Performance
Performance has been tested on the Intel Coffee Lake platform which includes the i9-9900K processor and ASUS Maximus XI Gene motherboard. In 3D tests has been used Gigabyte RTX2060 Gaming OC graphics card.
Everything is readily available in stores so our readers can compare results on their computers.
All results were performed on the HyperX Predator DDR4-4000 memory kit, so this is what you can expect but of course, overclocking is never guaranteed as it depends on many factors.
Let’s begin the tests.
Memory bandwidth in AIDA64 is scaling well with memory frequency but also in a mix of high frequency and tighter timings. We can see that especially in memory read and write. Even though results at XMP profiles seem low, they’re pretty good comparing to other memory kits at similar settings or even tighter timings.
What is worth to mention is that XMP settings, the same as all others in this comparison, were fully stable during the tests what is not always so easy on other memory kits.
Rendering benchmarks like Cinebench R15 are showing slightly higher results at higher memory frequency. Results are repeatable, so it’s just how this benchmark is scaling.
In PCMark 10 we can see the higher difference in the results. Especially the Productivity tests are showing better scores at higher memory frequency but also pretty good XMP #1 result at DDR4-4000 which in most tests is not much slower than the overclocking results.
Similar results are also in UL benchmarks which base mostly on graphics card performance like 3DMark Port Royal, Time Spy Extreme and Fire Strike Extreme. Memory at DDR4-3600 is already fast enough to provide optimal performance. Higher frequency is helping a bit but not as much as we could expect.
Results in VRMark are not much different. The least demanding Orange Room is showing better results at balanced high frequency and tighter timings, but even there we can count on only 1-3 FPS better results.
It’s not a surprise that other benchmarks which use DX11 or DX12 instructions are scaling similarly. Below are our results in Final Fantasy XV 4K and Superposition 8K benchmarks. Both XMP profiles of the Predator memory are optimal for these tests.
In games, it looks a bit better and both tested by us titles are showing improvements depends on memory settings. In Farcry 5 the best were settings at XMP #1 so DDR4-4000 CL19 and at manual DDR4-4266 CL17 settings. The latest release of Tomb Raider likes higher memory frequency more, and except DDR4-4266 CL19, every other setting was giving us 1-3 FPS more. Final delta of 6 FPS is already significant.
Most of our tests are based on new benchmarks and games. In this environment, HyperX Predator DDR4-4000 memory kit seems an optimal option as long as we have a motherboard which can handle DDR4-3600 or higher memory.
There are always users who are looking for more, so it’s time for a bit of overclocking.
