Kingston HyperX T1 Black 6GB Memory Review

As Intel launched their Sandy Bridge processors ranging from Core-i7s to i3s, a new platform was introduced; namely the LGA 1155. Of course, the king of the performance hill is still on the LGA 1136 platform, namely the Core-i7 980X and the recently launched 990X. And as the LGA 1156 socket got replaced with LGA 1155, so too will the high-end LGA 1136 be replaced by the Core i9 (LGA 2011) processors towards the end of this year. To accompany the current champions, Kingston recently launched their HyperX T1 Black triple-channel ram modules. Today I’ll be looking at the HyperX T1 Black 6GB DDR3-1600MHz kit.

Much like the dual-channel HyperX T1 4GB kit I reviewed some time back, this triple-channel kit is quite a sight to behold. This time instead of blue, the HyperX T1 ram modules are covered in a completely black heatsink which is supposed to match with the recent X58 motherboards, one of them being the Gigabyte G1 Assassin motherboard.

For testing the Kingston HyperX T1 6GB DDR3-1600Mhz triple channel ram, I used a different testbed from our usual Sandy Bridge desktop we’re currently using. Firstly we have a Intel Core-i7 965EE processor on a Gigabyte X58A-UD3R motherboard. An Intel X-25M 80GB (G2) SSD with Windows 7 Ultimate all ready to go. I’ve also compared it’s default performance in Passmark against a regular triple-channel DDR3-1600MHz (non-performance) ram.

The Gigabyte M.I.B.X BIOS was easy to setup the ram to higher speeds using the in-built Intel XMP profiles. By default the ram obviously stays at 1333Mhz to match the Core-i7 965EE processor’s default BUS speeds,  which gave me a CAS timings of 9-9-9-24 @ 1.5v However, bumping up the XMP profile allowed me to achieve its native speeds of 1600MHz with 9-9-9-27 @ 1.65v of stable performance, running Prime 95 for over eight hours without any issues. Anyways, on with the numbers.

As you can see, the dual-channel HyperX 4GB was no slouch, but the triple-channel bus on the HyperX T1 Black really helps boost performance numbers where it counts. Loading anything from Photoshop CS5 to getting up and running in Stormwind city (WoW) was blindingly fast. Obviously that’s the benefit of the SSD, but highly tuned ram modules in triple-channel help a lot as well.

For anybody building a new LGA 1136 based system, or even looking to upgrade ram from an existing system should most definitely check out Kingston’s HyperX T1 Black triple-channel ram modules. The 6GB kit that I tested goes for around $100 which is well worth the price considering the performance and overclocking potential.