Test Results: Kingston HyperX PC3200 Low-Latency

To be considered stable for test purposes, Quake3 benchmark, UT2003 Demo, Super PI, Aquamark 3, and Comanche 4 had to complete without incident. Any of these, and in particular Super PI, will crash a less-than stable memory configuration. Return to Castle Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory is proving to be a sensitive benchmark for memory testing. We have included results for RCW-ET using the Radar benchmark.

Kingston HyperX PC3200 LL (DDR400) - 2 x 512Mb Double-Bank
Speed Memory Timings & Voltage Quake3 fps Sandra UNBuffered Sandra Standard Buffered Super PI 2M places
(time in sec)
Wolfenstein - Radar - Enemy Territory
fps
400DDR
800FSB
2-2-2-5
2.5V
330.5 INT 2876
FLT 2929
INT 4552
FLT 4515
129 70.5
433DDR
866FSB
2-2-2-5
2.75V
358.0 INT 3159
FLT 3179
INT 4904
FLT 4917
119 76.7
466DDR
933FSB
2-3-3-6
2.75V
374.5 INT 3158
FLT 3197
INT 5193
FLT 5188
113 81.0
500DDR
1000FSB
2.5-3-36
2.75V
400.2 INT 3359
FLT 3363
INT 5545
FLT 5549
106 86.8
508DDR
1028FSB
3-3-4-7
2.85V
397.2 INT 3323
FLT 3310
INT 5649
FLT 5554
107 86.0

Kingston HyperX certainly lived up to its name in our tests of 2-2-2 DDR400. Performance was very comparable across the board to all of the top DDR400 based on the same Samsung chips. If Kingston were the only memory that we were testing, we could easily conclude it is one of the fastest DDR400 memories that we have tested, with incredible headroom to DDR508. It is clearly the equal of the Corsair 3200XL that we tested, which is certainly not faint praise.

The four DDR400 memories based on Samsung chips were almost the same in performance except for the OCZ, which showed remarkable headroom compared to the others. In the range from DDR400 to DDR500, all of the Samsung DDR400 modules perform very similarly.

Test Results: Crucial Ballistix PC3200 Test Results: Mushkin PC3200 Level II V2
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  • Wesley Fink - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    #12 and #13 - Both Crucial Ballistix PC3200 and OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 are available in the market. Crucial is a direct marketer as you have discovered.

    #14 - In your situation I would shop for price for DDR400 2-2-2. The XP boards respond best to Latency as low as you can feed them, but you are not likley to reach OC levels that will be a concern with any decent DDR400 2-2-2 memory. None of the DDR500 will have latencies like 2-2-2 at DDR400.

    #15 - There is just one DDR400 Crucial Ballistix (PC3200) - but it is available as 256MB Single-Sided or 512MB Double-Sided dimms as mentioned in the review.
  • bigtoe33 - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    Wesley comments the OCZ was the best from the TCCD modules tested with incredible headroom, so much so it was decided top homours would be shared.

    Also going by comments already seen here many feel the Crucial modules were very cherry picked.
    I know on many forums the 3200 and 4000 is not doing quite so well as the samples seen here.

    I do trust Wesleys's testing though, if his modules hit these speeds, they did hit it...

    Its always best to get good reviews like this one and then go search for results on forums.
  • Potem - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    #11 - Thanks had not thought to go directt from Crucial. That is such a good price compared to the alternatives I am worried if is right stuff but description matches. Wesley did not give a part number. Crucial list part number BL6464Z402.
  • bupkus - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    I have a 2500+ Barton on an epox 8RDA+ so I'm happy with a fsb frequency of 200. Is my best option to target some PC3200 with low timings or should I think about some hyperX PC4000 on sale?
  • drewintheav - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    Is it possible that you were sent a version of the Crucial Ballistix memory that is not indicative of what someone can really buy? Also, it seems like you said that Crucial Ballistix pc3200 was the best overall so why does OSZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 also get a gold editors choice?
  • Potem - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    The question is what is the availablity of either of the Gold Editors Choice recommendations? The MSI K8N Neo2 was recommended over a month ago and is still not available in the US (though is fianlly expected to change any day or hour now). I have searched indivdual stores and done both price watch and PriceGrabber searches for both OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 and Crucial Ballistix 3200 and have come up empty. In the case of OCZ 3700EB it does sell but the stores often sell out and OCZ having troubles keeping up with demand.
  • rjm55 - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    I was all set to buy the Corsair 3200XL and bitching about the high price when I saw this roundup. Thanks for making my life easier. The Crucial is $267 for 2x512MB direct from Crucial and the Corsair is $361 for the same thing at New Egg. Thanks for helping me save a cool $100.

    Is there any way to tell if the OCZ is the latest Rev. 2 stuff? I noticed the package in the picture is new. Do you look for the new package to be sure you're getting the latest stuff?
  • bigtoe33 - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    Another GREAT review from the FINKSTER....;-)

    Commenting on G die micron, yield is VERY up and down so i do feel they were choice cut's, EB does pretty much the same speeds with 95%+ of all customers ram running well above rated timings and speed anyway.You guys with the 4000 balistix should have looked at the 3500 and 3700EB ;-)

    Thanks again Wes.

    Tony
  • ThePlagiarmaster - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    Wesley, it sounds like you need to ask MSI for a new bios to get their board more compatible with these new samsung chips? Maybe all manufacturers will need to release a bios update to take full advantage of these new samsung chips?

    Just a thought.
  • Wesley Fink - Thursday, August 5, 2004 - link

    #5 - We used the same benchmarks in our DDR2 roundup and tested the DDR2 to DDR2-686. That should give you a better idea of comparative performance between DDR and DDR2. We also compared DDR and DDR2 performance in that review, and fast DDR400 performs about like DDR2-533. Just dlick the 'Memory' tab at the top of the page and you will find the DDR2 roundup.

    #7 - It will be a few weeks, but we DO have some OCZ DDR2 EB modules with better timings that will be included in an upcoming DDR2-667 roundup. Many of the DDR2 modules in last month's roundup ran fine at 3-3-3 timings - much better than the rated timings.

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