... and didn't know who to ask. So, we asked Mr. Mark Tekunof, Kingston Sr. Technology manager for HyperX. Prices of memory modules are dropping every day, resulting high-end products affordable for average customer. Most of popularity Kingston has earned with nicely designed memory modules of high quality and performance, with HyperX as a leader of the pack. We wanted to know a bit more which fight it has to won to earn this title.
1. When you are picking out high end modules, are you choosing the
best ones among classic modules, or do you have a special production
line for HyperX modules?
We have a special engineering process to choose the best available
DRAMs available. When we have completed engineering qualifications, the
products are built using a special HyperX testing process, including
testing at the voltage, frequency and latency values specified in the
specification. Every module is 100 percent tested and inspected to meet
our memory spec's.
2. Is there a difference between the PCB that you use for HyperX and ones on other series.
There are many features that separate Kingston HyperX from other
series. Testing, screening to specification, lifetime warranty and
excellent support for the occasional customer that needs help with
their memory. Because of our high volume and quality heritage, we
usually use the same PCB's that we deliver to our OEM and other
customers.
3. Which are the memory chips manufacturers that you have the best cooperation with, and why?
we cooperate will all the memory vendors on the market. For HyperX, it
depends on which DRAM technology, DDR2 or DDR3. Currently, I would say
that Elpida and Samsung are popular for our HyperX DDR3 line.
4. Can you explain us how are you testing HyperX modules? How do you determine the maximum frequency?
Our design engineers spend much time choosing and testing the best
DRAMs. Before any HyperX product gets released into production it must
pass strenuous overnight testing, along with a number of DOS and OS
based applications and diagnostics. Memtest86+ is used along with
others.
5. Is the process of SPD determination time consuming, or do you receive additional documents from manufacturers about SPD?
The basic SPD is based on industry standard JEDEC values. We program
the main profile with a JEDEC SPD and let the customers manually
overclock as far as they and their rig can go.
For XMP or EPP SPD's, we pre-program the SPDs with values that will
automatically overclock after enabling the profile. Of course, it is
best to use the best motherboards or CPU's to achieve the best success.
6. Do you have special requests to optimize one of the series for AMD or Intel platform?
Intel is XMP, AMD recently discussed the new Black Edition CPUs and
software profiles. We are working with them and will release something
new soon.
7. How can you explain the fact that Chuck Norris overclocked HyperX from 1200 MHz to 2200 MHz without additional cooling?
Because John Wayne was not available :)
