What's under the hood?

hey, I'm looking to pick up some new ram and was wondering what chips the following stick of memory use (bh-6, ch-5 and whatnot). I'm going to purchase it locally so these are the only options I'll consider. It'll be used with a 2.8E or 3.0C cpu.

mushkin pc3200 lvl1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-290&depa=0

mushkin pc3500 lvl1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-294&depa=0

geil pc3500
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-515&depa=0

geil pc3500 ultra platinum
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-406&depa=0

kingston value pc3200
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-402&depa=0

The listed timings on the geil sticks are throwing me off. Are 2.5-6-3-3 timings good? I'm used to seeing timings listed around 2-2-2-5, 3-5-5-7, and the like.

(btw, does bandwith make any difference? some sticks have 3.2, others 3.5)

I'm leaning towards the mushkin lvl1 pc3500 but I'd really appreciate some input - thank you!

The Level 1 sticks use CH5. I don't know about Geil or KVR. And the Geil timings are NOT good in comparison to the Muskin sticks. The best timings to find are: 2-2-2-6 (BH5/6) or 2-3-2-6 (CH5).

~THT

yup as he said but you will most likely find 2-3-2-6 CH-5 memory

So, just to confirm - both mushkin lvl1 pc3200 and pc3500 are ch5, right?

So am considering now a gig of the kvr pc3200 or the mushkin lvl1 pc3500. Is there a large difference between these? Or is the difference minimal enough to justify saving $30 or so?

Mushkin Level 1 PC3200/3500 use Winbond CH5 chips.

The difference is in application. How far are you planning on overclocking? If you want to make your system scream and bleed every last drop of performance out of the memory/system bus, get the PC3500 as they're already rated to operate at a higher frequency. If you're just wanting to run 200MHz, get the KVR.

~THT

How about the old lvl2 mushkin pc3200 bh5? Would that be better than the pc3500 lvl1?

Very much so but you will have to look really hard to find some. The lvl2 will out clock and get tighter timings than any of your listed ram but asI said its damn near impossible to find now.

well fortunately know someone who will sell of a gig of black lvl2 pc3200 for $190. by your reply can I assume that the lvl2 pc3200 sticks would be better over the "faster" ($50 cheaper) lvl1 pc3500 ones?

edit: upon further query, turns out they're the new 2-2-2 special bh6 stuff

Even the BH6 chips are better than CH5. I've seen caps of systems with BH6 chips at 277MHz 2-2-2-11 with a ton of voltage.

~THT