look at a new memory kit from Kingston that we are unlikely to see again, as this is the Kingston HyperX 10th Year Anniversary Edition!
These modules are available in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB & 32GB kits with speeds up to 2400MHz. This particular 8MB kit (KHX18C9X3K2/8X
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I was hoping that the 10th Anniversary modules packaging would be given a bit of an overhaul, but unfortunately the packaging is the all too common plastic wallet variety! But I will say that peering at the modules within, they look pretty damn nice…
Always pay particular attention to the part number (especially when purchasing memory) as small variations in part numbers can mean big changes in performance.
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Once a small cut is made in the side of the sticker that holds the wallet together, you get to see the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition modules in the metal (shiny!).
Also included inside the plastic wallet is a warranty & installation guide. This small leaflet outlines the Kingston Lifetime Warranty and shows a simple guide of how to install memory.
At the time of writing the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8GB Kit (2x4GB) – DDR3 1866MHz kit is retailing for approximately £50 and comes with a Lifetime Warranty.
Specifications/Features
courtesy of Kingston Technology
| CL(IDD) | 9 cycles |
| Row Cycle Time (tRCmin) | 49.5ns (min.) |
| Refresh to Active/Refresh Command Time (tRFCmin) | 160ns (min.) |
| Row Active Time (tRASmin) | 36ns (min.) |
| Maximum Operating Power | 2.400 W* (per module) |
| UL Rating | 94 V – 0 |
| Operating Temperature | 0o C to 85o C |
| Storage Temperature | -55o C to +100o C |
* Power will vary depending on the SDRAM used.
| JEDEC standard 1.5V (1.425V ~ 1.575V) Power Supply |
| VDDQ = 1.5V (1.425V ~ 1.575V) |
| 667MHz fCK for 1333Mb/sec/pin |
| 8 independent internal bank |
| Programmable CAS Latency: 9, 8, 7, 6 |
| Programmable Additive Latency: 0, CL – 2, or CL – 1 clock |
| Programmable CAS Write Latency(CWL) = 7 (DDR3-1333) |
| 8-bit pre-fetch |
| Burst Length: 8 (Interleave without any limit, sequential with starting address “000” only), 4 with tCCD = 4 which does not allow seamless read or write [either on the fly using A12 or MRS] |
| Bi-directional Differential Data Strobe |
| Internal(self) calibration : Internal self calibration through ZQ pin (RZQ : 240 ohm ± 1%) |
| On Die Termination using ODT pin |
| Average Refresh Period 7.8us at lower than TCASE 85°C, 3.9us at 85°C < TCASE < 95°C |
| Asynchronous Reset |
| PCB : Height 1.18” (30mm) double sided component |
* Additional details available here
First Impressions
“Stylish. Silver. Solid. Kingston’s HyperX® 10th Anniversary Edition memory celebrates ten years of killer performance with a sleek silver heatspreader. Its low profile fits under large CPU coolers; it may be small but its blazing speed leaves the competition behind. This Intel XMP Ready memory boasts higher performing frequencies, timings and voltage that are attainable by simply enabling Intel’s Extreme Memory Profile. It’s covered by a lifetime warranty, free technical support and legendary Kingston® reliability.”
That’s what Kingston have to say about their new HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition memory modules, and what we have here at pcGameware is the 8GB (2x4GB) 1866Mhz kit. From my point of view the first thing that I notice and really rather like is the lower profile of this kit. Memory doesn’t really get that hot, so we don’t need massive heat spreaders, especially as they only foul on today’s large CPU Coolers. These 10th Anniversary modules are just 30mm tall, not the shortest modules we have seen (Corsair Vengenace LP) but the second shortest, this I like.
They look good too, the Silver styling is not something I have seen before, but I like that too and it’s a good neutral colour for the internals of a Rig.
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The front of the modules feature a white HyperX logo on the left hand side, over on the right we find a subtle, yet smart 10th Anniversary logo also in white.
The back of the modules feature a Kingston logo on the left in white and on the right we find a small sticker that shows the technical specifications of the RAM modules. NOTE: WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED
Overall I would say the the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition modules are a very smart, dare I say classy, set of RAM modules. I particularly like the relatively short height of the modules (30mm) as this ensures a higher degree of compatibility with today’s large CPU Coolers.
Hardware Installation
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Installation of the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition RAM into My Test Rig was simple enough, but this was helped by the fact that I use a Liquid CPU Cooler (Corsair H100). This type of cooler normally has a very low profile in comparison to a more conventional air cooler.
As the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition modules have a relatively low profile, I would say that you are unlikely to run into any interference issues with large CPU Coolers. But please check to the best of your ability first…
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My Test Rig booted first time and with my motherboard (ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional) set to Auto the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition modules set themselves to the basic 1333MHz setting (image above left).
Looking at the BIOS/UEFI I could see that the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition modules had two eXtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) to choose from:
- XMP 1.3 Profile 1: DDR3-1866 9-11-9-27 1.65V
- XMP 1.3 Profile 2: DDR3-1600 9-9-9-27 1.65V
After proving stability at 1333MHz, it was back into the BIOS/UEFI to set the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition modules to their maximum speed of 1866MHz. This was done by setting the Load XMP Setting to XMP 1.2 Profile 1 (image above right). After that the Rig was re-booted and went straight into Windows with no problems. OK, on with the testing…
IMPORTANT NOTE: Just because you have RAM modules capable of high overclocked frequencies (especially 2400MHz and above), doesn’t mean that they will run at that speed as the memory controller is part of the CPU (Sandy Bridge & Ivy Bridge).
Testing Methodology/Setup
The Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8GB Kit (2x4GB) – DDR3 1866MHz was tested as part of My Test Rig, using Windows 7 64Bit (Service Pack 1) with all relevant Drivers installed. Prime95 (Blend) was used to test stability and the following benchmarks were also used.
Hardware Performance
 Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8GB @ 1333MHz |
 Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8GB @ 1866MHz |
AIDA64 Benchmark Results
| Memory | Read | Write | Copy | Latency |
| Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 8GB 1600MHz (8-8-8-24) / inc a 2% OC | 19769 | 21732 | 21976 | 40.8 |
| Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8GB 1866MHz (9-11-9-27) | 21545 | 21851 | 24020 | 37.9 |
| Kingston HyperX Predator 16 GB 2133MHz @ 11-12-11-30 | 21757 | 22192 | 25382 | 38.7 | TeamGroup Xtreem LV Series 8GB 2400MHz (11-11-11-28) | 23523 | 22720 | 26717 | 35.0 |
| Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB 2400MHz (11-13-13-30) | 23536 | 22626 | 26879 | 35.1 |
The first two images show the performance results from AIDA64 for the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition modules running at 1333MHz (default/Auto) and at 1866MHz (XMP Profile 1). As you can see there’s a whole world of difference in performance, you certainly wouldn’t want to leave your BIOS/UEFI on the Auto setting… 😉
As you can see the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition sits comfortably between the 1600MHz kit and the 2133MHz kit, also worth noting is the slightly better Latency at 37.9, fairing better overall than the 2133Mhz kit; likely due to the 10th Anniversary’s tighter timings.
Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8GB Overclocked @ 1920MHz
After some decent figures in the AIDA64 benchmarks it was time to see if I could push the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition a little harder. So I started to play with the Base Clock (default 100MHz). After numerous tests I ended up with a Base Clock of 103MHz, the net result of this is that the modules are now running at 1920MHz at the default voltage of 1.65 volts. Of course by upping your Base Clock you will be upping your CPU Clock speed so please bear this in mind when you are overclocking the Base Clock (BClk).
I have never been able to get a stable 103 BClk before, so hats off to Kingston for creating what appears to be some super stable 1866 modules. I did also try to overclock the modules to 2000MHz but with no joy and I didn’t want to add any more voltage as 1.65 volts is about the upper limit you want to use for either a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPU. Intel recommend a memory voltage of just 1.5 volts as the Memory Controller Hub (MCH) is on-board the CPU itself.
Now let’s take a look at the effect that this high speed memory has on our Gaming related benchmarks.
Gaming Related Benchmarks
To give us some idea of the effect the increase in memory speed has on Gaming the benchmarks have been run at both 1333MHz and 1866MHz using the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition modules.
| Memory | 3DMark 11 | Unigine Heaven | Metro 2033 |
| Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8 GB 1333MHz @ 9-9-9-27 | 9779 | 1328 | 41.00 |
| Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8 GB 1866MHz@ 11-13-13-30 | 9880 | 1329 | 41.33 |
As you can see from the 2 best gaming related benchmarks (Unigine Heaven & Metro 2033), there is no real discernible difference between running the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition RAM at 1333MHz and 1866MHz, although with memory we have seen this before. Only 3DMark 11 shows the improvements that have been made with an increase of approximately 1%.
From a Gaming point of view, there’s no compelling reason to push much beyond a good 8GB 1600MHz kit. If on the other hand you want the ultimate in performance (the increase in bandwidth can clearly be seen in the AIDA64 test) or if you have another reason for wanting high memory bandwidth then the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 1866MHz kit may be for you.
Final Thoughts
We’ve seen some great memory from Kingston recently most notably the Beast modules reviewed last month, earning themselves a well deserved Gold award. My only concern with those modules was the taller than necessary heat spreaders making the modules less compatible with modern large Air CPU Coolers.
Enter the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8GB Kit (2x4GB) – DDR3 1866MHz
Anyway what lies within the packaging is a truly great set of RAM modules with a rated speed of 1866MHz and timings of 9-11-9-27. The modules look great with their silver heat-spreaders and thanks to the colour are likely to go well with any rig build, in fact I would say they are also likely to add a touch of class to any build! The other bonus here is that the modules are not too tall, at just 30mm they are the second lowest profile modules that we have seen. This means that these HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition modules are likely to not interfere with the installation of today’s large CPU Coolers and that’s definitely good news.
As we have seen before the upgrade to high speed RAM has little impact on Gaming and of course the lower the speed the less likely you are to notice the difference. I would therefore suggest that you go for one of the faster speeds (1600, 1866, 2133 & 2400MHz available) to maximize performance.
The Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition overclocked well allowing me to raise my Base Clock (BClk) to 103MHz (default 100MHz) boosting the memory speed up to 1920MHz, this is actually the highest BClk that I have ever been able to set on my motherboard. This shows that there’s some good flexibility to be had with these new 10th Anniversary modules from Kingston.
At the time of writing the price of approximately £50 is OK for an 8GB 1866MHz kit, but certainly not cheap, although this is a Limited Edition kit of course! If you’re in the market for an upgrade above 1333/1600MHz and looking for a 1866MHz kit then the Kingston HyperX 10th Anniversary Edition 8GB Kit (2x4GB) – DDR3 1866MHz should be near the top of your list. But if you can spend a little more then the 2133/2400MHz kits will (somewhat obviously!) provide far more memory bandwidth and better performance.
Verdict
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