INTRODUCTION

   As we all know when choosing the right hardware components for a new system people tend to prioritize their significance based on their needs so although gamers always put extra weight on the graphics card so they can play all the latest game titles professionals do so on the CPU and the memory modules in order to have the best response times when using heavy applications and thus do their jobs more efficiently. However although memory modules don't play the most crucial role when it comes to gaming still no one can deny that they do help and because of that all the leading manufacturers are aiming to release the fastest DDR3 kits possible. Last time we had the chance to test the latest HyperX 10th Anniversary 16GB 2400MHz CL11 Quad Channel memory kit by Kingston which is without doubt amongst the best ones currently available for Intel X79 based mainboards. However it's not the only 2400MHz kit in the Kingston line of products and so today we decided to take a closer look at two of their HyperX Predator KHX24C11T2K2/8X 8GB 2400MHz CL11 Dual Channel memory kits strapped onto our X79 test rig.

     Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s independent memory leader. Founded in 1987 with a single product offering, Kingston® now offers more than 2,000 memory products that support nearly every device that uses memory, from computers, servers and printers to MP3 players, digital cameras and mobile phones. In 2009, the company's sales reached $4.1 billion. With global headquarters in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston employs more than 4,000 people worldwide. Regarded as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in America” by Fortune magazine, Kingston’s tenets of respect, loyalty, flexibility and integrity create an exemplary corporate culture. Kingston believes that investing in its people is essential, and each employee is a vital part of Kingston’s success. Kingston serves an international network of distributors, resellers, retailers and OEM customers on six continents. The company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs. 

   Unfortunately although we received these two kits several months ago since they are not part of the same kit but rather two separate dual channel 8GB kits (just because two dual channel kits are identical it doesn't mean they can work as a quad channel kit flawlessly) we had some issues with our primary X79 based test rig so we had to change the bios quite a few times until we found the ideal version to use and that took time especially since we couldn't afford to fall back on our other reviews. Now solely based on the specifications sheet of the Predator KHX24C11T2K2/8X kit it seems that Kingston used basically the same ICs they did with the 10th Anniversary kit since both their rated frequencies and timings are almost identical. Of course that's not a bad thing since the 10th Anniversary special edition kit worked like a charm but considering that the Predator modules have a much larger aluminum heatspreder i was expecting something slightly better. So specs-wise the HyperX Predator KHX24C11T2K2/8X kit comes with two Intel XMP profiles, one rated at 2400MHz with a Cas Latency (CL) of 11 and a Command Rate (CR) of 2 and one at 2133MHz again with a Cas Latency of 11 but with a Command Rate of 1. Of course since i happen to "disagree" with CR2 in our tests we also used CR1 to see just what a performance boost you can get just by tweaking a single option and as for the results well let’s just say that we weren’t disappointed one bit.