Kingston HyperX Blu (KHX16009D3B1K2/4GX) 4GB 1600MHz PC3-12800 Kit

[The Sorcerer]

A time was there when people simply picked up a value ram and the rest didn't matter much. Until demands for more processing power increased, so did memory. However one thing that gets overshadowed is the quality kit viz. decent enough for a price and with a good quality. Not necessarily the warranty period gives you any idea of the lifespan of the hardware, so you're pretty much ending buying what's usually recommended the most.


HyperX Blu series falls somewhere in the middle of value rams and Hyper X (best of worlds?). This kit is available in Mumbai retailer for Rs. 3,000. Let's see if this something that can be one of those rams that will be recommended to a lot of people who don't want to burn a hole in the pocket.

Packaging,Specs and Overclocking



HyperX Blu series kit comes in a carton box with few words from the manufacturers and the memory kit details. 



This kit  comes with two couple of 256M x 64-bit 2GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 memory sticks with Intel XMP profile. By default they run 9-9-9-27 1T at 1.65V but with JEDEC standard they run at 1333MHz 9-9-9 1T @ 1.5V




The heatspreader is a aluminium based and low profile (boon for a lot of people especially with Box coolers alone taking a lot of space.

This kit works with AMD boards as well. So far I ran this on Gigabyte E350N-USB3, Gigabyte 890GPA UD3H Rev 1.0 and Asus M4A87TD/USB3 board.

Now this is the first kit that I am reviewing so I don't really have anything currently to compare the performance with, but seeing what you're getting locally and what you're getting from HyperX series you can make the choice accordingly.


As it should, they work at 1600MHz 9-9-9-27 @ 1T. After spending some time with the rams, the following is what I was able to get:

1685MHz 9-9-9-24 @ 1T stable. I was able to get 1690 MHz stable enough to boot with the same settings and run a 1M test, but anything more it just becomes disabled. 1685MHz boot with the CL9 latency @ 1T is pretty decent for a kit aimed to be a ram of good value.


Test Setup and Benchmarks


AIDA64 Memory Benchmark

--
Maxx Mem2 Benchmark

--
wPrime Benchmark

Conclusion
There are few 4GB Kits worth under Rs. 3,000 but its coming. Prime ABGB quotes this for as low as Rs. 2,750 (Company pricing is Rs. 3,000/-) backed with Kingston's back up warranty. Corsair 4GB CMV4GX3M1A1333 kit (1333MHz 9-9-9-24) costs Rs. 2,250. Add 500 bucks more and you're getting an out of the box 1600MHz kit with a little bit of a boot to bump it up a bit. There's a single stick CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9 Vengence 9-9-9-24 1.5V. Memory never ceases to become a boring topic. Suffice to say 1600MHz CL9 4gigs is bare minimum for atleast gaming systems on a budget.

However, memory kit prices do have a tendency to rise/fall pretty rapidly. I've started seeing kits (HyperX blu, HyperX) being available better than before, but so are from other manufacturers. Corsair

Remember, this is tested on an AMD rig but its simply to give you guys an option.