Kingston HyperX Memory Review Discussion

Kingston recently announced the availability of its new HyperX Plug and Play High Performance Memory for notebooks. The industry's first memory modules with "Sandy Bridge Ready Frequencies" for Intel's latest generation of processors, the HyperX Plug and Play Memory uses JEDEC-compliant 1600MHz and 1866MHz values. We decided to take a closer look at this high-performance RAM to see what a typical laptop user can expect if they simply "plug and play."

Read the full content of this Article: Kingston HyperX Memory Review

 

Interesting.

Could you also post the CPU-z's Memory and SPD page with the timing data for these modules. People may be interested to use these modules for lower frequencies provided the timings are proportionally lower.

John

 

Upgrading from 8GB to 16GB of RAM with the same type of memory will already increase the WEI (Windows Experience Index) score.

I suggest you also test the change in WEI upgrading from 8GB 1333 Mhz to 8GB 1866MHZ

 

Something is wrong here. Please post CPUZ screenshots.
I read that Kingston plug-and-play doesnot support the i3. So you raised my hope up (I plan to buy an i3 laptop soon). But I called Kingston to ask, they stated that the core i3 can only run @1066 and their PnP can only help to lower the latency (1066 CL6 vs. stock 1066 CL7). That explains why your Toshiba's benchmarks didnot look good. It should benefit the most with the integrated video using shared memory. Kingston also said 3DMark doesn't benefit (with discrete video) from memory. They suggested to run some real-time apps, such as Photoshop....

 

Why would anyone want to use Kingston's SSD? It makes the article look like an advertisement supported by Kingston.

 

Should I get the PnP memory (the one reviewed) or the memory with the XMP?

 

You are correct that the i3 only supports 1066 ... but Toshiba's own marketing materials say this RAM works with any notebook that supports DDR3, so we wanted to show the "plug and play" results with a notebook/CPU that supports the higher frequencies as well as a notebook that just supports DDR3.

 

Like the others have stated, there seems to be missing information . .. .

"What kind of a performance boost will I see from upgrading my notebook with this memory?"
And all I see is WEI and PC/3DMark scores???

Um mm mm . .. . .. . ..

 

Was a bit curious if it used more power (which I think it does) and about how much.
And I agree it would have been easier to digest the article if it had been same memory size to same memory size and maybe one memory jump in size in the mix if you wanted to show that angle too.
No worries however, glad you were as careful as you were in giving detailed results.

 

I just updated the review with some CPU-Z details as well as some additional tests running the W520 just on Intel integrated graphics (which shares the system memory) to highlight potential performance gains from the RAM upgrade.

 

I read your comment "we're not going to run this RAM through multiple overclocking applications to see how far we can push it.".
Can you explain what you meant ? Is there a way to push the RAM manually, on laptops ? If that is true then why do we need Kingston Plug-and-play in the first place.

 

But at least we can finally get 8GB RAM stick for somewhat cheap!!!!!! $652 for 4x8GB vs. $2000 for a similar upgrade on a workstation is a GODSEND!!!!!

 

Only according to the synthetic benchmarks ... and then only when ignoring the lift that the Intel integrated graphics gets by having more (and faster) RAM. The 3DMark results when running just the Intel graphics shows the W520 is indeed getting a boost from the HyperX RAM, but the overall performance scores in PCMark and 3DMark (when using the Nvidia graphics) are technically showing a modest drop in performance.

This also points out why our editors and so many of our long-time forum members hate synthetic benchmarks. Synthetic benchmarks (such as PCMark and 3DMark) do a decent job of giving you a "quick and dirty" comparison of multiple PCs, but they don't necessarily reflect "real world" performance.

For example, I recently updated the Nvidia driver on my gaming PC at home and the 3DMark Vantage score dropped by almost 100 points but the in-game performance in Dragon Age 2 jumped by a huge amount (I got almost an extra 10 FPS for my average in-game frame rates from just the driver update). So, the synthetic benchmark says my system is worse but my in-game results show my system is better.

The simple fact is this, all things being equal, having more (and faster) RAM is a good thing in terms of system performance. However, you have to decide whether the improvement you see from a particular component is worth the price of that component to you.

For some people, such as those who use memory hungry applications, spending $120-$160 on 8GB RAM (or up to $320 for 16GB) is ABSOLUTELY a worthwhile upgrade. For people who just want an overall "performance boost" on their laptop, you could spend that much on a fast SSD and you'll likely get a more noticeable increase to performance.

 

Thank you for your excellent reviews. I always check notebookreview.com before making a major purchase.

On the HyperX Memory - Perhaps a different benchmark test or application should have been chosen to show the benefits of faster memory? Example:
Kingston HyperX 8GB 1866MHz PnP Memory Kit For Notebooks - H.A.W.X. 2 Benchmark - Legit Reviews (but not comparing 6GB to 8GB, which skewed the results in their review)

 

Hi Jerry

I have a W520 i7-2920XM and chose these very same modules based on your review. You may however either have to reconsider this review, or to retest these configurations. The fact is that with these modules, in real life use, my W520 actually has become somewhat unreliable. Sometimes it boots with memory bleeps, sometimes it does not come back from standby.

On top of this, Kingston today formally told me that HyperX modules are not supported on notebooks, period. In short they will never guarantee proper and relable functionality when used in a notebook.

The way this review is presented, it could convince people to purchase these modules with the possibility of running into issues and not being supprted by Kingston. As a leading notebook review site you may want to dive into this a little bit deeper

Cheers Willem

 

It would be good to know who at Kingston said "HyperX modules are not supported on notebooks"?

This is from kingston.com: "Kingston's HyperX® Plug-and-Play (PnP) is designed to improve the performance of your Sandy Bridge notebook or DIY system."
http://www.kingston.com/hyperx/pnp/default.asp
"The memory is programmed with faster frequencies and when 'plugged' into a system using the Sandy Bridge chipset, will automatically 'play' at either 1600MHz or 1866MHz in both desktop and notebook PCs." http://www.kingston.com/press/2011/memory/04a.asp

 

Great find. The Kingston support rep flat out told me that if the memory configurator does not list it as an option (select Lenovo W520/4 and you will see it comes back with only Valueram) Kingston will neither support it nor take it back. It is basically your own risk if you decide to purchase HyperX for your notebook.

Having said that, my i7-2920xm is rocksolid with 16Gb worth of Elpida 1333Mhz. It is only when replacing the Elpida with HyperX that I start to get very odd behaviour. Not outright unreliable, but flaky nevertheless. I would like to know if there's anyone else out there with 4xHyperX at 1866Mhz that experiences memory bleeps at boot, or shutdowns after trying to power up by fingerprint

 

Perhaps running the Lenovo System Health and Diagnostics Test in "Stress" mode may give you more info ...
(I have the Kingston KHX1866C11S3P1K2/8G 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1866MHz Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM HyperX Plug n Play Notebook Memory on order at Buy.com, but it is on backorder)

 

Those are the exact same modules I have, albeit 8Gb instead of 16Gb. With 2x4Gb I did notably experience issues whith coming back from standby. System sprang to life again, but remained stuck at a black dimlit screen at least 4 or 5 consecutive times. Not very cool when one has documents open when going into standby.

 

Nope, nothing else than the cryptic error code WME02-7K1, which also comes out of a basic memory test. No way to identify which specific module is the culprate, and if after reshuffling it is the same module that acts up every time.

 

Why don't you just try one module at a time?

 

Never saw Administrator before! At first that red color made me thinking that you are just banned Good review. But not excellent

+1 it's good to see that 1-st post already gives right questions. Pity I do not see SPD page.

Another good post, the same as next one. Unfortunately this suggestion never done.

This post is great unification of almost all questions about this RAM. Maybe one of the best posts here. Maybe because I would ask the same?

You forgot to add another CPU-z screenshots about spd menu where we could see JEDEC profiles with latency clocks. PLEASE add them. Besides I saw that on Toshiba 1333 Mhz speed took 9 clocks which is the same as stock one. Hmm. Looks like I should not buy it for mine i7-740qm processor. And another question from me which I made after reading post below: If you "were not going to run this RAM through multiple overclocking applications to see how far we can push it" and to see how will you play after you plug it then why did you inserted 16GB of RAM into lenovo instead of 8? Shouldn't it be limited nu the same restrictions? Could you do tests with 8?

No Not as you think I doubt that you have any possibility to overclock memory in BIOS like in PCs.

I have already wrote what do I think about that marketing cra... I mean marketing review before in mine thread. I am still shocked after I read that they were "shocked" when they saw 2 different branded RAM sticks with OMG! different colors while they already knew that (I mean brands and stick's size) because they posted CPU-z screenshots! And how the heck they decided to compare bandwidth of stock 6GB and 8GB HyperX if they even work in different modes! Flex mode (slower) and dual mode (HyperX RAM faster because there were 2x4GB same size sticks inserted).

Good that you posted this. Besides I know that using 4 stick instead of 2 or 2 OCed/high dencity (on old laptops) sticks instead of 1 OCed/low density makes memory controller less stable. +1

I understood that you must be new here even when I couldn't see who posts because of zooming browser to read from the chair Be less aggressive. I imagine multiple reasons why guy from Kingston could tell it to him and 2 reasons come to me at first second: 1) Kingston's guy just wanted to "prove" that no matter RAM doesn't work correctly Kingston is still trusted brand and it is not exactly their fault, it is laptop's fault 2) That guy understands that new RAM does not provide that boost you can expect reading words Plug n Play, HyperX etc. and that guy simply wouldn't buy this RAM and tried to share his experience... in the form he could without being fired All that is hypothetically of course.

Could you give a link on that memory configurator?
Looks like 16GB is lil bit more than your lappy can eat. But some people can't make their laptop work with 16GB of HyperX at all! So you must feel lucky one

 

The memory configurator Kingston referred me to: Kingston Technology Company - Kingston Memory Search - Search by Manufacturer/Model

16Gb in fact is about half my laptop can handle. It's a Lenovo W520 with a Sandy Bridge i7 Quad Core Extreme 2920xm, so in short the baddest W520 out there . It currently runs rock solid on 4x4Gb Elpida DDR3 1333Mhz. It just gets a sort of indigestion with the 4x4Gb HyperX 1866Mhz modules.

PS even testing them 1 module at a time gives random results. Errors appearing and disappearing.

 

The KHX1866C11S3P1K2/8G does acturally show up in the Kingston Configurator for the W520. Just below it's listing of the standard Ram, click the blue "Wanna Go Faster Button", and it will list some more, faster Ram.

 

Spoken to customer support and an engineer will finally start looking into the actual compatibility

 

Any news yet?

 

Really? I got over 5.9 with my 2x2GB hyper-X modules...

 

Yes, but no change. Still investigating.

 

They should call Sherlock Holmes. He will do that faster.

 

Slight update that I will also be feeding into Kingston:

With today's BIOS update 1.25 (UEFI) / 1.24 Legacy, the resume from standby issue seems to have been solved. Apparently not directly related to the other Kingston issues with 1866Mhz HyperX memory.

<1.25>
UEFI: 1.25 / ECP: 1.14
- (New) Updated Computrace ROM to version 80.895.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where some security settings in ThinkPad Setup could not
be changed by Windows WMI script.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where the computer might not be booted from the hard
disk with Linux installed if there was no active partition there.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where the computer with large-capacity memory installed
might fail to resume normal operation from standby/sleep state.
- (Fix) Fixed an issue where a particular AC adapter might not be detected.


Lenovo Support - BIOS Update Utility for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), XP - ThinkPad

 

Cool!

Have you tested the 1.25 update with your Kingston 1866Mhz HyperX memory?

 

Yep with the exception of the standby/resume issue, all issues are still there :-(

 

Which issues do you still have?

 

Doesn't make tosts Unstable system, blue screens, unable using 16GB. Am I right?

 

Per the reports on the W520 Owners forum all the issues have been fixed by the 1.25 BIOS update.

 

Incorrect. Only the resume from standby issue has been solved. Memory errors persist, as well as memory POST issues. Power on from finger swipe also has issues. One user even got feedback from Kingston that for the time being only 1600Mhz is supported, not any higher speeds.

 

I tried it on mine with the new BIOS and did not get any memory POST issues. I will test the "Power on from finger swipe" later today.

Any other scenarios you would like me to test to reproduce your issue?

 

I did get the POST bleeps, every 3-4 boots.

Well, perhaps you could download memtest86+ and run that (bootable CDRW does the trick)

 

Thanks. I'll do that.

PS: You did install BIOS 1.25, right?

Lenovo Support - BIOS Update Utility for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), XP - ThinkPad

 

Of course

 

On an additional note, those same memory modules that give memory errors in Lenovo Toolbox and Memtest86+ on my W520 i7-2920XM test fine in two slower machines (Dell Latitude E4300 and Lenovo T400). Ok, so they operate at 1066Mhz, but they fully pass all tests correctly.

 

Encouraged by the success of kevinlau and hrana at the W520 Owners Forum, I put in 4 Kingston HyperX 1866 Mhz modules in my Thinkpad W520 and it works perfectly with BIOS 1.25.

Just to be sure, I ran all 12 memory tests of the Thinkvatage Toolbox plus the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool. It passed all the tests with flying colors. I then ran the full PCMarkVantage benchmark suite which tests all aspects of a system and it ran that without any problems: PCMark Vantage Result

I also tested "Power on from finger swipe" and it works perfectly on my W520.

 

How odd. THis could mean three things:

- The i7-2920XM as opposed to the i7-2820QM is more sensitive to memory timings
- My mainboard is defective
- The 4 x Kingston 1866 modules that I have may be defective, but only show errors at their highest speed

Now what?? pffff

 

Feedback from Kingston:

Thank you for your help.

The engineers have completed their investigation and concluded that this system is not suited to accomodating the faster memory modules and consequently the status of recommended modules has been amended on our website.

If you have not already contacted the supplier to return the modules, we recommend that you do so, providing the statement you were sent by myself should their be any questions on the part of the supplier as to why the memory modules should be accepted back for refund or credit.

Once again I would like to thank you for your kind assistance in helping us to investigate this matter.

Kind regards

 

If there is a little chance that it can work inproperly they just say that it is incompatible (no matter other use it fine) instead of finding a reason and solution. Could you tell me what timings does it show in CPU-z for 1333MHZ aka 663MHZ? 9 or 7?

 

Love kingston ram, Put it in a few desktop builds of mine. But can anyone explain to me why I would need anything more than 8gb of ram in a laptop? D: I'm kinda new to laptops, coming from high end custom built desktops. Just curious.

 

Some of us don't game and use our laptops as desktop replacements (plug laptop into external monitor/usb hub at home) and use it for memory intensive applications like music production, video editing, 3d modeling, editing raw high resolution photo's, etc. More RAM is always better in such cases Of course a good CPU is equally important, if not more once past a certain threshold. For most gaming and "regular" red-eye removal uses, 8GB is more than enough. It's the professionals who use these applications day to day that would benefit with more than 8GB, given that they use it as a desktop replacement.

 

Maybe you have an older batch of memory modules?
Attached is my CPU-Z screen shot with Part Number and Date of Manufacture.

(SPD: DIMM-modules include a EPROM-chip holding information about the module. This little 8-pin chip works as a SPD (Serial Presence Detect) - a unit storing information about the RAM type. The idea is that BIOS can read this information and this way tune the system bus and the timings for a perfect CPU-RAM performance.)

 

My 1600mhz 2x4GB modules were made week 10.

 

Nope, I have exactly the same revision (there actually only is one revision currently Kingston confirmed). In that respect the only difference between you and me is the CPU. I have an i7-2920XM.