Kingston HyperX T1 (1866MHz) 8GB Review

Overview

 

Currently Kingston have three memory ranges from which to choose from within their HyperX brand including their Blu, Genesis and T1 product lines. The Blu range is aimed towards entry level, Genesis for mid-range and T1 for extreme speed freaks!

Today I will be looking at the Kingston HyperX T1 (1866MHz) 8GB (KHX1866C9D3T1BK2/8GX) dual channel memory kit which is a part of the T1 product range. These kits are currently available in 4, 6, 8 and 16 GB covering various dual/triple/quad channel configurations.

The kit comprises of x2 4GB modules and comes with a compatible Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) with timings of 9-11-9-24 at 1.65v. At the time of this review the kit was retailing for approximately £58.

 

 

The memory came well packaged in a plastic wallet with a red and white Kingston sticker across the front which adheres the clear plastic front to the black plastic tray beneath. Also on the front of the box is a sticker containing details of the memory model number, capacity, memory speed and electrostatic caution details!

The back of the plastic container is pretty non-descript as would be expected, but does contain a few details about revisions.

 

 

Opening the packaging was very easy and just required a simple knife cut down the sides of the stickers. Thankfully there was no sealed plastic to be found, which would have required scissors and some butchering of the plastic itself!

On removing the clear plastic lid you get to see the contents inside. The modules sit securely within the black plastic tray preventing them from moving around. Inside are the two 4GB Memory Modules themselves and a Warranty and Installation Guide. The Kingston HyperX T1 8GB memory modules are covered by a Limited Lifetime Warranty should any faults occur.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of Kingston

Warranty	Limited Lifetime
Size	8GB Kit (2 x 4GB)
Performance Profile	XMP
Memory Configuration	Dual Channel
Memory Type	DDR3 SDRAM
Package – Memory Pin	240
Package – Memory Format	DIMM
Supply Voltage	1.65
Memory Speed	PC3-14900 (1866 MHz)
Latency Timings	9-11-9-24
Data Integrity Check	Non-ECC
Module Configuration	512 x 64

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

First impressions of the Kingston HyperX T1 8GB memory modules are quite good. I like the overall design and the black colouring matches well with my current rig set-up. The modules seem quite sturdy and overall the build quality seems excellent. Due to the heat spreader design the modules however are not low profile, this may cause issues during installation as the height (61mm) may conflict with certain CPU coolers and fans.

 

 

The front of each of the Kingston HyperX T1 8GB memory modules contain a sticker which has both the model number and operating voltage together with a few other numbers. They each also have the Kingston company logo, HyperX T1 brand logo and a logo indicating the modules are of type DDR3. The rear of the modules contain exactly the same details but there is no sticker.

 

 

Each memory module also has a large heat-spreader attached to the top which is supposed to help ‘achieve effective maintenance of the memory speed while prolonging the memory lifecycle’. I assume these would come in to play if you plan on overclocking the memory to its full potential. The Kingston HyperX T1 8GB memory modules themselves have dimensions of approximately 134mm (L) by 61mm (H).

But lets face it, when it comes to memory modules what we really want to know is what is their performance like. So let’s see how the Kingston HyperX T1 8GB modules actually perform!

 

Hardware Installation

 

 

Installing the Kingston HyperX T1 8GB memory modules into my rig was a fairly simple process and there were no issues caused by the extended memory heights due to the large heat-sink design, as you can see from the picture above. The way the Corsair A50 CPU Cooler is installed probably also helped alleviate any conflicting issues with the memory modules fouling with the heat-sink or fan, although there is still only about a 2mm clearance between the side of one of the modules and the CPU Cooler heat-sink itself.

 

 

Upon booting my rig, I entered the UEFI BIOS to check what default SPD settings had been configured for the memory. The memory had been set to a default speed of 1333MHz and timings of 9-9-9-24.

 

 

Since AMD-based chipsets do not support the XMP functionality (see HyperX FAQ), I set about changing the memory settings manually to run at their specified XMP profile speed of 1866MHz and 9-11-9-27 timings.

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

The Kingston HyperX T1 8GB RAM modules were tested using my rig with a current version of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (service pack 1) already installed. The latest version of Prime 95 was used to test for stability and the following benchmarks were also used:

• AIDA64
• 3DMark 11
• Unigine Heaven
• Metro 2033
• Batman: Arkham City

 

Hardware Performance

 

 

AIDA64 Benchmark Results

Memory	Read	Write	Copy	Latency
Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz (9-9-9-24) 4GB	13700	9824	17544	48.0
Kingston HyperX T1 1866MHz (9-11-9-27) 8GB	14827	10469	18995	48.7

 

The results from the AIDA64 Cache And Memory Benchmark test show that the Kingston HyperX T1 modules put out some good performance readings. Compared to my existing (Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz (9-9-9-24) 4GB) modules, the Kingston HyperX T1 results are higher across the board with only the latency lagging slightly behind. This however is expected as the memory timings are much looser on the Kingston HyperX T1 1866MHz modules than the Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz modules.

Since these are high specification performance RAM modules, I decided to also increase the Base Clock to 205MHz to see what sort of performance gain could potentially be gained via overclocking. The results can be seen below.

 

 

By increasing the Base Clock the Read test result had increased and the Latency had also been reduced, but for some reason both the Write and Copy test results went down. Seeing that this didn’t seem to make much sense, I decided to re-run the test but this time I increased the Base Clock to 210MHz to try and push the memory modules even further. The benchmark results can be seen below.

 

 

Memory	Read	Write	Copy	Latency
Kingston HyperX T1 1866MHz (9-11-9-27) 8GB (200MHz Base Clock)	14827	10469	18995	48.7
Kingston HyperX T1 1920MHz (9-11-9-27) 8GB (205MHz Base Clock)	15020	10313	18641	43.6
Kingston HyperX T1 1967MHz (9-11-9-27) 8GB (210MHz Base Clock)	15183	10520	19150	44.8

 

The new benchmark results clearly show that the Kingston HyperX T1 8GB memory modules do indeed come to life when running at a higher Base Clock, although the latency does suffer ever so slightly but maybe this could be reduced further by playing with the timings.

 

Gaming Related Benchmarks

Memory	3DMark 11	Unigine Heaven	Metro 2033	Batman: AC
Corsair Vengeance™ LP 1600HMZ (9-9-9-24) 4GB (my default rig setup)	4844	754	24.67	50
Kingston HyperX T1 1866MHz (9-11-9-27) 8GB	4879	757	24.67	50

 

The gaming benchmarks show that there is not really much of a difference between my existing Corsair modules and the Kingston modules; and as the benchmarks can fluctuate a little each time they are run, the data suggests that there’s not much point in using the faster memory when it comes to gaming on a budget rig such as mine. The increase from 4GB to 8GB also didn’t seem to make much difference in the benchmarks either, but most current games still only recommend 4GB Maximum (Diablo 3 2GB, Max Payne 3 3GB & Battlefield 3 4GB).

 

Final Thoughts

 

The Kingston HyperX T1 (1866MHz) 8GB memory modules have impressed me. They are smart to look at and well built and you certainly won’t find yourself grimacing as you push down hard on the heat-spreaders to insert them into the DIMM slots either! The only negative point is that the additional height caused by the heat-spreader design may conflict with certain CPU cooler/fan combinations. So make sure you have plenty of clearance beforehand!

When it comes to performance, the Kingston HyperX T1 8GB memory modules really do shine. Although the excellent performance doesn’t seem to bring much to the table while gaming, you will certainly see a difference if you are also running other applications that will make use of the additional speed and extra capacity. The memory also seems to overclock quite well, so expect to get even more performance out if you decide to push it to the limits!

The Kingston HyperX T1 8GB memory modules do seem relatively well priced at £58 compared to others currently available (although on some sites the price is being listed at around £86, which does make me question the actual price!?) and is also only £4 more expensive than Kingston’s own mid range Genesis brand. Also if your on a budget you may have to consider the additional cost compared to the actual additional performance gained while gaming.

Overall, you can’t go wrong with the Kingston HyperX T1 8GB memory modules, so if your on the lookout for fast 1866MHz memory these might just be the ones for you.

 

Verdict