Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4-2666 32GB Kit – Closer Look
Unlike most other RAM manufactures, Kingston does not ship their RAM in cardboard shipping containers. Instead they typically use a plastic ten module memory tray, and the HyperX Fury is no different. We personally love these trays as you they can not only be reused, but can also allow you to (re)package a bunch of memory into one small box for storage. This is a great bonus for system builders who A) buy in bulk and B) are running out of storage space! For the average consumer it really will not be all that big a deal but it does highlight the fact that Kingston HyperX division is focusing heavily on the serious consumer.
Now with all that said there is a few downsides to this shipping container. The first is there is no room for product details and unless you are familiar with Kingston’s nomenclature it is easy to pick up the wrong kit. We will go over the ‘answer’ to this problem in a moment, but first the second issue: it’s not as protective a shipping container as some. Luckily RAM is extremely durable and anything that can physically harm the RAM modules are probably also going to severely – and noticeably – damage the box. As such this is more perception than a real issue.
Now back to confusion over various Kingston HyperX kits. Since all do come in basically the same shipping container it can be downright easy to grab the wrong one on a store’s shelf. This goes double if they are all jumbled together and not in the right spot. Basically consumers are going to have to pay careful attention to the entire label on the top. This label will spell out not once but twice what kit is housed inside the generic Kingston shipping container. The first time it does this is small lettering, and then to further ensure you purchase the right kit, Kingston also includes the model number in larger lettering above it… which you can then decode to further ensure you are getting the exact kit you want. More importantly this model number will give you a lot more details than what the label will, as the label will only tell you the capacity, speed, and general type of RAM housed inside. At first this may seem like a waste of time, but with just a little practice you can actually pick out the right kit faster this way than reading all the rest of the data printed below it.
To decode this model number, consumers have to remember that Kingston uses a standard process for creating all their various model numbers. The first two letters will be the division name. In this instance as it’s a HyperX division it will be ‘HX’ and not ‘K’ for Kingston. The next three digits are the type and speed. So you will be looking for a ‘4’ (for DDR4) followed by ‘26’ for 2666 (or 24 if you are looking for DDR4-2400, etc. etc.). Then the next letter and two digits is the CAS latency. So that would be ‘C15’ for this kit (CL16 for CAS 16, etc. etc.). Next is the letter for the model. Since this is a Fury model it would be ‘F’. The next is the color – in this instance ‘B’ for black. Last is if it is a single stick or part of a kit, and if part of a kit the number of sticks in the kit and the total capacity. Since this is a 4×8 kit with a grand total of 32GB capacity it would be ‘K4/32’. This gives us a model name of HX426C15FBK4/32…. which is pretty simple to decode one you know the trick.
Moving on the RAM itself, you can see that Kingston has gone for a middle of the road approach for this design. What we mean is that while the heatsinks are large and fairly robust (each stick weighs about XX oz’s with most of this coming from the heatsink), this kit is not as tall nor as heavy as G. Skill’s Trident Z, nor as lightweight or short as what stock DDR4sticks are. What they are though, is very reminiscent – in the compatibility department – of Corsair’s LPX series. This is high praise indeed as the LPX series is known for its lack of issues with CPU coolers. In other words, with this HyperX Fury kit you may run into the occasional snag with some extra-large CPU coolers, but for the most part this 34mm high DDR4 ram kit will be trouble free – and a lot more user friendly than most factory overclocked series.
Equally impressive is while the HyperX Fury – for the time being – only comes in black that is not the same as saying this is not a good looking set of RAM. Instead, much like the overall dimensions, Kingston has taken a more middle of the road approach to the overall looks of the RAM. One that may not be as striking as G. Skill’s Trident Z, but certainly not as boring Crucial’s Elite, Mushkin’s Blackline, or Corsair’s LPX series. Basically this kit may be basic black but the styling of the metal heatsinks combined with the bold white lettering is attention getting without being too attention getting. In other words, this kit will work with white, black, or gray color schemes to accentuate the motherboard but will not try and be the star of the show.
It is unfortunate that unlike the DDR3 Fury series Kingston has not expanded the color beyond basic black as so some motherboards may not be a perfect match for it – such as MSI and their red accented Z170 boards. By the same token, we do like the fact that Kingston has also added white lettering to the top of the heatsinks so that when installed into a system you will not just see black blobs installed in the DIMM ports.
The color of the heatsink and the construction of the heatsink is certainly impressive but what we really liked was the fact that this kit uses SK Hynix DDR4 RAM ICs. To be precise it uses H5AN4G8NMFR ICs. These ICs are actually very well respected in certain circles as they are known to overclock extremely well while at the same time being very mild mannered when left at stock settings. This is why this kit is rated for an impressively low CAS Latency of 15, and yet requires only 1.20 volts to be perfectly stable. Equally impressive is, as we will go into greater detail later in the review, this kit has a lot of untapped potential. So much that consumers who wish can either further lower the CAS Latency or go for shear speed. Put bluntly it is these ICs which allow this kit to offer the best of all combinations: performance, capacity, and price. Brilliant stuff!
