Introduction
The original Intel Core i7 chip, launched in November 2008, has set the desktop performance standard by which all other are judged. That remains the case today, as the fastest consumer chip is the Bloomfield-based Core i7 975 Extreme Edition.
Intel has since distilled the architecture and released the slightly trimmed-down Lynnfield core in September 2009.
The chip giant has done a 'marvellous' job in confusing customers with Core i7 branding that spans both architectures, but separating them is simple if you know the socket on which they're based.
All full-fat Core i7 chips ship with an LGA1366 socket, but the newer Core i7 860 and 870 CPUs use the LGA1156 form factor.
One advantage that the older LGA1366 chips enjoy is the ability of their memory-controller to interface with three DDR3 memory channels at once. The triple-channel design means that many of the high-end supporting motherboards, run on the X58 chipset, have six DIMM slots as standard.
This preamble sets the scene for Kingston's latest DDR3 kit, aimed at users who have a Core i7 LGA1366 system and want to maximise on the system memory footprint when using a 64-bit operating system.
Officially released today, the 12GB HyperX kit is designed for the X58 platform and is comprised of six 2GB modules that are guaranteed to run in tandem at 1,600MHz CL9.
Let's take a look.