cheap RAM review: KVR PC2700

I'm building a budget rig for a friend (as per orders from his wife). Found new cheap 2X512 Kingston Value RAM from a forum member that was $31 cheaper than what newegg.com charges for this same exact RAM.

They are remarked chips (D3208DL3T-5), so I really don't have any idea what the IC's are and frankly don't care as long as it would run at least 200 FSB in dual channel in a P-4 system. The seller was nice enough to test it at 200 FSB for me before I bought it.



RESULTS: It does DDR400 speed at 2.5v with SPD timings. I was able to hit a max stable speed of 225 FSB (DDR450) using 2.7v and 2.5-4-4-7 timings. It does DDR434 speed at 2.6v and 2.5-3-3-6 timings (kids, that's PC3500 specs). Not bad for very cheap PC2700 RAM (your mileage may vary).

The system that the RAM is going into has a 2.8C that does an easy 3 gig on default vcore with stock cooling. Since the RAM will easily do 1:1 at 214 FSB no problem, that's what we decided to do. He's tickled pink to get a 3 gig system (and gets to brag to his wife how much of a deal it got).

what a deal.. u cant beat those numbers for what u paid..

what a deal.. u cant beat those numbers for what u paid..

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Ya you can. I picked up 2x512MB sticks of pc2700 value ram and they had hynix bt-d43 chips on them. $50 each after rebate, about 4 months ago. That is pc4200.

It is really a gamble with value ram. They can all hit pc3200 speed without trouble, but where it goes from there is a gamble on the chips kingston decided to use that day.

I think we all agree the KVR with BT-D43 chips is quite exceptional.

But, those aren't what you will get if you ordered KVR right now.

Quailane said:

Ya you can. I picked up 2x512MB sticks of pc2700 value ram and they had hynix bt-d43 chips on them. $50 each after rebate, about 4 months ago. That is pc4200.

It is really a gamble with value ram. They can all hit pc3200 speed without trouble, but where it goes from there is a gamble on the chips kingston decided to use that day.

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yep, ive never seen a d43 chip that doesnt do at least 260.. 50 bux apiece is a super deal...

also got a few sticks of kvr 512/2700... can one of you maybe help me out in id'ing the ic's on these? i don't know jack... :/

on the chips:
AD2695-05
DDR32MX8-5-TL
L010342

on stickers:
333x64c25/512
99C5216-003.A00

i'm guessing these will go on being a mystery...

My guess would be the chip is rated for 200Mhz speed. Also, if it says kingston on the memory chip, I would not believe what they write. I bought 2x256MB sticks of pc2100 value ram that do 200Mhz at 2.5-4-4-11 with only a minor jump in voltage, so they must have been relabled 166Mhz chips. On the chips it said 7.5ns, or 133Mhz.

This was posted in another thread, so I "borrowed" it.

Reefa_Madness said:

Kingston ValueRam comes in many flavors (different chips). Depending on whether it has IC(s) made by Hynix, Micron, Winbond, Samsung, Infineon, etc., the answer could be different. If you have a specific stick(s) or ram that you are asking about, post the coding actually on the chips and someone may have experience with that specific kvr.

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I saw a post a while back that listed what some of the chip numbers meant, but can't find it now.

If there is sufficient interest, we should create a thread just for this, where anyone getting kvr can post chip coding and results, and before long, they won't be quite the gamble that they currently are.

By the way, about a week ago I picked up, one each from two different CC stores in my area, dual packs of 2x512MB DDR400 with the Hynix chips. It was all the Hynix that they had on the shelves. At this time they are still in their unopended boxes so I can't tell you what they will do, but I see no reason for them to perform differently than the way most bt-d43 performs. The point being, though, is that they are still out there and can be found, with a little luck.

well those 512mb 2700 sticks i have are crap and will have to be rma'd soon. failing memtest at default spd and timings... what a pain in the ***. i've had lots of kingston and these seem to be the only bad ones i've come across.

btw- has anyone dealt with kingstons rma dept?