Not forgetting Enthusiasts
Memory module maker, Kingston, has responded to claims it doesn't take the enthusiast gaming market seriously enough by declaring "HyperX is not just our hobby."
At a recent memory summit at Kingston HQ in Orange County, CA, Kingston told HEXUS it aimed to provide HyperX punters with "the same performance value and satisfaction we get in our labs," rejecting claims it didn't take the gaming segment as seriously as competitors.
"This is a business segment of Kingston and all our Hyper X partners are important to us," said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager of the firm's HyperX Product Line.
Dara Sun, Kingston's HyperX product manager added the firm had "close relationships with CPU and motherboard vendors at both the development and engineering levels," noting the company leveraged those relationships "to provide the highest quality memory available for enthusiasts and overclockers."
Indeed, motherboard maker, Gigabyte, also present at the event, maintained it was "very honoured to be working with Kingston" and claimed to have less compatibility issues with Kingston's products than any other vendor, saying it preferred the firm to any of its other memory module partners. "We highly recommend you use Kingston Hyper X," a straightfaced Gigabyte spokesperson told us.
Kingston said that, as the largest memory supplier in the industry, it could rely on its massive buying power to ensure quality, something it hoped would matter to the gaming community.
The firm also told HEXUS it preferred to wait until its DRAM production was at high enough yield before announcing new innovations, unlike the paper launches it implied are employed by several of its rivals to drum up hype within the enthusiast community. "If we can't sell it, we're not going to talk about it," said Tekunoff, maintaining that "having 10 pieces available is not a market."
Kingston said that very soon customers would see the firm's 12G K6 DDR3 kit for P55 systems with six sockets, but questioned whether there was a compelling need for 16G or 32G kits.
The firm also said it had felt its presence at Blizzcon this year had been important and planned to attend the gaming show again next year. As to when DDR4 DRAM would be available, however, Kingston said it wasn't likely before the end of 2011 or first part of 2012.
