Kingston is ubiquitous in the world of memory products. Be it flash memory or dynamic memory (DRAM). It has also made inroads in the SSD market as well. Recently Kingston has diversified its DRAM product line up: Rather than just two segments like Value RAM and higher end Hyper-X brand, Kingston has branched out the Hyper-X range to include several products targeting consumers with varying purchasing powers.

The base product is the Hyper-X lovo, a low voltage memory for passively cooled, small enclosure computers. The PnP variant is OEM specific memory. Hyper-X blu targets enthusiasts on a budget, while the ‘Genesis’ brand sits between blu and t1 the top of the line memory in Hyper-X range. There is also a specialty H2O variant which as the name suggests has a water cooling block instead of a passive heat sink.

Today we’ll be looking at the Hyper-X Genesis specifically designed for Intel X79 platform. This is a kit of 4 sticks of 4GB each which makes for a nice 16GB in a quad channel configuration.

Memory Facts

Packing

The modules come in a plastic container with a clear transparent lid with the memory spec label on it. Rather than the usual flat layout, the memory sticks are stacked vertically.

Memory Modules

The modules have a Kingston-esque design. A traditional blue heatsink shrouds the memory PCB. The Hyper-X logo with the Genesis brand is clearly visible on one side of the heat sink. The other side has the DDR3 as well as the Hyper-X logo –very Kingston like!

One thing to take note of is that these memory modules need 1.65 Volts to run at 1600MHz.

cpu-Z

Testing

As these modules are specifically designed for use with Sandybridge-E processors, the usual over-clocking tests are redundant as the memory speed has no impact on over-clocking of the processor.  As this the first X79 specific memory we have for testing, it won’t be fair to compare the results to non-X79 platforms. The reason is simple enough: The quad channel memory controller on the new processors will outperform anything on the market today.

Test System

 1. Sandra –Memory Bandwidth

The quad channel memory controller generates a massive amount of bandwidth. The RipJaws-Z leads the pack simply because they are clocked higher.

2. Mafia II

Mafia II is the long awaited sequel to one of the greatest third person shooter –Mafia.  It was selected because of all the games tested this was the one that showed the most “difference” in performance as memory timing were changed.  The built-in benchmark tool as used. Just to make sure that the lack of user generated content does not make a difference, the first level was played while benchmarking with FRAPS. (The difference between the two was not statistically significant).

The game was run at 1900 x1200, with all in game settings turned to their maximum. As the testing was done on an ATi video card equipped system, dedicated Phys-X and APEX effects were disabled.

The difference between the two disappears as we move from synthetic to real world testing.

Impressions

The quad channel memory controller produces tons of memory bandwidth, more so that can be utilized in real world testing. With memory being so affordable these days, it is easy to consider a 16GB kit for a computer setup. Real world testing shows negligible benefits of faster memory. The 16GB Kingston kit, while not the fastest is definitely competent. The only thing that goes against this is the rather high voltage requirement. Though within regulation it is surprising to see Kingston utilizing 1.65V when most vendors are offering higher speed memory that runs at lower voltage.