DDR3 boards

[Buddy J]

Are there any decent DDR3 boards out there in the $200 price range that could showcase DDR3 decently and are competent overclockers? I looked at the DFI Lanparty LT-X48-T3RS, but heard they have jankey memory compatibility issues.

[_k_]

Yeah everyone for OC has issues with some of the DDR3 its something everyone is going to have to live with for the time being until the socket change on intel and it forces corrections. Almost no ram is defualting correctly in one form or another. I went through 4 sets of ram before i found one that would let me OC to the limit of the proc. It mainly seems to be the ram.

[Thrax]

I should think Ryder has good insight on this. Poke him.

[Buddy J]

/me turns on the Ryder light.

[RyderOCZ]

The DFI board will do some amazing stuff, but I have seen some pretty great stuff from Gigabyte as well.

I have heard 500+ FSB from the Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 and its brethren. I have that board here, but not had a lot of time to hook up some enhanced cooling so I could play with the overclocking side of things.
Did have a couple issues with certain CAS settings at DDR3-1600 and up (does not like CAS 7, even though the ram runs it just fine on other boards) but DDR3-1800 was pretty easy as well.

Praz has put a lot of ram through the DFI board: http://csd.dficlub.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6929

Other users have had great luck with the Gigabyte: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=163168

Hope that helps.

EDIT: I have no idea what the retail price is of either board.. so maybe it won't help at all :-/

[muddocktor]

Another thing that has recently surfaced about today's DDR3 ram and the upcoming i7 systems is the fact that most everybody's high performance DDR3 won't be able to run at it's max performance with Nehalem systems due to the 1.65v max ram voltage limitations the processor will be able to handle without burning out the processor. :( So it looks like all the ram manufacturer's will have to go back to the drawing boards for their DDR3 sticks to get them to run at the lower voltages with tighter timings/higher speeds. So if you are planning on buying DDR3 with the idea of using it on a future upgrade to Nehalem, don't include that in your plans. :(

Fudzilla (http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9757&Itemid=1)
Tom's hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nehalem-Performance-Memory-DDR3,6446.html)
The INQ: (http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/10/03/performance-ram-damage-nehalem)
Picture of sticker on P6T Deluxe board. (http://www.xfastest.com/redirect.php?tid=14549&goto=newpost)

[Thrax]

Icrontic (http://icrontic.com/news/high-performance-ddr3-could-toast-nehalems)

[Buddy J]

Thanks for bringing that up again Mudd. It's something I'm aware of and planning to tackle if this plan comes to fruition. Looking around, you can get some okay sticks that still fall within the voltage rating and carry an enthusiast-friendly price.

[RyderOCZ]

Expect a lot of todays 1.7-1.9V DDR3 to run the same speed at a lower voltage on Nehalem as well ;)

All is not doom and gloom when it comes to higher voltages on the ram.

[_k_]

my OCZ-GKs run perfect at 1.5v, instead of the "stock" of 1.7v

[muddocktor]

Expect a lot of todays 1.7-1.9V DDR3 to run the same speed at a lower voltage on Nehalem as well ;)

All is not doom and gloom when it comes to higher voltages on the ram.

That is good to hear,Ryder. I guess you guys have been doing some testing with the new platform then, huh? :thumbsup:

[Buddy J]

If he tells you, he'd have to kill you.

[Buddy J]

I went with the DFI board. Anyone got an E8400 they could sell me cheap?