Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4-2400C16 32GB Review
Category : DDR4
Published by Hiwa Pouri on 03.11.14
The Kingston Predator are the latest DDR4 memory modules from Kingston. With their Predator lineup Kingston is addressing overclockers as well as enthusiasts, who always strive for more performance. In this review we're going to have a detailed look at the HyperX Predator DDR4-2400MHz-C16-Kit and we're really curious to find out what this particular kit can do.
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| Manufacturer | Kingston |
| Series | HyperX Predator |
| Part Number | HX424C16PBK432 |
| Type | DDR4 |
| Capacity | 32 GB (4 x 8GB) |
| Frequency | 2'400 MHz |
| Timings | 16-16-16-39 |
| VDIMM | 1.2 Volt |
| Registred/Unbuffered | Unbuffered |
| ECC | No |
| Cooling | Passive Heatspreader |
| Waranty | Lifetime warranty |
| Package Type | Boxed |
With the HyperX Predator DDR4 C16 kit, Kingston has memory modules in its portfolio, which serve the absolute high-end market. A more detailed look at the specifications reveals, that these Kingston appears to be cautious in choosing frequency as well as timings. The Hynix MFR chips on these modules are set to run at CL16-16-16-39. If you keep in mind, that other memory makers drive these chips at CL15-15-15-35 and DDR4-3000 one can understand why we're saying Kingston is being conservative.
Closer Look
The new Predator modules from Kingston are being shipped in a cardboard box, where they're lying on soft foam.
Heatspeaders of Predator are finished in a blend of black and silver, which is likely to fit with quite a few motherboard models out there. The heatspreaders on these modules are very well made, since there are rather massive aluminum profiles, which stick to the memory chips via adhesive heatpads.
Taking the heatspeaders off Kingstons Predator series is not something we would recommend doing at home due to strong adhesive that requires a very careful approach. Once the heatspreaders have been removed we see that Kingston is putting MFR chips from SK Hynix on these modules. These are basically the chips every DDR4 memory maker is using today.
The SPD of these modules contains some basic information such as maker, part number and manufacturing date. It also features JEDEC profiles up to DDR4-2400, as well as an XMP profile.
Photo Gallery
Test Setup
In order to thoroughly test memory as well as memory kits, we're making use of Intels Haswell-E platform in combination with a highly binned Core i7-5960X CPU. This allows use to drive memory at highest possible frequencies and therefore do proper scaling tests. Different memory chips (ICs) have different sweet spots in the case of primary timings, which is why we're altering CAS latency, tRCD, tRP as well as tRAS. Overall we build five different presets, which - as explained - can be different from IC to IC used on a memory module. Other than that we're also changing DRAM voltages, wheras we're setting 1.20V, 1.35V and 1.50V. There are actually reasons why we're using these voltages. 1.20V is the standard voltage for DDR4 memory. 1.35V on DDR4 is used in case of slight overclocking and with 1.50V you can push the module by quite a bit. Last but not least it remains to be explained how we find out whether a certain setting is stable or not. For that purpose we're running HyperPi.| Motherboard | ASUS Rampage V Extreme |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-5960X |
| Graphic card | ASUS GTX 580 |
| Memory | HX424C16PBK432 |
| SSD | Samsung 845DC EVO 960GB |
| PSU | Seasonic Platinum 660 Watts |
| OS | Windows 7, 64 bit SP1 |
CAS latency 12 / 12-14-14-35
We start to test these modules with tight CAS latency, which in this case is CL12. Setting the memory voltage at 1.20V in the BIOS HyperPi passed at 2'200 MHz. Feeding higher voltage (1.35V) to the memory, makes the frequency scale to 2'580 MHz. Driving the memory at 1.50V allowed HyperPi to pass at 2'795 MHz.
CAS latency 13 / 13-14-14-35
When running CL13 we went through the same procedure like with CL12. Setting the memory voltage at 1.20V in the BIOS HyperPi passed at 2'430 MHz. Feeding higher voltage (1.35V) to the memory, makes the frequency scale to 2'765 MHz. Driving the memory at 1.50V allowed HyperPi to pass at 2'880 MHz.
CAS latency 14 / 14-15-15-35
When running CL14 we - again - went through the same procedure like with CL13. Setting the memory voltage at 1.20V in the BIOS HyperPi passed at 2'640 MHz. Feeding higher voltage (1.35V) to the memory, makes the frequency scale to 3'000 MHz. Driving the memory at 1.50V allowed HyperPi to pass at 3'100 MHz.
CAS latency 15 / 15-15-15-35
When running CL15 we went through the same procedure like with CL14. Setting the memory voltage at 1.20V in the BIOS HyperPi passed at 2'790 MHz. Feeding higher voltage (1.35V) to the memory, makes the frequency scale to 3'040 MHz. Driving the memory at 1.50V allowed HyperPi to pass at 3'130 MHz.
CAS latency 16 / 16-18-18-35
When running CL16 we went through the same procedure like with CL15. Setting the memory voltage at 1.20V in the BIOS HyperPi passed at 2'850 MHz. Feeding higher voltage (1.35V) to the memory, makes the frequency scale to 3'070 MHz. Driving the memory at 1.50V allowed HyperPi to pass at 3'200 MHz.
Kingston specifies this kit to run stable at 2'400 MHz and as you can see from our graph, this kit can be overclocked by 450 MHz with stock voltage but loosing tRCD and tRP to 18 to compare with other memory makers.
Overclocking
As you can see from the images above, we've been able to push these modules on air to DDR4-3'258. In this case we've been using the CL16 with 18 tRCD and tRP, we've set the voltage to 1.65V, then we decided to torture this kit of memory as we saw its strong enough top show some serious number so we used Liquid nitrogen, we could reach over 3'420 at the same voltage we used on air, we won't forget this is 32GB kit with 8GB density modules.
Conclusion
| General | |||
| Overall this memory kit from Kingston is just great. It's just a pity it's not yet available. We were absolutely impressed by the overclockability of this 32 GB Kit. In fact this 32 GB kit runs better then lots of 16 GB kits out there, which is definitely an achievement in our opinion. We've been able to run low voltages easily with different latency settings and the kit passed the HyperPi stability test several times without any error at exceptionally high frequencies. When overclocking these Predator modules, we run SuperPi 32m at DDR4-3'257 at 1.65 volt and we reached 3'420 MHz using Liquid nitrogen as coolant with the same voltage. |
- Low Voltage stability
- Heat spreader quality |
- Compatibility with big coolers | |
| Scaling | |||
| The only latency set with which we've noticed linear scaling was CL14. If we look at CL12, CL13, CL15 as well as CL16 we always see a degression when setting 1.5 volt. This means, that at 1.5 Volt you can drive these sticks close to their maximum frequency. | - Scaling with all CAS latencies | ||
| Overclocking | |||
| Using the Rampage V Extreme and our specific memory testing CPU, which has a good IMC, reaching over 3.2GHz on the memory was actually easy. Unfortunately the journey stops quite soon at 3'260 MHz and in this case we have to feed these sticks with 1.65 volt. Unfortunately in this context means that since it was so easy to hit 3.2 GHz we were hoping for something like 3.3 GHz in the end with a little more voltage. But nevertheless 3'260 MHz is an impressive result in the case of a 32GB kit. |
- 3.2+ GHz - 3.1+ GHz @ CL14 |
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| Recommendation / Price | |||
| Searching for prices we can't finde this kit listed just yet. But since this is a high-end 32GB DDR4 memory kit, we really don't expect this kit to be a bargain. Should you be looking for a 32GB DDR4 memory kit which features with excellent overclocking potential, then you might really want to wait until this particular kit becomes available. |
- Overclocking - Gaming and workstation PC |
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| Rating | |||
| The Kingston HyperX Predator-2400C16 receives excellent 5 out of 5 stars. | |||
