Quick Ram compat question

po0k

Purpose: 2x 1Gig sticks of low latency PC3200 running on a DFI NF4 SLI-DR / SanDiego 3700+

Source: shop4memory.com
2Gb DDR PC3200 OCZ EL Platinum Dual Channel kit - OCZ OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K
(2x 1Gb EL DDR PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum), 400Mhz, 184 pins, CL 2-3-2-5 (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS) Rating, EL DDR IC 4.5 ns, w/ Platinum Coated Heatspreaders
€ 346 inc VAT

2Gb kit Low Latency PC3200 Dual Channel - Patriot
(2x 1Gb Low Latency PC3200 Dual Channel DDR RAM)
400Mhz, 184 pins, CL 2-3-2-5 1T Rating @ DDR400
w/ Aluminium Heatspreaders, Dual Channel Optimised
€ 302 inc VAT

Anyone know what the difference is between these two?
14% or so is quite a large difference for what appear to be very similar modules.

Are there any issues with either of these modules and the DFI board?

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=302138&view=detailed - this is the stuff I'm really interested in.
"Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2 DDR-DIMM 2048MB Kit w/two matched CMX1024-3200C2 DIMMs"

Product Description Corsair XMS memory - 2 GB ( 2 x 1 GB ) - DIMM 184-PIN - DDR
Storage Capacity 2 GB ( 2 x 1 GB )
Technology DDR SDRAM
Form Factor DIMM 184-PIN
Memory Speed 400 MHz ( PC3200 )
CAS Latency CL2
Features Aluminum heatsink
Supply Voltage 2.75 V

From what I remember it has 2-2-2-6 @1T timings at DDR400

{edit}Sorry, it's 2-3-3-6 on Intel, 2.5-3-3-6 on AMD - still, it's a good few quid cheaper than the other stuff{/edit}

The Real B-man

Corsair seems the best bet.

po0k

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/AMD/memory/91

Seemingly if it's rev4.1 or 4.2 XMS3200C2, it should be TCCD which is sweet

Komplett seem to have 9pcs on order, but unconfirmed. I can wait a few weeks to get it

po0k

Just after checking on the Corsair Ram Guy forums.

Apparently most of the XMS3200C2 stuff are Infineon chips.

{edit} So I'm back to looking at the OCZ EL Platinum 2Gig kit. €100 dearer, and is probably Rev.2 so Samsung TCC5 instead of TCCD, but according to Samsung, OCZ and a bunch of sites, there's no difference between the chips, just that some people have gotten lower overclocks off PC3200 sticks than they expected and blamed the 'new' chips.{/edit}

po0k

John,

The product that you mention, the PC-3200 2GB Platinum EL DDR uses Infineon ICs in a 64x8 configuration. Our modules are normal height, with the heatspreader adding very little in terms of height. They will fit fine on your mainboard with the XP-90, based on previous experience.

Unfortunately, we do not have any extensive data sheets available for this product, just the information available online and some extra misc. info.

Sincerely,
Sean Sinha
Technical Support Specialist
...
www.ocztechnology.com

Balls.

Why is it so damn hard to find pairs of 1Gig modules that use decent chips? It's not like I'm looking for DDR600-rated stuff either

unkel

SyxPak wrote:

Why is it so damn hard to find pairs of 1Gig modules that use decent chips? It's not like I'm looking for DDR600-rated stuff either

Low latency 1GB sticks are relatively new / rare. Let us know when you find your solution as I'm interested as well

I feel it is unwise for me to spend big bucks on 4*512MB and would prefer 2*1GB

po0k

aye, I'm of the same mind, particularly with the whole 1T/2T thing even on the E3/E4 rev A64 cores.

I'll more than likely end up going with the Corsair stuff off komplett - provided I can actually buy it at 245. The OCZ stuff appears to use the same chips, perhaps just with tighter timings in the SPD and/or pulled from better bins. I'm not looking for a massive overclock, just enough to push my 3700 to ~2.6Ghz stable when it starts feeling a bit dated.
Then it'll be time to upgrade the chip, gfx and add some more ram


POINT OF NOTE:
Does anyone know if running 2x 1024Meg dimms + 2x 256meg dimms (2xDoubleSided, 2x SingleSided) limits the board/controller to 2T tCmd?
Or is it just limited to 2T tCmd when running 4 DblSided dimms?

Dundhoone

hopefully those infineons are capable of a modest overclock, I'll probably end up buying some too....although 2x 1gb depends on cash, 2x 512 mb might be a little bit more in my range

po0k

After having a bit of a think, I'm edging toward getting 4x 512Meg matching dimms.
I'm not going to need more than 2Gigs before I upgrade the the new socket format and DDR2/3/XDR/Whatever, and trying to run 2x1Gig sticks with 2x256/512MB sticks down the road aint going to work out as there's sod-all chance of getting sticks that use the same ICs and have the same SPDs, never mind getting them booting at stock.

My next question depends on whether there's a noticable difference in performance between 1T and 2T CPC: Does anyone know of any single-sided 512Meg sticks of DDR400 (or higher) with tight timings that work with the DFI?
Is there a performance drop when using single-sided dimms Vs double-sided dimms of the same capacity and frequency? Are the rated timings generally looser?

My target is 2Gigs ~240Mhz FSB 2-3-3-5 @ 1T on San Diego 3700 using (good) air cooling. I'm getting impatient waiting to order my kit while I source this magical memory (at a sane price ie. ~300euro).

{edit}
1Gb kit EL DDR PC-3200 Platinum Rev. 2 - OCZ Rated 2-2-2-5
(2x 512Mb EL DDR PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2)
400Mhz, 184 pins, CL 2-2-2-5, up to 2.9V
w/ Platinum Coated Heatspreaders, Dual Channel Optimised, with Samsung TCCD chips

€237
I'm looking at getting 2x sticks of that.
From what I've been reading, the Corsair stuff doesn't work too well, and it's only recently that TCCD/TCC5 has become common-place.
Does anyone have anything to say against the OCZ (aside from the scarey price)?

Or a VAT number so I can buy 4x sticks and not feel too sickened?
{/edit}

Dman_15

See the mushkin Redline on shop4memory. the pc4000 will do extremly high fsb (270+ from what ive read) at 2-2-2-5 timings and was designed with the dfi in mind.
Its the same price as the ocz but much sweeter straight out of the box.
with the ocz you will probably need a memory divider to reach your max oc but with the mushkin at ddr550 you wil be able to do it at 1:1

po0k

Hmm, tempting.
If the Muskin had black heatspreaders I'd buy it.

Does the Mushkin Redline PC4000 use TCCD or BH-5?

I'm looking for TCCD stuff as it seems to have more supported/tweaked BIOSes for it.

Are any of the OCZ or Mushkin 2x512Meg packs single-sided?

I heard that GeIL ram is more suited for P4 systems, and doesn't play well with the NF4 DFI boards.

Dman_15

I think its bh-5.

Theres a guy who mods bioses for bh-5 on the dfi forum. I'm currently running his latest one and its fantastic. Gave me a 10 mhz fsb boost with -.2v on what i was previously using.

po0k

I think I'll go for the OCZ Plat stuff, from what i've been reading on DFI-Street, it should be relatively elementary to get to ~240FSB 1:1 @ 2T with tight-ish timings and 4x 512Meg sticks.