As part of its 35th anniversary, Kingston Technology has released the Kingston FURY Beast DD4 RGB Special Edition RAM late last year, featuring up to 3600MT/s speeds and addressable RGB lighting.
Our review samples came in two kits of two sticks, which totals up to 8GB x 4 sticks. Do note that they are of the 3600MT/s and CL17 variety, so our review will be largely based on this specification.
Kingston FURY Beast DDR4 RGB Special Edition Specifications
| Capacities | Singles: 8GB, 16GB Kit of 2: 16GB, 32GB |
| Speeds | 3200MT/s, 3600MT/s |
| Latencies | CL16, CL17, CL18 |
| Voltage | 1.35V |
| Operating Temperature | 0°C to 70°C |
| Dimensions | 133.35 mm x 45.8 mm x 8.1 mm |
Design
Unlike other FURY series RAMs, the Kingston FURY Beast Special Edition has a sleek and curved all-white heat spreader. At the top is a smooth addressable RGB strip that contours nicely along the edge of the RAM itself.
A large FURY typeface is emblazoned on the left side, while the BEAST namesake is located at the bottom right.
Test Bench Specs
| Case | Thermaltake Core P6 TG Snow |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| GPU | Asus ROG Nvidia GeForce RTX2060 |
| RAM | Kingston FURY Beast DDR4 RGB Special Edition 3600MT/s 8GB X 4 |
| Storage | WD SN550 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD |
| Motherboard | Asus ROG Strix B550-E Gaming |
| Cooler | Thermaltake TH360 ARGB Sync Cpu Liquid Cooler Snow Edition |
| Power Supply | Fractal Design ION+ 860P |
Performance
Like any other Kingston FURY RAMs, the FURY Beast Special Edition is a great performer. 3600MT/s speeds are more than fast enough for the majority of PC builders. I do appreciate the fact that the RAM is both Intel XMP-certified and Ryzen Ready, so there will be no issues regardless of using on both Intel or Ryzen rigs.
In terms of real world performance, it can easily handle video editing loads and gaming at ultra settings without any noticeable frame drops nor choppiness. It is no slouch in day to day use either, as I did not notice any lag or dips in performance.
Speaking of RAM speed, in most cases you will need to turn on XMP profiles just to get the RAM to run at the rated speed, and in my case it managed to sustain it at 1.35V without any crashes.
Customisation
Let’s face it, aesthetics plays a large role when buying Special Edition RAMs, and the FURY Beast Special Edition is no exception. In this day and age where performance RAMs tend to have aggressive, gamer-focused designs, seeing a sleek and minimalist RAM is definitely refreshing.
Despite that, you can add some tasteful RGB lighting to your build using the FURY CTRL software. It is compatible with other RGB suites by MSI, ASUS, ASRock and Gigabyte to name a few.
Our Verdict
As DDR4 heads toward the sunset, it is nice to see Kingston giving their DDR4 memory line a proper send-off. Despite DDR5 is expected to become the dominant standard over the next few years, DDR4 still enjoys significant market share and support today. None more evident than Intel’s 13th Generation processors and motherboards that still support DDR4 memory to this day.
The question to buy or not pretty much lies on your needs right now. As of today, upgrading to DDR5 RAM is expensive, not to mention the cost of upgrading your entire rig to the latest generation hardware. If you are planning to upgrade to a system that still uses DDR4 memory, then the Kingston FURY Beast DD4R RGB Special Edition is still a great option.
