Kingston Fury Beast KF560C40BBK2-32 6000MHz 32GB memory kit review

RAM of the DDR5 standard is still perceived as an expensive premium class for the vast majority of users, and this is not surprising, because Intel Core i5-12600K and higher processors will be able to take full advantage of its capabilities. DDR5 memory, of course, is trying to become closer to the people, ensuring a regular decrease in price, while not forgetting to increase the frequency. Today’s kit tries not only to match this trend, but also to “save the world from RGB pollution”!

Kingston Fury Beast KF560C40BBK2-32

The memory sticks are supplied in a transparent blister. The memory model, kit size, CAS timing, voltage and effective frequency are indicated on the sticker.

Inside the blister, in addition to the modules themselves, there is also an instruction manual (combined with a warranty), as well as a Kingston Fury sticker.

The design of the bars is made in the black color scheme, traditional for this line of memory. The height of the module is 34.9 mm, slightly higher than DDR4 of the Beast series (34.1 mm), but all the same guarantees the absence of compatibility problems with supercoolers and saves the user from the need to spend time on additional checks.

On one side of the module, the company’s symbols are displayed, and on the other, you can find a sticker with useful information about the memory.

The thickness of the radiator is quite typical, which means that its presence is not only a decorative function.

As always, the radiator is not on bolts, but on latches and “thermal tape”, after playing with a hair dryer and a blade, it became possible to recognize the memory chips.

Under the radiator are H5CG48MEBDX014 M-Die revision microcircuits manufactured by SK Hynix, the number “48” in their number subtly hints at a base frequency of 4800 MHz. The gap between XMP and the original frequency is significant, judging by DDR4 standards, but the practice awaits the reader in the testing section. The PMIC area is in contact with the heatsink surface through a thermal pad.

Test stand

Intel LGA 1700:

• processor: Intel Core i9-12900K;
• cooling: SVO circuit (EK-Supremacy water block – Acetal+Nickel);
• thermal interface: Arctic Cooling MX-4;
• motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B660 Gaming WiFi (UEFI 1620);
• memory: Kingston Fury Beast KF560C40BBK2-32 (DDR5-6000, CL40-40-40-80-2T);
• video card: GeForce RTX 3060 Ti;
• system drive: Kingston KC3000 1024GB (SKC3000S/1024G, M.2 NVMe);
• secondary drive: Kingston A400 1.92 TB (SA400S37/1920G, SATA);
• power supply: Rosewill Hercules-1600S (1600 W, 80 Plus Gold).

The temperature in the room was 20 degrees Celsius. Fan speed control is automatic. The frequency potential of RAM was investigated with a voltage step of 0.025 V and a single increase in frequency or timings for the next step. The stability of the system was checked by a set of loads in the form of a LinX run (problem size 32717, 8 GB, 10 iterations), as well as by passing the Y-cruncher on the -1b preset. Each benchmark was run three times, and the results show the arithmetic mean. The LGA 1700 platform worked at a static processor frequency of 4.8 GHz on all P-cores (processor voltage 1.25 V), 3.9 GHz E-core, cache (Ring) worked at a frequency of 3.6 GHz, consumption limits were removed. All experiments use the IMC Gear 2 operating mode.

Note: the usual timing formula has been changed, and in the case of DDR5 memory it will now be: {CL_tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC tCR}, for example CL32-39-39-30-69 2T.

Testing

Thaiphoon Burner didn’t show anything interesting, or rather, it didn’t show anything at all.

By default, the RAM will run at 4800 MHz with JEDEC timings (CL40) and 1.1 V. The XMP profile will run the boards at 6000 MHz with CL40-40-40-80 latencies and 1.35 V, as confirmed by AIDA64:

The LGA 1700 platform led by Alder Lake’s flagship processor — Intel Core i9-12900K, whose IMC (memory controller) according to HWBOT statistics is capable of handling DDR5-8000 MHz frequencies will help in finding the maximum frequency potential.

The safe frequency limit was DDR5-6800 MHz using timings similar to factory ones (CL40-39-39-76-115 2T), for this a voltage of 1.4 V was applied to the bars for VDD and VDDQ. Validation is present.

Probably the best mode of frequencies, timings and voltages for specific instances was the DDR5-6600 mode with timings CL32-39-39-30-69-2T and voltages VDD = 1.4 V, VDDQ = 1.325 V. The screenshots below allow you to study the values secondary and tertiary timings. Let’s start with the typical factory mode DDR5-4800:

The result below is obtained when activating the Kingston DDR5-6000 XMP profile:

And the last one is the mode of manual setting of the overclocker with “claws”:

Well, where without full testing of these modes in memory-dependent benchmarks.

AIDA64 on the background of the XMP profile manages to achieve a 32% decrease in latency, very noticeable, because this is the main problem of DDR5 RAM at the moment. Memory bandwidth capabilities increase to 22% at best and ~19% on average.

Archiving perfectly reveals the capabilities of the RAM node. Fine tuning knocks 12% off the top.

Geekbench, being a comprehensive benchmark, is also sensitive to RAM — fine-tuning provides a 22% margin.

The merciless number cruncher Y-cruncher gets a 7% speedup thanks to fine tuning of the memory.

Conclusions

Kingston Fury Beast KF560C40BBK2-32 is a good set, so to speak, of mature DDR5 RAM. Last year, at the very start of sales, you could expect only 5200-5500 MHz overclocking for much more money. Today, for a very reasonable amount, you can get 6000 MHz from the start, and let your inner overclocker have fun chasing the 7000 MHz limit. This instance can be accelerated in the complex by another ~17% over the XMP profile, which will definitely please fans of fine tuning.

The set will show itself well in a flagship game assembly on advanced hardware, where the question is chasing a picture with a frequency of 240 Hz, and the low height of the radiator guarantees the absence of compatibility problems with the vast majority of PC components. In addition, opponents of RGB will like this memory.