X-bit labs

Kingston Goes DDR2 667MHz Route.

Category: Memory

by Anton Shilov

[ 08/24/2004 | 11:35 PM ]

Kingston Technology, a well-known maker of memory devices, unveiled Tuesday its new products from the HyperX series, a family aimed at PC enthusiasts and overclockers, designed to support the latest DDR2 platforms, such as Intel’s recently launched i915- and i915X-series chipset.

The new HyperX DDR2 SDRAM memory modules are certified to work at 533MHz and 675MHz clock-speeds with CL3 3-3-10 and CL4 4-4-10 respectively. 675MHz frequency and slightly more aggressive timings than those of competitors formally make HyperX memory modules the fastest available DDR2 option at the moment.

DDR2 memory products utilize FBGA memory chips for better stability, thermal efficiency, enhanced scalability and better overclockability. Additionally, DDR2 components themselves have some micro-architectural changes from the original DDR specs, such as, Off-Chip Driver calibration (OCD), On-Die Termination (ODT) as well as larger 4-bit prefetch, additive latency, and enhanced registers.

So far only three popular memory brands – Corsair Memory, Crucial Technology and OCZ Technology Group have unveiled 667MHz memory modules. Corsair’s and OCZ’s high-speed DDR2 are certified to operate at 667MHz with CL4 4-4-12 latency settings, Crucial’s product can work at 667MHz with CL4 4-4-10 timings.

Kingston’s latest HyperX DDR2 PC2-4300 and PC2-5400 memory products are said to be immediately available in 256MB and 512MB modules as well as in 512MB and 1GB dual-channel kits. 256MB modules cost $135 and $144, 512MB products are quoted at $198 and $211 for 533MHz and 675MHz flavours respectively. Dual-channel kits cost a little less than two separate memory modules.