Looking Into OCZ Ram for a new pc

[djstubbs]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103543 $515

Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127206 $215

Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130234 $599

Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102178 $71

Sound Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160 $166

Hard Drive

-----

I was running through the specs for my new pc, and I was curious which ram you guys would suggest for the best gaming performance possible.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

[Mt_Goat]

First I want to ask what power supply you plan to use??? In almost all the new systems a low quality PSU has been to blame for many frustrations and systems that would either not post or not be stable. I am not sure of some of your choices on other hardware but will see what Mack has to say in his opinion.

As far as the best memory for a new high powered A64 system I think he will chime right in with my suggestion of OCZ EL DDR PC-4800 Platinum Elite Edition (http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_el_ddr_pc_4800_platinum_elite_edition) but do not confuse it with the regular EL 4800 Platinum. The key word is "Elite Edition".

Here it is at X-bit labs. (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/memory/display/20050714210906.html)

[mmonnin]

Almost had me wondering there Larry. Thats just a news item. At first I thought I missed an actual review of how well it overclocks.

Yeah, that might be a good set, its new so I'm not sure but it should be good. Some Plat Rev 2.0 if you can get TCCD chips or some OCZ VX series.

If you get the VX, it is much better matched with the DFI board. THe Abit has had problems overclocking. Its not very good at all.

[Mt_Goat]

Almost had me wondering there Larry. Thats just a news item. At first I thought I missed an actual review of how well it overclocks.

Yeah, that might be a good set, its new so I'm not sure but it should be good. Some Plat Rev 2.0 if you can get TCCD chips or some OCZ VX series.

If you get the VX, it is much better matched with the DFI board. THe Abit has had problems overclocking. Its not very good at all.

Thanks Marc, I fixed it. ;)

Actually it is just the next logical step in the progerssion of speed. I see G. Skill makes their version of the same thing, which would be very close. Same Samsung TCCD, just a new released speed which means it is binned to the highest level. I thought VX would be the end all for the DFI boards but it is very voltage hungry like BH-5 and as such needs good cooling.

[djstubbs]

Yes I was looking into the Platinum r2, as I saw some reviews and benchmarks on anandtech.com

I planned on getting the ocz powerstream 600w psu, upgrading from my current 500w ultra x-connect.

Memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104153 $199

That is what I had in mind....

Now I'm curious...

Is this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227208

compatible with the motherboard shown?

[Mt_Goat]

Yes I was looking into the Platinum r2, as I saw some reviews and benchmarks on anandtech.com

I planned on getting the ocz powerstream 600w psu, upgrading from my current 500w ultra x-connect.

Memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104153 $199

That is what I had in mind....

Now I'm curious...

Is this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227208

compatible with the motherboard shown?

Yes!

It will get you better OC's than the 3200 Platinum. But the best would be the Limited Edition I linked to above as it uses Samsung TCCD modules instead of the TCC5 the regular Platinum uses.

[mmonnin]

I did some testing today and I was able to run thru Memtest86+ in the DFi BIOS at 324 FSB with some relaxed timings. I have the OCZ Plat Rev 2.0 sticks with TCCD chips.

I havent tried it in windows tho.

[djstubbs]

Where can I buy the elite edition?

Also thanks for the help guys. :thumbsup:

[mmonnin]

I couldnt find any.

[djstubbs]

So aside from the Elite edition, you guys would reccomend the regular 4800 platinum.

[Mt_Goat]

I did find the G. Skill version here. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231015)

I am running the G.SKILL 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 550 (PC 4400) Samsung TCCD "LE" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231006). I can get it up to 305 on my DFI LP NF4 Ultra-D with a bit of fiddeling. It will go to 290 very easily!

[Mt_Goat]

Where's Mack? I thought he would have popped in here by now. :scratch:

[primesuspect]

Mack's on his honeymoon ;)

Be sure to congratulate him, he'll be back soon :p

[djstubbs]

So what's the final word??

And also I most likely won't be overclocking, and here are my revised system specs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103529 $473

Processor - AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152 $135

Motherboard - DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130234 $599

Video Card - eVGA 256-P2-N528-AX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102178 $71

Sound Card - CREATIVE Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160 $166

Hard Drive - Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890 $168

Memory - OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104153 $199

Power Supply - OCZ PowerStream OCZ600ADJ ATX12V 600W Power Supply

-------

I was also considering this RAM: OCZ PC4000 VX Gold

I'm pretty sure I'm sold on the RAM I have right there.

[mmonnin]

It you are not going to be overclocking then you dont really need the best OCing motherboard with the DFI. Get something with the best features then.

You wont need anything more than PC3200 either. If you are not OCing then its a waste of money.

[djstubbs]

It you are not going to be overclocking then you dont really need the best OCing motherboard with the DFI. Get something with the best features then.

You wont need anything more than PC3200 either. If you are not OCing then its a waste of money.

You know what I take that back, and also the DFI mobo costs less than the ABIT I had in mind so either way that's not an issue, it also ran better (stock) when tested. (anandtech.com being my resource).

So now keep in mind I "will be overclocking", most likely will be now that i think of it.

Sorry for any confusion.

---

Note, when I added up the prices on Newegg it came to $1,941.42

$108.48 in tax notably.

Edit:For everything listed without the OCZ Ram and PSU (not offered)

The total including shipping \ (no tax) came to:

Subtotal: $1483.88 (zipzoomfly) :thumbsup: vs. $1544.37 (newegg)

[TheLostSwede]

Sorry for being late DJ,

The Elite stuff is brand new but we all know what the TCCD/TCC5 does. I have a co-worker who have worked closely with Abit with that board and i honestly don't know how good or bad it is. Lemme check if i can find some information since i have been out of the loop the last week. Good TCCD/TCC5 is the right memory for just about any board out there.

[djstubbs]

Sorry for being late DJ,

The Elite stuff is brand new but we all know what the TCCD/TCC5 does. I have a co-worker who have worked closely with Abit with that board and i honestly don't know how good or bad it is. Lemme check if i can find some information since i have been out of the loop the last week. Good TCCD/TCC5 is the right memory for just about any board out there.

Hah, that's okay I haven't bought anything yet.

I'm curious also about the DFI board I listed in my more recent posts, I saw some benchmarks of the revision 2 and it clearly was the best of the pc3200's.

But I'm curious if there's something better that you have some benchmarks for and what not, thanks Mackanz and to the other guys helping too. :thumbsup:

[TheLostSwede]

You will basically get the same benchmarks out of all Platinum memory at the same memory speed as they are based on the same chips. These memory are great cause they don't need as much voltage as the VX memory, but the VX performs better clock for clock.

[Mt_Goat]

Mack,

It's about time you showed up. ;D j/k

Congrats on the big news!


now back to our regularly scheduled program. ;)

[djstubbs]

You will basically get the same benchmarks out of all Platinum memory at the same memory speed as they are based on the same chips. These memory are great cause they don't need as much voltage as the VX memory, but the VX performs better clock for clock.

So in the end which do you reccomend?

Also now that we're talking about OCZ products, which power supply would you reccomend for this system, and why?

I had these two in mind:

OCZ ModStream OCZ52012U ATX 520W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104155)

OCZ PowerStream OCZ600ADJ ATX12V 600W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104153)

[mmonnin]

OCZ Powerstream of course, even if the wattage was the same. The powerstream is a better PSU than the modstream.

I would like to take a powerstream and put in a modstream box so I could use the functionality of both.

[djstubbs]

OCZ Powerstream of course, even if the wattage was the same. The powerstream is a better PSU than the modstream.

I would like to take a powerstream and put in a modstream box so I could use the functionality of both.

Yeah that's what I was thinking.

Is it worth the upgrade from my current ultra x-connect 500w?

[djstubbs]

bump~

[mmonnin]

What are the current rails looking like?

[TheLostSwede]

DJ, is your current psu a 24-pin? You may need a native 24-pin psu to be able to run most mainboards. In fact, DFI even says that they won't support customers if they dont have a 24-pin.

[mmonnin]

And they dont support the 20->24 pin adapter either.

My DFI nForce4 board has the same rails with or without the apapter but will not post without the P4 connector, unlike the NF7-S nForce2 board.

[djstubbs]

DJ, is your current psu a 24-pin? You may need a native 24-pin psu to be able to run most mainboards. In fact, DFI even says that they won't support customers if they dont have a 24-pin.

I don't think it is:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=273002

[TheLostSwede]

Nope, thats a standard 20 pin. A modstram would serve you well and it isnt that expensive either. I use one in my gaming rig with the FX, Radeon x850 XT PE, 2GB of ram and the other stuff without problems at all.

[djstubbs]

Nope, thats a standard 20 pin. A modstram would serve you well and it isnt that expensive either. I use one in my gaming rig with the FX, Radeon x850 XT PE, 2GB of ram and the other stuff without problems at all.

Modstream 520W I assume?

[TheLostSwede]

Yes sir.

[djstubbs]

Now I'm considering selling my current ram, so I can get this:

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_el_ddr_pc_4000_1024mb_gold_edition_dual_channel-2gb_

Mainly because of this:

http://deathisinevitable.com/images/shsc/bf2ram.png

Thoughts?

$369: http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=140363&Category_Code=Unbuffered_OCZ

;D :bawling:

Now I have a different question..

Would I benefit from the 2-2-2-8 timings? (on my current ram)

Can anyone link me to a list of what to change in my bios to get those timings? When it comes to overclocking AMD / memory I get confused.

[TheLostSwede]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.leach80/4000gold%202gig/4000gold2gigdefault.JPG 2GB at 1T will beat just about any 2X512 no matter what timings in games and heavy load. The ram you linked to is great. Many hits over 260 with them at reasonable timings.

[Oriane]

I'm thinking of these very same ones since Mack recommended them and I found this -
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18890&page=1&pp=15&highlight=ocz+pc4000+2gb

I was very impressed with the result and am waiting for Mack's review before I ask many more questions. However, these people work for DFI and I wouldn't mind checking on 4GB performance of these on other motherboards. RGone had excellent results with 4GB of this on DFI. ASUS? MSI? ?

[djstubbs]

I'm probably going to RMA my current RAM, and try and buy that RAM I first linked to.

[TheLostSwede]

DJ,

Maybe i have missed it, but do you have issues with your VX ram?

[djstubbs]

DJ,

Maybe i have missed it, but do you have issues with your VX ram?

It's taking way too much effort to get the timings I want, no issues, they work fine.

But I want 2gb now :o

[TheLostSwede]

Try these settings in the bios:

200
enable
2.0
02
06
02
07
16 or 14
03 or 02
03
02 or 01
03 or 02
0648, 2560 or 3120 (0648 has worked on many systems)
auto
enabled
auto
0
level 8
level 2
7.0
auto
256
disable
16
07
disable

In Genie Bios

200 and higher (start at 230mhz or so and work up)
auto
16 16
7 (for testing, then adjust for max overclock)
100
disable
1.500v
1.300v (This is about 1.57v, if you need more do not go past 1.45v here, use more the 123% below, there is a reason )
above VID * 123%
1.30v
1.70v
3.3v-3.4v (up to 3.5v for Gold and Gold GX and this will void your warranty on these products of course

[djstubbs]

OMG thank you, let me try these.