Kingston NaVi Limited Edition DDR3 1600MHz 8GB Memory Kit Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Kingston haven’t passed us specific pricing or availability yet but we can safely assume that these kits will be priced close to their “normal” counterparts. Currently the 2 X 4GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz modules cost £50 in the UK and $70 in the USA. Given Kingston’s tradition of aggressive pricing we’d expect these kits to cost within 10% of their HyperX counterparts, maybe even the same. Availability will be very limited……because they are limited edition – duh!

Conclusions

With Kingston’s NaVi LE kits I can see two particular views. The first is that for enthusiasts these kits are just duds. They run at 1600MHz – not fast enough for enthusiasts. They don’t really overclock – not good enough for enthusiasts. If you’re an enthusiast and want to theme up a yellow system build then its highly likely you’ll be using an MSI Lightning graphics card and an XPower/MPower MSI motherboard. This is all high end kit, but a 8GB or 16GB 1600MHz memory kit is not high end kit. While they look the part they just lack flexibility because Kingston only want to offer 1600MHz – I think offering 1600/1866/2133 would of been a more sensible decision if they truly wanted to connect with the enthusiast market.

The other view is that Kingston is targeting gamers and eSports enthusiasts. In which case all they’ll really care about is having “enough” memory so 8GB and 16GB kits will do the trick nicely. If you’re interested in eSports and the NaVi team then these kits are amazing for you. Of course you’d still need to do some matching up of these kits with a few other yellow parts or they’ll stand out like a sore thumb.

Overall these kits look great if you have a system to match the bold colouring, they are decent enough in terms of what you’d expect from a 1600MHz kit and they should be price competitively and with Kingston’s legendary lifetime warranty. Yet for a Limited Edition kit I think Kingston have wasted a really opportunity to make something special. I’d of liked to see some higher frequency kits, and a bit more attention to detail on the “Limited Edition” aspect – maybe a metal shelled case with a padded interior and limited edition certificate. Heck just anything to make these seem limited edition because to me, as they are currently, these are just a budget Hyper X kit painted yellow with a NaVi sticker.

In my honest opinion if you REALLY want a limited edition yellow Kingston memory kit that looks like this then buy a Kingston HyperX Genesis 2133MHz 8/16GB kit and colour it yellow using a method of your choice (spray paint for example).

Pros

• Affordable Expected Price
• Lifetime warranty
• Bold and unique yellow design

Cons

• Only 1600MHz, not enough for most
• Lack of capacity and frequency options
• Lacking something special for a limited edition kit

“Kingston’s Limited Edition NaVi HyperX kit is a bit on the disappointing side for something that is branded as Limited Edition. I think the average modder could make a much better yellow memory kit and Kingston really missed an opportunity to create something much more special.”

Thank you to Kingston for providing this review sample.