Memories

Qeldroma

Okay, you are thinking that you have-

$250 MAX (using Newegg/Monarch prices), Toledo or Denmark core 2.2GHz stock (hoping for a good price break in a month or 2) + Zalman CNPS9500 HSF (air), ASUS A8N Premium style or equivalent mobo-

You want to overclock but are not looking to go where no man has gone before.

You want 2x1GB sticks.

What would you buy? Why?

I'm stuck between about 8 products in the PC3200 and PC4000 groupings and may actually call it on a recommendation from here.

Thanks.

muddocktor

There's 2 ways to go, IMO. If you want to get the ram running much past 200 MHz, you will need something like the OCZ Platinum PC4000 DC kit, which is a little bit higher than your max price for ram, but still under $300. It's right here:- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227225 Mushkin also sells a DC kit based basically on the same ram chips, as do Corsair, but they are both more expensive than OCZ. Whichever of these you go with, don't expect to go much past it's rated 250 MHz rating as I think that Infineon quit producing the chips that were used on the glowing reviews of this ram done by Anandtech. From all I've read, the newer chips don't overclock nearly as well. Of course like everything in overclocking, YMMV. OCZ also makes a gold GX DC kit for around $230 at the egg, but I know nothing about it except it has some neat looking heatspreaders.

Your second choice would be to keep your ram running around the 200 MHz mark and in that category there are several choices from all the major manufacturers. I'll let someone else help you there as I only have experience with the Infineon chip stuff myself.

madmat

G-Skill has some 2x1gig PC4000 sticks that OC pretty well for $199 or so. They should meet your price needs.

muddocktor

Thanks for posting the link up, Matt. I remember you posting a link to that some days ago but couldn't remember where.

On another note, I just had another stick of OCZ VX go bad on me.:bawling: I'm presently looking around to buy some cheap ram to keep 2 folding rigs running while I rma the damn DC kit. I might ask for a different replacement like some PC4000 TCCD stuff or something of that nature. This is the second time I've had a dimm failure with VX and I was keeping it below 3.5v, which is what OCZ warrants this stuff for.

madmat

That's not good...what speed are you running it at?

muddocktor

I was running it at 240 MHz with 2-2-2-8 timings with 3.4-3.5 volts, using a DDR booster and with active cooling (80mm fan mounted directly above and blowing on it).

madmat

Wow, I bet that was squirrelly fast. I'm getting 5700mb/s from this Patriot at 2-3-2-5 @ 214mhz running a divider, I can just imagine what those latencies are netting you at 1-1 with a 939 rig. Asuuming of course, it is *ahem* a 939 rig.

Qeldroma

Thanks Mud 'n Mat.

I'm afraid the OCZ is a bit out of my $ league, Mud. I was actually looking at the

OCZ Gold GX or Gold Edition but even those are a little rich.

The G-Skil looks like a possibility for the short list.

Maybe if I explain my thinking a little, it would help me process-

I'm probably going to OC moderately- hopefully 10-15%. My goal is to get the best performance without flushing lots of power away and generating lots of heat. Understand that I live in AZ where "cooling" is a two-edged power sword. I guess you could call it the best "Green Machine OC" for a reasonable $. I'm also looking at power meters to help analyze the process.

OK, that said- my speed may land between 225-240 and this will not push the ratings of PC4000 mem. Can I tighten the timings? Should I think more about PC3200 and widen?

Again, you all are much more savvy with memory and OCing, so I hope to tap your experience for thoughts-

Thanks again!

Leonardo

I gather from what you're writing that you are not interested in CPU FSB-only overclocking, to keep the RAM close to SPD?

Qeldroma

Leonardo wrote:

I gather from what you're writing that you are not interested in CPU FSB-only overclocking, to keep the RAM close to SPD?

Sorry about the delay in this post, Leo. I've been on the road, doin' chores, and not being too attentive at the forums.

If you got a moment- what is your thought here?

My knowledge & understanding of SPD is pretty limited. I know what it is, but what's your thought? I thought SPD settings were more for stability and sometimes don't even match advertised ratings.

If you mean I'm willing to use dividers and not simply push the HTT, yes. (Again, understand I have only some AMD64 knowledge and 0 experience).

Again, thanks.

Mt_Goat

I say that something like OCZ Titanium 2GB (2 x 1GB) (PC 3200) Model #: OCZ4002048ELDCTE-K will work very well because the A64 platform is not syncronus like socket A. I have been playing with running my HTT and memory the same vs running dividers and keeping tighter memory timings and find that with a divider and the tightest timings I get better overall system performance as opposed to higher memory frequency with loose timings. It also makes overclocking much simpler! You will not be penalized performance wise by running a divider between your HTT and memory. I just figure out what divider will keep my memory +/- 10% of 200 (400 DDR) and run with it. I just finished playing with an Asus SLI Premium and found that it automaticaly sets the divider based on your set memory speed and HTT. It seems to be a very sweet set-up! My DFI has every option under the sun for memory settings and can be set to get more out of it but it can take days to find the sweet spot or even what is stable. But you can leave lots of settings on "Auto" and not mess with them if you wish.

Leonardo

My knowledge & understanding of SPD is pretty limited. I know what it is, but what's your thought? I thought SPD settings were more for stability and sometimes don't even match advertised ratings.

"SPD" ratings are merely the specifications for a series of RAM modules that a manufacturer has tested them for. The testing is not necessarily every module, but for the series. The SPD rating is the minimum ratings at which the module is supposed to be stable at. If the RAM is not stable at the advertised frequency, such as PC3500 (533MHz DDR) or PC5300 (667MHz DDR), the RAM is considered defective and not in up to advertised specification. Many, if not most RAM modules will exceed SPD. SPD is also a preset, or presets of the RAM. The motherboard will automatically run the modules at SPD unless the user sets the timings differently.

lemonlime

muddocktor wrote:

On another note, I just had another stick of OCZ VX go bad on me.:bawling: I'm presently looking around to buy some cheap ram to keep 2 folding rigs running while I rma the damn DC kit. I might ask for a different replacement like some PC4000 TCCD stuff or something of that nature. This is the second time I've had a dimm failure with VX and I was keeping it below 3.5v, which is what OCZ warrants this stuff for.

That stinks mudd. These newer BH modules can't seem to take a beating like the good'ol 170nm BH5. I ran my KHX3500 BH-5 at 3.8V for months at 270MHz, and it never flinched. I've been using OCZ's PC3200 TCCD for quite a while though, as the 512mb BH5 just isnt enough these days.

Qeldroma

mtgoat wrote:

I say that something like OCZ Titanium 2GB (2 x 1GB) (PC 3200) Model #: OCZ4002048ELDCTE-K will work very well ...

I was about to click off on another set of memory until

I noticed these ($155 with rebate)

Am I dreaming, or were these going for almost $400 not all that long ago?

Looks like a deal ...

Omega65

You're not dreaming. I've noticed in forum sales that some 2GB (2x 1GB) Kits are now going for >$170

Qeldroma

Omega65 wrote:

You're not dreaming. I've noticed in forum sales that some 2GB (2x 1GB) Kits are now going for >$170

Ordered. This is almost $100 less than the 2x512MB kit I ordered a couple of years ago- with slightly better timings. The deal is good through 3/31.

SM came through for me again- what kicked me over was this thread .

::Make way for DDR2::