Geil PC3500 (2x512) Golden Dragon

[rdrash]

Is anyone using these sticks?

newegg.com geil (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-605&depa=0)

I am waiting for mine to arrive in the mail but just wanted to hear from others about what they think of this ram. I would like to hear positive and negative comments as well as any issues that others may have come across while trying to use this ram. Thanks everyone. These forums are the best!!

[flapperhead]

let us know how they run??? flapper...

[rdrash]

Ok...well thanks for the reply flapperhead...looks like no one else cares to comment at this point. Once my new memory gets here i will post all the data for you to see if they are worth the $$....I have already been looking at some other forums and seeing what folks have said...seems like a mixed bag of results (same as any other kind of ram)...some for it...some against it...guess I'll just have to find out on my own...sure hope this stuff works out better than the bad mushkin I had a while back....

[aNTiChRisT]

Its not that we don't care, we just dont have em. I was considering them but decided i needed something with faster fsbs.

Thanks everyone. These forums are the best!!

Kinda put me off a reply tbh :P

Good luck with the ram, tell us what you get.

~t0m

[rdrash]

ok ok..my gratitude was expressed on the assumption that I would get some input (didnt mean to put anyone off). I appologize if my post was not clear and I dont want to sound like I am bad mouthing anyone here...I love this forum, I get good input from folks here. ....Thanks for caring....I'll let you folks know how these sticks do...should get here later this week or early next week (miitary post office is SLOW!!!!) at least newegg ships to APO-AP addresses.

[Stupid Boy]

I don't have any experience with Geil Golden Dragon RAM, but:

1. I have read that Geil Golden Dragon RAM is bad, but I forgot why.
2. I have read that Geil Value RAM is better that Geil Golden Dragon RAM because it is produced by someone else.
3. Geil Value RAM is not overclockable at all; I have read this, and I have a stick of Geil Value RAM.
4. Assuming it runs at the rated speed, it looks pretty good.

[rdrash]

Yea...I have read those bad reviews too...especially the ones on Geils own tech forum...but some other have had good experiences too....

When I first got my rig I had some refurb'd geil golden dragon (2x256mb) pc3200 but they kept given me bsods...then I got some samsung (which I still use) pc 3200...I also tried some mushkin black level II pc 3200 sticks..but they had problems too...so I went back to me samsung..but I am just curious and want to try something else and see where it gets me to.

[aNTiChRisT]

If we can give our support/knowledge we will, without the need for sucking up :-) no need to apologise mate, im sorry for a slightly harsh reply :-P

~t0m

[StaticXD00d]

I'm running two sticks of the Golden Dragon Value PC3200 512MB, and haven't had a lick of problem with it. As long as you don't expect 2-2-2 timings out of it, I'm sure it will perform fine for you.

[wannaoc]

Its not the Geil is bad its jsut that its hit or miss. Some works really well while some barely runs at stock. Thats why you see so many bad reviews. I almost picked some up when I upgraded but I decided to go with the OCZ EB instead.

[Tatuya]

Originally posted by rdrash
Yea...I have read those bad reviews too...especially the ones on Geils own tech forum...but some other have had good experiences too....

When I first got my rig I had some refurb'd geil golden dragon (2x256mb) pc3200 but they kept given me bsods...then I got some samsung (which I still use) pc 3200...I also tried some mushkin black level II pc 3200 sticks..but they had problems too...so I went back to me samsung..but I am just curious and want to try something else and see where it gets me to.

Wait you have mushkin black level II pc3200 sticks!!?!?! and you aren't using em? Dude, thats BH-5 right there....

[rdrash]

I had Mushkin level II black pc 3200 (2x512mb) ...they would not do specified timings (2-2-2) so I RMA'd those back to newegg....that was probably a good 5-6 months ago...if you look around at some of the historical posts in this forum you will see my desperate attempts at seeking help with the mushkin sticks...but never could get those to work properly so they r long gone now....

[Tatuya]

Originally posted by rdrash
I had Mushkin level II black pc 3200 (2x512mb) ...they would not do specified timings (2-2-2) so I RMA'd those back to newegg....that was probably a good 5-6 months ago...if you look around at some of the historical posts in this forum you will see my desperate attempts at seeking help with the mushkin sticks...but never could get those to work properly so they r long gone now....

aw shucks. They would've rocked your socks. No offense, bt what I've seen from geil is pure garbage after pure garbage. Geil does not like to OC period.

[rdrash]

no offense taken....I asked for peoples opinions and experiences (GOOD and BAD)....when I get my sticks I will be sure to post back here a comparison of my current RAM and the Geil.

[AirTimid]

I heard you really need to pump voltage into the Giel brand. No personal experience, but from the limited things i've read, 3+ volts seems like a must.

[rdrash]

3+ volts will mean I need a volt mod .....anyone know anything about modifying the dimm voltage on an AN35N ultra (SHUTTLE)???? bios settings for the VDIMM only go up to 2.7 I believe.

[AirTimid]

Read the Geil forums, they may have some helpful tips for you. I once considered getting a set, but I changed my mind. Good luck.

[Silent Buddha]

From what I hear, Geil is hit or miss. You have a much better chance to get Geil to work great on Intel than AMD.

From my personal experience, Geil is horrible. Like 6 months ago, I bought 2x256MB Geil Golden Dragon PC3500 from newegg. Would not run past 182MHz (my cpu ran fine at higher speeds). Did not like high voltage at all. If I remember correctly they used 4ns Geil chips. I don't know why the hell Geil would put 4ns chips in PC3500. I even rma'd my ram to newegg twice. Same results every time.

But some Geil ram I've heard very good stories about. Geil Ultra PC3200, PC3500, has re-branded Winbond chips I'm pretty sure (not BH-5 though :(). Geil Ultra PC4000 and PC4200 (I don't know what chips they use) do very well on the 865/875 chipsets. I've seen them hit 260-280 FSB 1:1 @ 2.5-4-4-7 ~3.0V.

[rdrash]

I think luck has alarge part to do with this....I have been burned before...hopefully this time I will get what I am paying for....Yea, The chips are 4ns ...not sure why that is either. I am just hoping that I can get them to perform well for me.....I will let everyone know....and thnx for all the thoughts thus far...anyone in here have these now??? do they work for you??? are you using an Nvidia Nforce2 board???

[devilscow22]

um... wouldent muskin replase those if they wouldent do stock?

[Tatuya]

Originally posted by devilscow22
um... wouldent muskin replase those if they wouldent do stock?

Too late now, so getting frustrated over the topic wont make the RAM come back or anything. Too bad, boo hoo, who cares now.

[rdrash]

Well...I wouldn't know, I never asked them to do that. I just RMA'd them back to NEWEGG.COM ...and lost $$ for the shipping and restocking.

[Silent Buddha]

If you rma'd back to Mushkin they would've given you a replacement. Not being able to do 2-2-2- timings @ 200 FSB 1:1 means the product is not able to do what it is supposed to. They're great guys, enthusiasts like us.

[jtc_hunter]

I have Geil Ultra Platinum pc3500 in my comp and it runs 5-2-2-2 at 217fsb at 2.7 volts perfectly fine. I tried mushkin level II and it could run no better. I hope you have good results w/ the Golden Dragon. I have built 3 comps latley w/ Geil and have been totally happy w/ it. It does like lots of voltage so dont be shy. Also a note: I have not done the wire mod to my mobile athlon so I dont think it is the ram that has me stopped at 217.

[gibletzor]

Like everyone else has said, Geil is hit or miss. I've seen lots of threads saying it sucks, some saying it's good. I'm personally very happy with mine. my Ultra pc3200 does 218 (see sig) at 2.9v. haven't tried to push it higher with 3.3v yet. need to get some air blowin on my ram first.. but i'm getting off topic. I've definitely heard a lot more bad stuff than good about the Golden Dragon though, and the majority of things I hear about the Ultra/Value ram is good...

[Vertical_Zer0]

My geil golden dragon pc3200 runs great... popped it in an NF2 board and it overclocks quite well, even stock voltage... but yes I have heard from many people that geil is a 50/50 chance. If you get a bad one, you can always RMA it for a replacement.

[ddoggma]

My brother has 2x512mb of those GD 3500s. We had to RMA both cause one went bad on us. The pair they sent us are cas 2.5 bye SPD. The first ones were rated cas 2. It doesn;t really matter but they did change the specs. His new sticks are doing fine as far as I know. The 2 sticks of HyperX pc3500 I have in my rig. were running 2-2-2-5@240fsb on his KNXP. They wont do that **** on my asus p4S800d-e.:( bummer I think there BH-5 chips but I'm stuck at 217mhz 2-3-3-6... for now.:D

[rdrash]

1) thanks to everyone for their comments. I appreciate the insights.

2) I received my Geil PC3500 golden dragon (2x512) from newegg yesterday.

3) I am happy to report that the ram is running very well on my shuttle AN35N Ultra.

4) at my "normal" (which is already an oc for the cpu) fsb of 200 I can run the geil at 2-3-3-11 timings with voltage at 2.7, at an increased fsb of 205 I can run the geil at 2.5-4-4-11 with a voltage of 2.7. thus I am pleased to see that I finally have a product which allows me to increse my fsb and get a little bit more from my barton 2500+!!!

5) I am going to post some pictures of screen shots from various programs (ie. cpuz, aida, sandra, pcmark2002) some time soon (probably this weekend) to show the increase I was able to achieve with this ram.

6) I know the ram is supposed to do 433mhz....but I don't think I can get my processor to run stable at 217 mhz fsb.....so dont fault me on this folks, maybe I will try.....maybe I won't.

7) was it overkill to buy pc3500....maybe, but I am happy and that is what counts.

Again thanks to everyone for their valuable comments.....if anyone sees Vrykyl please tell him to pm me...I have some samsung pc3200 he may still want per a previous agreement we had resulting from his great assistance with my slk947-u modification and my mushkin black level II pc3200 that wouldn't do spec timings (Vrkyl...I owe you my friend!!!)

[David Coleman]

My Geil Value Ram 2x256 DDR400 will run 230FSB+ @ 3.0V 3-4-4-8, and 2.5-3-3-8 up to 220FSB....