PC Mark 2002 - Pentium 4 @ 12x200

The ProSeries is clearly the king of the hill here, and the HyperX places third.

PC Mark 2002 - Pentium 4 @ 12x250

The HyperX still can't catch up with the Corsair ProSeries, but it isn't too far off, and its score is good enough for a second place finish.

PC Mark 2002 - Pentium 4 @ Maximum OC (HyperX @ 270FSB)

Things didn't go well for the HyperX at all here, as the clock deficit is a big problem in this benchmark. Anyhow, this is a purely synthetic test, so let's see if things look up as we move to real world tests.

PiFast

A good indicator of CPU/Motherboard performance is version 4.2, by Xavier Gourdon. We used a computation of 10000000 digits of Pi, Chudnovsky method, 1024 K FFT, and no disk memory. Note that lower scores are better, and times are in seconds.

Pentium 4 @ 12x200

As with the synthetic tests, the ProSeries holds down the fort. The HyperX does well though, edging out the OCZ EL Gold.

Pentium 4 @ 12x250

The improved timings of the ProSeries is too much for the other two, but the HyperX still does quite well at 250FSB. At 2.6v, it also runs a bit cooler... at least according to the ole finger test.

Pentium 4 @ Maximum OC (HyperX @ 270FSB)

The clock speed deficit catches the HyperX again, but the affect isn't as much as in the synthetic tests.

TMPGEnc MPEG Encoding

Video editing is a taxing chore, and we'll be testing the HyperX using TMPGEnc 2.512 to encode a 7.78MB, 1:30 movie trailer to a 24FPS MPG file. Note that lower scores are better. All memory timings are at 2-3-3-5 at 200FSB.

Pentium 4 @ 12x200

Pentium 4 @ 12x250

Pentium 4 @ Maximum OC (HyperX @ 270FSB)

Dead even at 200 and 250FSB, and a one second victory by Corsair at the maximum OC settings. As soon as I find a suitable MPG that isn't pr0n, I'll update this test with a larger video file.

Unreal Tournament 2003

UT2K3 s a real system killer, and can bring many systems to its knees. We used the , which are excellent tools in testing various resolutions and detail levels. We selected the CPU test, which uses the dm-inferno map.

Pentium 4 @ 12x200

Pentium 4 @ 12x250

The HyperX does very well at 200FSB, and is edged by the OCZ ram at 250FSB. All in all, the HyperX performed well today, despite not being able to run tweaked as tight as the other two.

Final Words

One thing that I didn't make too clear today was the stability. Although at overclocked speeds above 270FSB weren't all that stable, at 270FSB and below, the system never hiccuped. I left it at 270FSB, and worked on the PC for a full week... without rebooting. During this time, I was doing some water cooling testing, a few video card benchmarks, as well as my usual duties like VL web work, and writing. The system performed reliably, though it started to get really sluggish near the end of the week. A quick reboot fixed all that.

The ram also ran relatively cool, which is a stark contrast to the TWINX kits and OCZ EL Gold kit we've looked at earlier. This may be the case given the heatspreaders, but I also think running at 2.6v at stock speeds, rather than 2.7v, may have had a little to do with it. Don't get me wrong though, as I said relatively. The ram does run warm actually, but not searing hot as with the other kits. Less heat will mean more reliability in the long run.

Keeping with their tradition of quality, the HyperX is well built, and despite using aluminum heatspreaders, they were quite hefty. The blue colour may or may not appeal to you, but it'll go well with those of you with a lot of blue components I guess. Anyhow, who really cares? It does the job.

Performance was very good, but the truth is, it's hard to distinguish between PC4000 kits in day-to-day use. Our benchmarks show that the HyperX is more or less on par with OCZ, though it doesn't really come close to the TWINX ProSeries. Overclocking was decent, and was able to do much better than I expected, but a far cry from other overclocking ram modules.

Of course, it also doesn't come close to Corsair (or even OCZ for that matter) in one important area... cost. The kit, as reviewed today, can be had for a mere . Now, 305$ is still a fair chunk of change, but you can grab a 512MB kit for . Eitherway, the HyperX is a lot cheaper than the competition, and with performance near the top, the HyperX earns a very heavy recommendation from us.

Pros: Good performance, good overclocker, excellent construction quality, and competitively priced.

Cons: Performance isn't at par with the top dog.

Bottom Line: It's a lot cheaper than other enthusiast brands, and the performance is very good. That alone is enough for enthusiasts to take notice. Add Kingston's reputation of quality and support, you won't be disappointed.

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