The HP brand may be a household name, but anyone deep enough into PC hardware to read enthusiast publications probably doesn’t associate the company with the memory market. Most of us associate HP name with expensive ink cartridges and an ever-rotating array of notebooks. While the greatest benefit of being associated with a well-known 81-year-old company might be the ability to draw in neophytes, those researching and buying enthusiast tech like high-end desktop memory often pay little attention to marketing. So, what is the tech?
Available at data rates ranging from DDR4-2666 to DDR4-3600, each HP V6 memory kit includes one or two DIMMs, a product ID insert with installation guide and RMA contacts, and a lengthy multi-language regulatory compliance sheet. Heat spreader color is said to identify each kit, with red for DDR4-2666 and blue for DDR4-3000. But HP confuses the issue by cloaking both its DDR4-3200 and DDR4-3600 in black.
A look at the back of the package indicates that these modules can be found on the main webpage of HP Development Inc., but that it’s also manufactured and distributed under license. Sure enough, our search of the HP website yielded no information about this memory.
HP business partner Multipointe Channel Solutions (MCS) has been marketing HP-branded SSD’s for a while now, but doesn’t talk about its own history on its own website. Any customer assurance should come from the fact that the company is still in operation, rather than its ties to the HP name.
As MCS only offers 8GB modules, its P/N 7TE41AA#ABC DDR4-3200 dual-channel kit has a total of 16GB. XMP timings of 16-18-18-38 at 1.35V boost the kit past its basic DDR4-2666 configuration, but that relies on users to own an XMP-compatible motherboard to set XMP mode. This of course is how the entire performance memory market works, but it’s still something that uninformed buyers might not know.
One thing that stands out about HP memory in general is its 5-year warranty, which is substantially less than the lifetime warranties of others (though the meaning of “lifetime” can sometimes be sketchy). This gives rise to questions, like “how long will I use this kit, anyway?” Five years is likely enough coverage for many, especially given we’ve seen that most defective memory dies in less than five years and would thus be covered.
Comparison Hardware
Comparison kits for our testing rounds include our latest 2x 8GB review samples from Geil, OLOy, and Team Group, the later clocked at a higher DDR4-3600 XMP, tested on AMD’s Ryzen 7 3700X and MSI’s memory-mastering MEG X570 Ace, using Toshiba’s OCZ RD400 SSD and Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming OC 8G to reduce bottlenecks.
Overclocking and Latency Tuning
The HP V6 DDR4-3200 is the first 2x 8GB kit we’ve seen in a while that wouldn’t reach DDR4-3600, which means it won’t be represented at several of our alternative performance settings. We were however able to reduce its DDR4-3200 timings to 14-16-16-32 at 1T.
Lowest Stable Timings at 1.35V (Max) on MEG X570 ACE (BIOS 1.20)
Unfortunately, the rest of the kits reached at least DDR4-3600, and one even went to DDR4-4266. The fastest kit was also rated at a higher DDR4-3600 XMP.
Benchmark Results and Final Analysis
The HP V6 DDR4-3200 kit’s XMP bandwidth and latency are close to average in SiSoftware Sandra.
XMP gaming performance also looks good, and it even retained that performance for the most part at our lower frequency and latency settings.
The HP V6 DDR4-3200 also looks decidedly average in our timed tests, where less time means more performance. So, it should be a good deal if it’s priced well.
About that key pricing issue though: We weren’t able to find P/N 7TE41AA#ABC for sale anywhere, and instead had to price it as two P/N 7EH67AA#ABC single modules. To compete, a pair of these would need to be priced around 25% lower than two single modules.
At its current price of about $53 per 8GB stick, this kit just isn’t competitive. That of course doesn’t mean it’s a bad product, just that there are plenty of better options available from companies more well-known in the memory market. Pricing could of course also change substantially, which could make this memory more competitive. But until it does, most consumers in the know should look to the plethora of competitors.