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Kingston Hyper-X 256MB PC3000 DDR Memory Review

 Kingston is a respected Memory maker, and today we will be looking at Kingston's Hyper X PC3000 DDR modules. At first sight, well, it just looks awesome. A bright blue heat spreader and a green DDR module behind it. Let's take a look at it:

        The packaging is ok, when I received it from Newegg.com, it had bubble wrap around it to protect the module. There is a white label which seals the memory, thus proof of opening the memory.

         The memory is shelled in plastic, with the instructions under the module.

        The instructions are very simple and give you some detailed information of how to install the memory module and some troubleshooting tips.

       The manufacturer specifications:

HyperX Enthusiast Grade Modules:

      This hyper-X module runs at 370 MHz, effectively (185 x 2) DDR. This is not a standard FSB, what I mean is that in order to run this memory in synchronization with the fsb, not overclocked, @ 133, 166 and 200 for all AMD Athlon XP and Pentium 4 Proccesors. It runs at CAS 2, with very low 2-2-2-6-1 latencies, comparative with the Corsair XMS PC2700 witch runs at the same latencies.

The module is single sided, but the aluminum heatspreader covers both sides, thermal tape is used to bond the heatspreader to the memory chips.

       Some of the specs come printed on to the heatspreader, which is also the warranty sticker.

         The installation was of course, very simple like installing any memory. The heatspreader does not block any other modules from being used, if they are next to each other.

Testing Computer:

- Soltek nforce2 75FRN-L motherboard

- 256 MB Samsung PC2700 module /  256 MB Kingston Hyper-X PC3000 module

- Geforce3 Ti

-Athlon XP 1700+ @ 2600

-Soundblaster Live 5.1

-Enermax 300 watt PSU

-40 Gb WD HDD @ 7200 rpms

       I have to say many things about this nforce2 motherboard. Ok, as we know it, nforce2 is buggy. The MSI K7N2G-ILSR motherboard also has been problematic in random crashes, and compability issues such as PCI card- Sound blaster live wont work because of resources, TV card doesnt work because the PCI clock is not 33.33 mhz exactly. In this motherboard, I have seen some common thread errors like it will not boot at 195+ fsb after you shut down the computer, it may be on at 205 Mhz for 8 hours, but once you shut it off and turn it back on, it simply wont boot, unless the fsb is about 190mhz or less. This is not the memory or the cpu nor any PCI/AGP clocks, the BIOS are buggy. IRQ resource errors with Soundblaster live cards is also a problem, and it also only likes certain memory modules. For example, with the Samsung, every day I had so set it lower and lower so it would be stable, it degrades?, well the motherboard likes it less and less. The BIOS revision C1.3L has not been updated by Soltek recently, they are working on the 75-FRN2-L series with a much better, less buggier BIOS than this one, so I'm disappointed that this product is hard to update.

   If auto detection is used, it says it runs at 166 MHz, this is because, like I said before the frequency isn't what you would find in a Athlon XP CPU; 185 MHz isn't "suggested" so it finds 166 MHz the next best thing. Disregard the 1100 MHz Athlon since I reset the motherboard.

      The most stable overclocking results, between 204 and 207 MHz. Regardless of how many hours I benchmark in windows, it will not crash. The only problem is that when I restart the computer, the BIOS doesn't like it, like if it was too high, which it isn't. I blame the motherboard's bios for this, the memory is great. With this being said, let's move on to the benchmarks!

Testing Computer:

- Soltek nforce2 75FRN-L motherboard /Shuttle KT333 motherboard

- 256 MB Samsung PC2700 module /  256 MB Kingston Hyper-X PC3000 module

- Geforce3 Ti (240/550)

-Athlon XP 1700+ @ 2600

-Soundblaster Live 5.1

-Enermax 300 watt PSU

-40 Gb WD HDD @ 7200 rpm

        I will be using Sisoft Sandra and 3DMarks 2001 SE to test this module.

- 3DMarks @ 2600+ overclocked:

- Sisoft Sandra 2003 SP1 @ 2600+ overclocked:

- 3DMarks @ 1700+ default:

- Sisoft Sandra 2003 SP1 @ 1700+ default:

 The Hyper-X looks great inside the ATC-220 case with a green cathode.

Conclusion

     The Hyper-X DDR memory flies, for 49 dollars, it competes with the Corsair PC2700 and PC3200 which offer similar latencies and performance, only that they are more expensive at 60-80 dollars. The problems lie in the buggy (but powerful!) nforce2 motherboards, not in any way of this memory.

Pros:

-Very Fast

-Very Stable even over 400 MHz (200 x 2)

-Relatively Cheap

-Great looking heatspreader which also helps to get rid of the heat.

-No compatibility issues with our motherboards (less than 200 Mhz)

-Low latencies (2-2-2-6-1 Cl. 2)

Cons:

-None!

I'm proud to give the Kingston Hyper-X PC3000 module a:

9.5/10

Techaddicts.net would like to award this module with the Editor's Choice!

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