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.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Kingston always packs their "large" RAM modules inside low profile plastic packages with a clear plastic at the top and a large sticker stating the model name, frequency and timings.

As usual we found just the memory modules and the typical user manuals inside each package.

THE HYPERX PREDATOR KHX24C11T2K2/8X

The gunmetal blue heatspreder of the Predator KHX24C11T2K2/8X is massive with a height of 53.90mm and thickness of 7.24mm.

As always on one side of the modules we find the HyperX logo along with the company name while on the other side there's a small sticker with the Kingston logo, serial number, product number, 2d barcode, voltage requirements and country of assembly.

To see exactly how tall and thick the heatspreder of the Predator modules is we placed one right next to one from the HyperX 10th Anniversary kit (53.90mm vs 30mm).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

 
    Whenever we get to test a hardware peripheral that its performance is measurable we always like comparing it with similar products (past and present quad channel kits) just to see how well it stands its ground against them and in order to give you the best and most accurate results possible we use several methods including 5 different benchmarking programs/suites and 1 game. The benchmarking programs used are the well-known AID64 Extreme Engineer Edition (formerly known as Everest Ultimate), the Sisoftware Sandra Pro version, the old but quite reliable ScienceMark 64Bit and the all-time classic SuperPi 1.5. As for the game in the past we used HAWXII but we replaced it with the far more demanding ArMA III since we feel that it's a lot more "accurate" in terms of results. As usual all tests were performed on a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 installation with all updates installed up to October 6th 2013.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO

TEST RESULTS - SCIENCEMARK / SUPER PI

TEST RESULTS - ARMA III

CONCLUSION

   At the default timings of the main XMP profile the Predator modules made clear to us that larger doesn't always equal to better since the almost twice as large heatspreders compared to the ones used with the HyperX 10th Anniversary kit had really nothing more to offer in terms of performance. Now i don't know really know why Kingston chose to use Command Rate 2 for the 2400MHz XMP profile (probably for compatibility reasons with some mainboards) but since you can easily switch it to CR1 that's not really a problem and as you can see from our charts there was quite a bit of increase in performance when benchmarking ArMA III (not game changing but there was). During testing we also tried overclocking the modules and we did almost hit 2600MHz but aside the fact that they weren't very stable we got worse results compared to 2400MHz so we chose not to include them at all in our charts. The only real problem with such modules are their very tall heatspreders so naturally you can only use the Predator kit either with a thin CPU Cooler (zero clearance models) or with an watercooling solution (regardless of whether that's an custom loop or an AIO model). That being said i prefer tall heatspreders not only because they provide better cooling to the ICs (naturally) but also because they look a lot better compared to short ones.

   Due to the fact that the HyperX Predator KHX24C11T2K2/8X 8GB 2400MHz CL11 kit has been around for almost a year it's price has fallen at USD99.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 90Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) so purchasing two of those kits for Quad Channel use will set you back a total of USD199.98/180Euros. Normally nowadays spending almost 200 bucks for RAM is not something many will choose to do easily but if you own an X79 based system price shouldn't really be an issue to begin with. Naturally since we are talking about two 8GB dual channel kits you can use our review (partially anyways) if you don't have an X79 mainboard and are just interested in purchasing 8GB. That being said using two HyperX Predator KHX24C11T2K2/8X kits proved to be somewhat hard at first (mainboard compatibility) but at the end it was well worth the extra effort and for that we are awarding them our Golden Award.

PROS

- Quality
- Design
- Quad Channel Compatibility
- Performance
- 16GB
- XMP Profiles
- Large Heatspreders (Less Temperatures) 

CONS

- No Overclock Headroom (For Some)
- Tall Heatspreders (Clearance Issues)