MacClipper - 24/7 Real World Overclocking!: February 2015

Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 Kit

Packaging

Comes in a rather modest looking brown box with a striking red-white product label.

Unboxing

2 blister packs of 2 memory sticks each, well cushioned by protective foam. Solidly crafted heavy metal heatspreaders on a matte black PCB make for a most beautiful piece of design work.

Test Setup

Here's a shot of the innards if you are curious enough
DDR4 Predator bare...

UEFI Identification

Supports JEDEC and XMP 2.0 - 2 XMP profiles are available at DDR4-2666 (for better compatibility) and DDR4-3000 (faster for capable motherboards/CPUs). Both are set at 1.35V and 125MHz bus speeds.

The DDR4-3000 XMP setting (remember bclk 125) was used for this testing as the test CPU-mobo combo did not have any issues using it.If your mobo is unable to POST at DDR4-3000, consider falling back to the other XMP setting of DDR4-2666 with tighter timings instead.

AIDA64

Quite a lot of SPD info is being dumped here eg. this is the first time I see onboard temperatures sensors being reported on these HyperX sticks. Other juicy bits of info include confirmation of SK Hynix modules usage, single rank config etc...

hwinfo64

The HyperX onboard temperature sensors are already supported by this great monitoring utility, nice!

And all sticks are running at great temps too thanks to the hunky heatspreaders :)

MemTweakIt

Hyperpi 32M

Clears easily with the RAM run at XMP settings

Initial Impressions (or to DDR4-3000 and beyond... )

Running DDR4-3000 is probably overkill for most enduser rigs but for those who demand the meanest looking high end RAM around, the HyperX Predator DDR4-3000 kit is an automatic consideration.

Seems everyone loves the black PCB with the uber cool matte black heat spreaders. These HyperX sticks are hefty, simply oozing class and quality. They are also among the tallest around so factor in height restrictions when planning your rig.

Just remember, there is also some configuration legwork to be done to get the RAM working as intended since both XMP settings are using the 125MHz bus speed instead of the usual 100.

Quite a few reviews have lamented the difficulty in pushing beyond DDR4-3000 but one can't help but wonder where else the issue could possibly lie since there are still motherboards with difficulty going beyond DDR4-2666 even. Besides the mobo, the CPU IMC lottery is another possblle factor, And some may argue if there is any actual need (not want) for overclocking beyond DDR4-3000...

In the end the Intel X99/DDR4 platform is currently still novel and nascent, future BIOS improvements may smoothen things for more motherboards.

DDR4-3000 Recommended Reading

The Thermaltake Core X2 mATX Cube Chassis

Core X Series presented by Thermaltake

Thermaltake - Home

Core X Series Comparison Chart

Stackable for Enthusiasts

"Core X2, the first mATX chassis of Core X Series presented by Thermaltake, is a cube case offering endless stackable capacity and expandability for enthusiasts to create massive liquid cooling systems, utilize as a file server as well as accommodate dual systems..."

Core X2 Features

Stackable for Enthusiasts
Remarkable Expansion
Great Ventilation
Chambers Concept
Fully Modular Design
Interchangeable Window and I/O Panel

Radiator Support

Fan Support

Packaging

Nice informative printed brown box which appears kinda oversized for a mATX case so the mATX Asus Gene VII motherboard box has been placed on it for comparison. Yup, this guy is seriously big... well, there is no other way anyone can squeeze in all the above goodies like 2 x 360 rads side by side.

Straightaway, anyone can tell that the Core X2 is not aiming for compactness even when using a mATX foundation but has instead reached for the bells and whistles in a no holds barred decked out monsta mATX rig.

Unboxing

2 protective Styrofoam moulds appear to have done a great job in securing the test unit cos it arrived in pristine condition.

Top

The meshed metal top is easily removed by undoing 2 captive thumbscrews (nice!), exposing the 2 sturdy horizontal rigidity bars (even nicer!).

Bottom

Also meshed to reduce dust as can be seen.

Side Panels

One windowed and one meshed and they are inter-changeable depending on your needs, flexible! The user panel of buttons/LEDs, USB3 ports and audio jacks as seen in their default position and this can be switched to the other side too, great design indeed.

Back

Note the bundled 0.30A exhaust 120mm fan, rubber grommet and the fenestrated I/O plates

Front

Fully meshed and easily popped out just by tugging on its catches, revealing the other bundled 120mm fan - neat.

Strip Time

With the front off, time to remove the side panels by undoing the thumbscrews stripping down to the skeletal structure. Meanwhile, do check out the finer interior dust mesh on the side panels.