Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB memory review

Our Verdict

77%

We love the looks of Kingston's Fury Renegade DDR modules, but 4600MHz is overkill and extremely expensive.

We’ve been impressed with Kingston’s recent DDR5 memory kits, but its high-speed Renegade gamer memory kits actually started in the DDR4 era, and the Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB kit here can run at 4600MHz straight out of the box. However, it does have to slacken the latency timings of its SK Hynix D-die memory chips to get there.

At Custom PC, we’ve been reviewing the latest memory since 2003, and we’ve tested and overclocked hundreds of kits, going right back to the original DDR era. We run both synthetic and application benchmarks to assess performance, and also see how far we can overclock each kit. In addition, we look at any RGB lighting features and assess how good it looks, as well as how well the control software works. For more information, check out our How we test page.

Our kit used 19-26-26-45 timings, which were the loosest DDR4 timings we’ve tested recently, and in an AMD system, you’ll either need to make sure this frequency is paired with the fabric clock, or gun for maximum performance in benchmarking with Intel systems, otherwise the extra cash won’t be well spent.

This high-speed kit will also set you back $160 (£153), which is double the price of some of the other DDR4 kits we’ve recently reviewed, but slower kits are available too, with a 3600MHz set going for under $100, for example.

Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB performance

The higher speed didn’t result in any immediate extra performance in our AMD test system either, with the slack timings seeing relatively low read and write speeds. The former of 49,439MB/s was bettered by most other kits we’ve recently reviewed and it had a high latency of 69ns, with a comparatively low RealBench system score too.

This was despite having a 1000MHz advantage over most other kits. The Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB also includes a second XMP profile, with lower frequency and tighter timings, sitting at 4000MHz and 19-23-23-42 respectively.

However, this proved to be a false economy, as the timings were still higher than most other DDR4 kits we’ve recently reviewed and it had less of an advantage in frequency. We’re surprised the kit couldn’t hit tighter timings here, and it would have been an interesting move, giving you the option of a faster everyday kit with tight timings, or a frequency monster for benchmarking. In this case, though, it isn’t really able to offer either of those benefits without a significant amount of extra tweaking.

Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB lighting

Meanwhile, the lighting bars on top of the modules are slimmer than those on the Kingston Fury Beast DDR4 RGB modules, but this made the lighting look more intense and these diffusion bars also seemed to iron out the gaps between the LEDs a little more. The side details are an attractive touch too, and as a bonus, the modules are only 42mm tall, making them ideal for use with height-restricted coolers or in very compact systems.

Kingston offers some good in-house RGB lighting software too in the form of Fury CTRL, which offers every setting the casual tweaker would need. The modules are also compatible with motherboard software from ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte and MSI.

Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB pros and cons

Pros

• Low profile
• Good lighting software
• Attractive lighting

Cons

• Slack timings impact performance
• Expensive
• Cheaper kits are faster

Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB specs

The Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB specs list is:

Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB price

Price: Expect to pay $160 / £153.

Kingston Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB review conclusion

We love seeing Kingston gunning for the top spots, and its efforts elsewhere have been justly rewarded. However, the Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB at 4600MHz is overkill for most applications, and unless you know how to use it, you’ll end up with slower results, even if you use the second XMP profile with tighter timings. For AMD systems, some slower memory would suffice and cost significantly less money too.

However, we do like the design, lighting, software and low-profile stature, so while this speed demon of a kit might be a waste of money for most people, a more mainstream 3600MHz version for under £100 would be a much better bet for lovers of RGB lighting.

We prefer the heatsink and lighting design of the Fury Renegade DDR4 RGB compared with its sibling Beast kit too, but ultimately, you’re better off spending your money a bit more wisely than going for this expensive 4600MHz DDR4 kit.