OCZ PC4000 VX die on DFI Ultra

GooD

Related with all i've read on dfi-street in the stick-thread about probleme on DFI Ultra... I've read that there's a lot of people who have see their PC4000 VX died on the board... Everyone don't seem to know who's to blame but the fact is that it is happening very often.

Im asking this one to Mack here Since my new PC will have DFI Ultra & PC4000 VX on board... I can't change my mind of the RAM because it is already ordered. In fact i was suppose to have my PC yesterday but my HD was buggy so they must replace it before...

You know that's why im a little worried about this problem... I don't realy like to see my RAM die ... You are surely aware of this problem ? If not then just say it and i'll find you some user experience on the dfi-street forum.

What i need to know is, if the RAM died on the board and this is a known problem by OCZ, will i be able to get onther RAM from ocz in replacement, i mean... the garantee will surely be there for me right ? There's a guy on DFI-Street that have see 3 pair of OCZ ram died on his board...

Im asking that because if my ram died, i wanna know what to do since it will surely die again soon if i get RMA. If i could i would change my ram but i cannot so i'll have to pray, there's some user that have PC4000 VX on DFI Ultra and never have problem with it... But there's a lot in the other hands too...

I wanna know what is up to me if it's happen to me... or if you have some clue to not make it happen. I have no idea of extreme overclock on the VX but since it's made for ExtremeVoltage i'll want to put 3.2~3.3 volt in it... If my ram died even if i get RMA for another PC4000 VX ram i'll probably don't want it... Because i hate running into trouble and if for that i must throw away 400 CND$ to buy another ram i will... but i won't be happy about it, you know what i mean... heh

Just post your .02 about it

Thankx

lemonlime

Hi GooD, I know Mack will have some better answers for you, but I thought I'd add my small piece. There seems to be some kind of a relation between using the 5V jumper, and the premature death of the high voltage memory. One some of the earlier revisions of the board, people were leaving the jumper on the 3.3V setting, and simply boosting their 3.3V PSU rail to get the juice they needed. At that time, the 5V jumper caused some ram toasts and some board toasts in the first revisions. I don't recall hearing anything official about this being resolved or even investigated heavily by DFI. If your PSU supports adjustable rails, I'd crank the 3.3V up a bit (maybe to 3.5 or so), and keep the vdimm set to 3.2volts. You should get the 3.3-3.4 you are looking for. Also, be sure to actively cool the memory AND the top right hand corner of the board (important).

Good luck!

GooD

I wont be using the 5v jumper for sure. I does a bad job since i've read many post about it in dfi-street forum. But there are also some other one that burn down their RAM even when don't using the 5v jumper and staying at 3.3v.

When you say 'actively cool the memory', is there so kind of device you are refering too ? Because where the RAM is placed on the motherboard, without some mod with fan and metal wire to place the fan just in top of the RAM, i don't see anything to 'cool' the ram, nothing else than the heatsink that is already on the RAM. I've read that the heatsink is not very good to 'cool' the RAM... Any suggestion ?

EDIT : My room is very cooled too... Temperature is always around 16-20c. With the Lian li v2000 i'll also get some great air cooling. Maybe you'll want to consider it for the 'actively cooled memory' heh

I'll have a XP90C on the cpu with a Panaflow 92mm on top of it that will surely pull out some air around and the heatsink will absord some heat from the RAM but that's not what i actualy call 'active cooling for RAM'

I know i am surely a little too 'anxious' about it... but my new computer will cost me an arm an a leg so i want it to be as safe as it can. If there's some information around that can save me some trouble (like dead ram) i'll do all what must be done for sure. That's one of the reason why i post here without even having my new computer at home.... Because when i'll have it i want all the information i need to 'know i do' and 'don't make mistake'... There's some around that don't care about and RMA often, but in my case i can i will appreciate tu run a little safer and never RMA

Thankx lemonlime, your always welcome in all of my thread since your 2 cent is always usefull

GooD

Another thing... My PSU is a PC 510 EXPRESS (i've recieve it from Power&Cooling, VERYYYY NICEEEE PSU BTW, and i did not even test... it looks terribly "well constructed" with premium quality) Expensive one but sweet

I'd never play with PSU... is it easy to switch this one and set it to 3.5 volt ? I don't think it was explained in the 'manual'. (I dont have it anymore, i give the psu to the store who has ordered all the other pieces) How does it work ?

TheLostSwede

Hi Good,

As long as you use the default 3.3 line for the memory, you should be safe.
If you feel that thsi ram does't suit you, i can always try to get it replaced for you to something else. Just let me know

GooD

Hi Mack !

Well, it seems (to what i've read) that the PC-3200 Platinum Rev 2 is way more stable than the VX on DFI board.

But, since i was not expect to overclock the ram for more than 3.2~3.3, i'll overlock my VX to 3.2v and let the jumper on the 3.2 position... hope it'll last more than a week

If it dies with this settings than for sure i'll want to go with the PC-3200 Platinum Rev 2 , even if it's 'cheaper' in price range. What i want the more is stability. I got the VX mainly because of the GREAT AnandTech review that talk about it... It was like THE MEMORY for the DFI so i had chose this one just because of that heh.

So if you say me that if it dies and you can change change my VX for a PC-3200 Platinum Rev 2 (even if it cost less and not perform better, it's said to be more stable) i'll be more than happy and not worried anymore ! I don't want to RMA forever heh

BTW i'll be looking for a way to put a fan on the top of the DIMM so it'll surely help to cool thoses 'hotty' VX and help them to live longer heh

GooD

In fact, the move i'll want to make IF it die will highly depend on 'how' and 'when' the memory die. If the memory was stable and if it takes a long time before it die, than it'll be okay for me and i'll surely want another bunch of VX Anyway, i've just talked to someone with 4000 VX on a dfi board, he got the 5/10 bios version and said it works realy well at ~3.3v ... Maybe i'll be lucky like him

But by the friendly way that you (Mack) answer to me, i don't think i run into MUCH problem if i stay under 3.2 voltage. Anyway im sure that even at 3v the VX memory will rocks ! Problem here is not performance, it's durability

If something happen then you'll be there for me i guess

I've call to the store where i've buy my computer, they're doing test on it but now everything 'seems' to be stable... They had a lot of problems yesterday, buggy HD, problem with the DFI LAN PARTY... They change the mb and the HD and now they say it's seem to work well. That's the good thing of order a computer from a store that install and test everything (for free Ok ok... hardware cost a little more $ i know ) BEFORE you can even touch it. That removes a lot of trouble

I'll have it soon now... i can feel it