choices the choices need help

mushkin
muskin lvl2 512 155

buffalo
Buffalo Technology 512MB 6 Layer PC3700 100

giel 1gig
GeIL Golden Dragon Dual DDR 1GB(2x512MB) 433MHz Model GD3500 224


gonna be oc'ing a ic7-g with 2.4c intel,,,trrying for 3.5 if i can,, which of these would be good? i will be watercooling the cpu,

How about Mushkin Black Level 2 PC3200 for $139/512MB from Newegg.com. (damn the price was so low I had to check it again to make sure it wasn't a promo-build or something; it's not btw)

Mushkin recently pulled back on it's promise of 2-2-2 at 217MHz on i865/i875 with their Black Level 2 PC3500, going with 2-3-2. However this just means that they won't recieve returns simply because memory doesn't run at tRCD of 2 at 217MHz, the chip and PCB are more then capable of achieving this.

The Black Level 2 PC3200 uses the same chip/PCB as the PC3500 (just not handpicked and promised 217MHz). It has been proven to go quite high overclocking (220-230 by some users). Running at 5:4 with memory at ~220 will give you a FSB of ~275 and clock speed of ~3.3GHz. Of course, it's possible to go higher then this, but nothing's promised. With 3:2 ratio, then you can achieve your 3.5GHz goal, albeit your memory would only be running at ~200MHz.

The occasionally problem with BH-5 chips is that they will reach their optimum overclock (somewhere between 210 and 230MHz usually) at it's tightest timings (2-2-2 or 2-3-2) and won't give you much more with anything looser. While other chips won't give you nearly as high memory speeds with timings of 2-3-2 but will give you high clock speeds at looser timings of 3-3-3 and 3-4-4, with performance suffering but numbers high.

I would get Buffalo as long as it is winbond chips, but thats just because I'm poor.

well the buffalo,i would have to buy headspreaders for, but doesnt seemlke a big deal, but you said msuhkin would be best huh?

unreal said:

well the buffalo,i would have to buy headspreaders for, but doesnt seemlke a big deal, but you said msuhkin would be best huh?

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I don't know that you would HAVE to.

really? if it is oc'edd the buffalo woulndt need the headspreader?

Most memory doesn't get more then luke-warm during overclocking, so heatspreaders are unnessicary.

Buffalo PC3700 (BH-5) is the best buy if what your looking for is the WinBond BH-5 chip. It's somewhat of a gamble, but saves you $36 over Mushkin Level 2 from Newegg. The black pcb from Mushkin has given better performance over the generic green from Buffalo.

ok, im willing to put out the 36 then,,, so lvl2 mushkin would be best for me then? if its better performance?

Ya, they are more hype than help, not that they are bad per-se but not always needed.

Speed_Mechanic2 said:

Most memory doesn't get more then luke-warm during overclocking, so heatspreaders are unnessicary.

Buffalo PC3700 (BH-5) is the best buy if what your looking for is the WinBond BH-5 chip. It's somewhat of a gamble, but saves you $36 over Mushkin Level 2 from Newegg. The black pcb from Mushkin has given better performance over the generic green from Buffalo.

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Is the mushkin gaurenteed BH-5 then?

All Mushkin PC3200/PC3500 Black Level 2 uses WinBond BH-5 chips. WinBond chips is the reason why Mushkin 'Black' memory split into Level 1 and Level 2. To gain back the amount of money Mushkin spent on getting ahold of the last big batches of WinBond BH-5 chips, they split their high-performance 'Black' memory into a premium-priced Level 2 (BH-5) and a more mainstream performance cost Level 1 (CH-5).

They use the same PCB, but all PC3200/PC3500 uses WinBond BH-5 chips. PC3200 is promised to run 200MHz at 2-2-2 on i865/i875 and nForce2 boards. Their PC3500 is promised to run 217MHz at 2-2-2 on nForce2 boards, and 217MHz at 2-3-2 on i865/i875 boards. If performance doesn't reach these levels, you can return to Mushkin as a RMA and get new product. Buying from Newegg doesn't give you the 2-week "honey-moon" period (return for any reason) as Mushkin.com offers, but if performance is lacking you can RMA it straight to Mushkin. Any questions and call Mushkin's support, I'm sure they will be helpful.

Speed_Mechanic2 said:

All Mushkin PC3200/PC3500 Black Level 2 uses WinBond BH-5 chips. WinBond chips is the reason why Mushkin 'Black' memory split into Level 1 and Level 2. To gain back the amount of money Mushkin spent on getting ahold of the last big batches of WinBond BH-5 chips, they split their high-performance 'Black' memory into a premium-priced Level 2 (BH-5) and a more mainstream performance cost Level 1 (CH-5).

They use the same PCB, but all PC3200/PC3500 uses WinBond BH-5 chips. PC3200 is promised to run 200MHz at 2-2-2 on i865/i875 and nForce2 boards. Their PC3500 is promised to run 217MHz at 2-2-2 on nForce2 boards, and 217MHz at 2-3-2 on i865/i875 boards. If performance doesn't reach these levels, you can return to Mushkin as a RMA and get new product. Buying from Newegg doesn't give you the 2-week "honey-moon" period (return for any reason) as Mushkin.com offers, but if performance is lacking you can RMA it straight to Mushkin. Any questions and call Mushkin's support, I'm sure they will be helpful.

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Well then I would go for those then... cept my friend just got some PC3500 and it won't run at the Gaurenteed timings/FSB/voltage (he lower the multi and has also tried really high timings at higher FSB's to check to see if its the mobo).