Kingston Hyper-X Impact

[FireFox]

Hey guys,

 

I have installed it into my HP Elitebook 8460p and all I get is 3 flashes which I've looked into which means non functional memory. I've also installed it in my mother-in-laws laptop which is also a HP and it does nothing.

 

Now I don't know whether the stick is DOA or that HP are locked down and need ''Certified Memory'' or some bullshit. Tomorrow which will be my last attempt will be to install it in a friends Asus laptop and see if I get the same results.

 

Am I right in trying this or should I just send it back?

[FinestRyeBread]

Hey guys,

I have installed it into my HP Elitebook 8460p and all I get is 3 flashes which I've looked into which means non functional memory. I've also installed it in my mother-in-laws laptop which is also a HP and it does nothing.

Now I don't know whether the stick is DOA or that HP are locked down and need ''Certified Memory'' or some bullshit. Tomorrow which will be my last attempt will be to install it in a friends Asus laptop and see if I get the same results.

Am I right in trying this or should I just send it back?

just try it, if it doesn't work, definitely send it back

[FireFox]

Has anyone known of problems with memory were you have to use certified memory even though the chipset does actually support it.

 

Ohh the memory is DDR3-1600 which I can't see being an issue.

[Naeaes]

HP doesn't usually support OC memory. What made you assume it did? Certainly not kingston.com The Asus just might support it. If it's like G-series or so.

[FireFox]

HP doesn't usually support OC memory. What made you assume it did? Certainly not kingston.com The Asus just might support it. If it's like G-series or so.

 

I assumed it would work because it is DDR3 memory, maybe I was a little nieve. My friends laptop is an Asus X550CA or something like that. Definetly X Series.

 

I'm buying a gaming laptop later this year so if the stick is actually fine then I'll just store it.

[Naeaes]

I assumed it would work because it is DDR3 memory, maybe I was a little nieve. My friends laptop is an Asus X550CA or something like that. Definetly X Series.

 

I'm buying a gaming laptop later this year so if the stick is actually fine then I'll just store it.

Yeah. It's a bit more complex. the root of the issue might be any number of reasons but my guess is that the HyperX is dual-rank (it has eight chips per side and a controller in between them) and the laptop only supports single-rank (four chips per side and no controller). At least all the spare parts HP has listed here are single-rank. Could also be that the Jedec plug and play settings (the settings that the stick reports to BIOS if given the chance) are kind of tight for the Impact. It says here it's CL9 at 1600MHz and at 1.35 Volts, mind you. My guess is that the HP sticks go at CL11 or so at 1600MHz and 1.5V. Or worse yet, no more than 1333MHz. You can use software like CPU-Z to tell easily, if you're interested.

 

In any case, RAM compatibility stretches from physical differences like the ranking and sides to electrical differences, like the operating voltage to differences in the settings like the timings to stupid crazy stuff like chip manufacturer exclusivity. If you do a google image search for the Kingston KTH-X3B/8G (it's the recommended stick for the HP laptop), you can see that it says Elpida on the chips, not Kingston.

To a degree, you can combat some of these issues in BIOS if you can adjust RAM the settings but more often than not, the settings simply aren't there. It's always extra work for the manufacturer to include the possibility to overclock and otherwise adjust settings so they just don't do it. Why would they, since they don't sell OC parts themselves anyway. Also, the bulk of HP customers aren't into OC anyway and prefer the simple settings.

Personally, I'm very completely from inside and out done trying to figure RAM compatibility out piece by piece. There's so much that they don't tell us. It's so much simpler to just look up the sticks that are known-good from the qualified vendor lists or from the compatibility tools on the RAM manufacturer websites. Also there's the added bonus of liability since they themselves advertise it as compatible. Win-win situation in my books.

 

Sorry for the wall of text. I felt like you'd like to know more about what's going on.

Btw, if you end up returning the sticks, maybe you shouldn't advertise that you didn't check the compatibility prior to purchasing. It might be against their return-policy. 

[FireFox]

Yeah. It's a bit more complex. the root of the issue might be any number of reasons but my guess is that the HyperX is dual-rank (it has eight chips per side and a controller in between them) and the laptop only supports single-rank (four chips per side and no controller). At least all the spare parts HP has listed here are single-rank. Could also be that the Jedec plug and play settings (the settings that the stick reports to BIOS if given the chance) are kind of tight for the Impact. It says here it's CL9 at 1600MHz and at 1.35 Volts, mind you. My guess is that the HP sticks go at CL11 or so at 1600MHz and 1.5V. Or worse yet, no more than 1333MHz. You can use software like CPU-Z to tell easily, if you're interested.

 

In any case, RAM compatibility stretches from physical differences like the ranking and sides to electrical differences, like the operating voltage to differences in the settings like the timings to stupid crazy stuff like chip manufacturer exclusivity. If you do a google image search for the Kingston KTH-X3B/8G (it's the recommended stick for the HP laptop), you can see that it says Elpida on the chips, not Kingston.

To a degree, you can combat some of these issues in BIOS if you can adjust RAM the settings but more often than not, the settings simply aren't there. It's always extra work for the manufacturer to include the possibility to overclock and otherwise adjust settings so they just don't do it. Why would they, since they don't sell OC parts themselves anyway. Also, the bulk of HP customers aren't into OC anyway and prefer the simple settings.

Personally, I'm very completely from inside and out done trying to figure RAM compatibility out piece by piece. There's so much that they don't tell us. It's so much simpler to just look up the sticks that are known-good from the qualified vendor lists or from the compatibility tools on the RAM manufacturer websites. Also there's the added bonus of liability since they themselves advertise it as compatible. Win-win situation in my books.

 

Sorry for the wall of text. I felt like you'd like to know more about what's going on.

Btw, if you end up returning the sticks, maybe you shouldn't advertise that you didn't check the compatibility prior to purchasing. It might be against their return-policy. 

 

The stick I have has 4 chips aside and also won't even get to the BIOS. If I can't verify that it works in my friends PC tomorrow (Ivy Bridge, up to 1600MHz) then I'll just return it but so far struggling to contact them because I bought a kit of 2 sticks 2x4GB but only 1 has arrived. damn morons.

[Naeaes]

Hope it works out. You should contact them. The whole kit is supposed to be in the same plastic box.

[FireFox]

Hope it works out. You should contact them. The whole kit is supposed to be in the same plastic box.

 

There was no plastic box just an anti-static bag which I found a little weird considering it is meant to be brand new. Already contacted them, in the message I've given them until 12pm tomorrow to repond otherwise I'm going to open a case with eBay.