INTRODUCTION

   DDR5 compatible motherboards may be the way to go for professionals, enthusiasts and even many gamers but there's still a very large number of people who own DDR4 compatible motherboards (even DDR3 motherboards are still a thing for some) so it does make sense that certain RAM manufacturers are still developing DDR4 kits (alas in very limited numbers). Still since DDR4 kits right now are aimed towards casual users (primarily) this means that compatibility is the priority for manufacturers rather than raw performance. The brand new FURY Renegade RGB line of DDR4 kits by Kingston is the latest one to hit the market and today with me i have the 32GB 3600MHz CL16 Dual-Channel Kit.

   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 brand new FURY Renegade RGB DDR4 series by Kingston (8/16Gbit density modules available) is currently available in single (8/16/32GB), dual (2x8/16/32GB), quad (4x8/16/32GB) and octa (8x32GB) channel kits with frequencies going all the way up to 4600MHz (3200/3600/4000/4266/4600MHz), timings as low as CL16 (3200/3600MHz CL16 - 3600MHz CL18 - 4000/4266/4600MHz CL19) and voltages ranging from 1.35V and all the way up to 1.5V (3200/3600/4000MHz 1.35V - 4266MHz 1.4V - 4600MHz 1.5V). Inside the 45.76mm tall silver and black aluminum heatspreaders of the 32GB kit which i have here Kingston has placed SK hynix dual rank modules and a total of 10 RGB LEDs on top (18 available effects via the FURY CTRL app and also compatible with all the leading RGB motherboard sync technologies like ASUS Aura Sync, GB RGB Fusion 2.0, MSI Mystic Light Sync and ASRock Polychrome). Typically, as with all other FURY RAM lines by Kingston the latest FURY Renegade RGB DDR4 line is also covered by a limited lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Kingston uses their regular box to ship the new FURY Renegade DDR4 series in the front of which has their logo, large product picture, speed and capacity, main features and the XMP and EXPO logos.

At the rear of the box, we find yet another product picture, the RGB sync technologies supported and of course the serial and part numbers.

Along with the two modules inside the box you'll also find a Kingston sticker.

THE FURY RENEGADE RGB 3600MHZ CL16

The 45.76mm tall black and silver heatspreaders look really nice.

A small sticker at the rear lists the part and serial numbers, voltage and country of manufacture.

Under the plastic bar at the top Kingston has placed a total of 10 RGB LEDs.

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

TEST RESULTS - OVERCLOCK

With the voltage set at just 1.39V I was able to push this kit to 4000MHz so no problems in regards to OC headroom (at least with these timings).

CONCLUSION

   Kingston sent their latest FURY Renegade DDR4 kit (KF436C16RB12AK2/32) weeks after i had dismantled my Z590 test rig (no room left in the lab) so in order to complete this review i had to set it up again temporarily on my photo bench just for my tests (which is why this review lacks some details my other reviews have). So, unless something ground breaking happens and i have to set up this rig again this will be the last DDR4 review I do. That being said some of you will probably notice that the previous FURY Renegade RGB DDR4 3600MHz kit which I reviewed well over 2 years ago (review here) by Kingston has almost identical timings as this one (16-20-20-39-631 / 16-20-20-39-83) and yes, I also found that to be a little strange. The new kit however did perform slightly better and it did reach higher clocks (at the same voltage) so I guess this wasn’t just a re-release of the same exact kit just with a new heatspreader (whether you like the old or the new one more, that’s a different story).

   At the time of this review the FURY Renegade DDR4 kit (KF436C16RB12AK2/32) retails for USD114.10 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 120.66Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which is balanced for what you’re getting. Overall, the latest FURY Renegade DDR4 kit may not be that different compared to its predecessor but it’s definitely a step up in terms of performance and since it also looks great and delivers where it matters it deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design (Black & Silver Aluminum Heatspreaders)
- Top RGB LED Bar (AURA Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync & ASRock RGB Sync Compatible)
- FURY CTRL Software
- Overall Performance (3600MHZ CL16 / Up To 4000MHz CL16)
- Limited Lifetime Warranty

CONS

- Similar To Their Predecessor