INTRODUCTION

   While the latest motherboards based on the Intel Z690 chipset (and the AMD X670E soon followed by the Intel Z790 chipset) are doing their best to establish DDR5 RAM as the new standard (regardless of early issues) manufacturers are far from ready to let DDR4 fade away. This of course is due not only to compatibility with older systems but also support from the newest ones since Intel has released Z690 motherboards (also Z790 - perhaps even AMD will do the same with their X670E ones) with DDR4 compatibility. Of course, DDR5 is much more promising both in terms of overall performance and even size/capacity but by pushing DDR4 to its limit some manufacturers have released models with similar if not superior performance. The FURY Renegade 16GB DDR4 5333MHz CL20 Dual-Channel Kit by Kingston is among the fastest ones (if not the fastest) in the market today and that's exactly what I've been testing for almost 3 weeks now.

   Kingston Technology Europe Co LLP and Kingston Technology Company, Inc., are part of the same corporate group (“Kingston”). Kingston is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. From big data, to laptops and PCs, to IoT-based devices like smart and wearable technology, to design-in and contract manufacturing, Kingston helps deliver the solutions used to live, work and play. The world’s largest PC makers and cloud-hosting companies depend on Kingston for their manufacturing needs, and our passion fuels the technology the world uses every day. We strive beyond our products to see the bigger picture, to meet the needs of our customers and offer solutions that make a difference. To learn more about how Kingston Is With You, visit Kingston.com.

   The latest FURY Renegade line of DDR4 modules by Kingston is XMP 2.0 certified and is currently available in 8/16/32GB single, 16/32/64GB dual, 32/64/128GB quad and 128/256GB 8-channel kits (the KF453C20RBK2/16 kit was used in this review) with frequencies all the way up to blazing fast 5333MHz (2666/3000/3200MHZ/3600/4000/4266/4600/4800/5000/5133/5333MHz), CAS latency set as low as 13 (2666MHz CL13 - 3000MHz CL15 - 3200/3600MHZ CL16 - 4000/4266/4600/4800/5000MHz CL19 - 5133/5333MHz CL20) and voltages up to 1.6v (2666/3000/3200/3600/4000MHz 1.35v - 4266MHZ 1.4v - 4600/4800MHz 1.5v - 5000/5133MHz 1.55v - 5333MHz 1.6v). Inside the low-profile black heatspreaders of the 16GB 5333MHz modules which i have here today Kingston has placed single rank and single 8GB D-Die memory chips by SK Hynix and as for the kit itself is XMP 2.0 certified with timings set at 20-30-30-52. Finally, just like in the past the entire FURY Renegade line of DDR4 RAM modules/kits is also covered with a rather generous lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

As expected, a product picture is placed at the front of the box along with the line name and the company logo.

The sticker with the product’s serial number and barcode is placed at the rear of the box right under yet another product picture.

Along with the FURY Renegade 16GB DDR4 5333MHz kit inside the box you’ll also find a case sticker and a warranty and installation guide.

THE FURY RENEGADE 16GB DDR4 5333MHZ CL20

The somewhat aggressive design of the black aluminum heatspreaders is something I always liked about the FURY Renegade line.

Measuring just 42.2mm in height these modules are quite low-profile (here I compare with 3 new DDR4 kits I’ve also been testing, the Neo Forza MARS RGB, Lexar Ares RGB and the Acer Predator Vesta RGB – reviews soon).

As always on the other side of the PCB we find a sticker with the serial number, barcode, timings and voltages.

This FURY Renegade line may not stand out much in terms of looks but Kingston also has the RGB one for people who also care about looks.

Still under the right lighting this kit looks very nice indeed.

The latest version of Thaiphoon Burner offers extra information on this kit.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Thanks to XMP (2.0) profiles the only thing one needs to do in order to run this RAM kit at its advertised frequency, timings and voltages is to choose/enable it from within the Bios and reboot. That being said if you're into overclocking you may not wish to use the main XMP profile but instead to choose your very own frequency, timings and voltages to achieve even higher performance numbers and that's exactly what we'll also be doing during our DDR4 tests. To be more specific aside testing each kit with its XMP profile we will also be upping the voltages (up to 1.4V max – even though most kits can function at higher voltages I don’t recommend doing so / RAM modules that use 1.4V/1.45V/1.5V will be tested up to 1.45V/1.5V/1.55V respectively) and frequencies (200MHZ increments) until i find the maximum achievable stable frequency. I also thought about upping voltages and reducing timings instead of increasing the frequency of the modules as high as it can go (always stable and without going over 1.4V) but the end results are pretty much identical.

   As for the how I'll be testing each DDR4 Quad/Dual-Kit to arrive in the lab well there aren't that many benchmark programs that only test RAM (or at least RAM and CPU without anything else coming into play) but I’ve got most of them and so you will be seeing results from following benchmarking programs, AIDA64 Engineer Edition, Cinebench Release 20, MaxMemm2 (because we are getting low performance numbers this doesn't seem to play well with our test rig - probably because of the X299 architecture - but we decided to include it regardless), Passmark Performance Test 9, Sisoftware Sandra Titanium and WPrime v1.55. All tests are performed on a fresh Windows 10 Pro installation (complete with all updates until the day of this review) and are repeated a total of 6 times after which the average numbers get recorded into the charts.

* In addition to Quad-Channel tests since March 2020 I’ll also be using the brand new I9-9900K+Z390 DARK test rig (check above) for Dual-Channel RAM tests.
** Since May 2020 three game benchmarks (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, GEARS 5 and Metro Exodus tested on the X299 system at 1080p resolution and with the ASUS ROG RTX2060 OC set at Gaming Mode) have also been added in the charts.
*** In September 2021 i replaced the Intel I9-9900K+Z390 DARK test rig for a brand new Intel I9-11900K+Z590 DARK one (you can access all the Z390 DARK based tests here).

TEST RESULTS - XMP PROFILE / DUAL CHANNEL

CONCLUSION

   It’s more than just evident by just looking at today’s charts that the FURY Renegade 16GB DDR4 5333MHz CL20 Dual-Channel Kit by Kingston is the fastest DDR4 kit to arrive in the lab, at least to date (probably the fastest ever). So, from a purely performance standpoint things can’t get any better and so if you want the best possible factory performance from a dual-channel DDR4 kit this is it, period. However not all is perfect and so aside the fact that 16GB dual-channel is clearly not for everyone (and I doubt there are 32/64GB 5333MHz DDR4 kits in the market currently) compatibility is also an issue since most DDR4 motherboards can’t climb to such frequencies (especially when manual CPU overclock is involved – no overclock headroom for this kit on the other hand is not really an issue, this kit is already at the ceiling). If, however you do own one such motherboard like the EVGA Z590 DARK then the only thing holding you back should just be capacity/size (and perhaps looks, if you care about such things).

   Being the fastest DDR4 kit around was certain to affect cost and with a current price tag set at USD304.33 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 251Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the FURY Renegade 16GB DDR4 5333MHz CL20 Dual-Channel Kit by Kingston is far from affordable. Still taking into account that this is a kit aimed primarily towards enthusiasts and even professionals’ price may be less of an issue. Overall, this Kingston FURY Renegade may not be perfect but it does offer the highest DDR4 performance (and probably the highest DDR4 frequency out there) and for that it clearly deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Low Profile Heatspreaders
- Top Of The Charts Performance (5333MHz CL20)
- Available FURY Renegade Models (Entire Line - Channels / Frequencies / Timings / Voltages)
- Limited Lifetime Warranty

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- 16GB Dual Channel Kit Only
- Motherboard Compatibility