First Thoughts – Kingston HyperX PC2-9600 DDR2 Memory

Overclocking & Final Thoughts

Overclocking :

I was very excited to see just how well this memory would overclock on the 680i board, and as you can see above it did not disappoint as we were able to get another 100MHz out of it by reaching 1300MHz!! Unfortunately it was the 680i board that was not stable enough to complete testing at this awesome speed, not our Kingston memory. While we were able to boot up and get the screen shot above we werent able to get testing completed before the system crashed. We were then frustrated by trying a lower memory speed and the system failing to boot into Windows at all. So while we were able to boot up at 1300MHz and run a couple of tests (unfortunately no screen shots) we ended up crashing the test machine and after it came back to life the system would no longer run above 1200MHz, which is a motherboard issue. Fellow reviewer Nathan Kirsch has been working on a review of the 2GB version of this kit of memory and a couple other brands and has had the same issues on his 680i setup after running it over 1200MHz. He is waiting on a replacement board to be sent out and will have a full review on them coming up later this month. It seems the memory on the market today can easily do ~1300MHz, but we are two for two when it comes to killing motherboards.

Thoughts:

The Kingston PC2-9600 memory kits on the market today kick some serious ass! I had no issues getting this memory up to speed. Drop the sticks in, dial in 5-5-5-15 timings, set voltage to 2.3-2.35V and you are off and running. Those rather plain looking heat spreaders are deceiving, at no time was there a problem with heat even with the amount of voltage we were using. Big kudos to Kingston! Personally Id rather have understated heat spreaders than something that Im going to have to pay extra for, if it does the job then Im happy!

When it comes to pricing this kit can be had for $278 directly from Kingston and they are in stock right now! The 2GB kit will set you back $525, but is needed for gamers that want to get the best performance. The PC2-9600 memory from Kingston re-establishes them as a viable player in the enthusiast market. Just like the good ole days they are producing a great product that caters to the guys that have no problem dropping some extra dough for the fastest memory you can get your hands on.

I hope that you enjoyed this mini-review on the Kingston PC2-9600 1GB Kit (KHX9600D2K2/1G) and leave better informed on what it can do!

Legit Bottom Line: Kingston is number one in the memory industry and the Kingston HyperX PC2-9600 series shows that they are still supporting the enthusiast community with high quality modules with some serious IC’s on them.