bh5 and bh6 with AMD64

I have these winbond bh5 and bh6 mem sticks on my P4 system. I want to upgrade to amd64 3200+ with MSI K8n Neo2. Are these memory sticks work great for overclock? Can these mem chips do 250Mhz or better?

Robert said:

I have these winbond bh5 and bh6 mem sticks on my P4 system. I want to upgrade to amd64 3200+ with MSI K8n Neo2. Are these memory sticks work great for overclock? Can these mem chips do 250Mhz or better?

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As long as you feed enough voltage through them, they probably will. In fact the highest clock I've seen with BH-5-modules on an A64 (running @ 2-2-2-x timings), is 287.5 MHz! right here

This is obviously an extreme case - but if you have at least 3.5 v available, I'd most certainly keep those BH-5/6 modules ! I am unaware of the K8N Neo2's max vDIMM, but the new DFI nF4 SLI-D(R) offers vDIMM up to 4.0v...

Edit: I just noticed that the rig in the link, was a Neo2 with OCZ DDR Booster @ 3.9v

As Miguita said, I'd keep the BH-5. Heck, I bought a BH-5 stick from nealric last week.
You need an OCZ DDR booster though as your Neo would probably go upto 2.9V VDimm. With a booster you can probably hit 4.1 V (not very sure, you might want to double check).

Why don't you get any one among the DFI NForce4 flavours in offer? (check the AMD cpu section for a massive sticky by deception). Bear in mind, you have to invest in a PCI-E video card and a newer, robust power supply which has a 24 pin connector instead of the usual 20 pin.

Thanks for reply. I'm not sure that it's a bh5 -- Miguita. In the picture, I saw Run ID = G Skill's... Isn't it the TCCD?

Sorry, G Skill's... is the user name not mem chip.

Robert said:

I'm not sure that it's a bh5 -- Miguita. In the picture, I saw Run ID = G Skill's... Isn't it the TCCD?

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Well, the thread title is "Max out for the BH-5", and the spec list says "Mushkin 3500 lv2 3500 BH-5", so I strongly assume it is BH-5. Anyway I think it's safe to say that you should give your good old sticks the change to prove their worth as part of your next rig.

One more question. What chip is on Mushkin PC3200 Level II 2 2 2 Special? I'm not sure it is the bh6 or bh5. if is is bh5 that would be great.

The Kingston HyperX I have right now is the orginal first generation. I believe it should work great. I ran my older P4 system with these two sticks at FSB 284MHz+.

Thanks again for the bh5 link. It's very helpful.

This is an excerpt from a list found at another forum:

Mushkin Promo build (2-2-2): Winbond BH-5 (not in production anymore)
Mushkin PC3200 Level I (2-3-2): Used to be Winbond CH-5, has Mosel Vitelic now
Mushkin PC3200 Level II (2-2-2): Winbond BH-5 (not in production anymore)
Mushkin PC3200 Level II V2 (2-2-2): Samsung TCCD revF
Mushkin PC3200 Special 222 (2-2-2): Winbond BH-6 (not in production anymore)
Mushkin PC3500 Level I (2-3-3): Winbond CH-5
Mushkin PC3500 Level II (2-2-2): Winbond BH-5 (not in production anymore)

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222 Special is BH6. Also excellent. Both are most certainly worth keeping.

As long as you feed BH5 3.2v or above, 250MHz is a no-brainer.

Was wondering when gautam was going to show up

Uh whats a booster?

Life is not so simple with BH-5 and ram in general. You can't assume ram will run the same on all platforms and all revisions of boards.

It's generally well known that the early MSI Neo2 boards with pre-0440 chipsets don't like BH-5. These chipsets only like 2-3-2-5. As I have tried VDIMM modded boards I can confirm this.

Same pair of 2x512 XMS3500. On the 9NDA3+ which has a 0445 Korea chipset, I can do 252, 2-2-2-5 at 3.28 actual VCORE (confirmed by a multi). I put the same sticks on an MSI Neo2 Plat with 0405 Taiwan chipset and I can only do 240, 2-3-2-5 at 3.4 volts with the Booster.

Both setups bench 3D fine so it appears VTT tracks on A64 boards, or it's not important.

The problem with the Booster is it generates tremendous heat. If you run it in the #4 slot the switch touches the heatspreader of my XMS3500 and it heats the thing up. If I run it in the #2 slot and run the ram in #3/4, that isolates the ram from the Booster but my sticks don't like those slots. In any case, the Booster is an oven. I definitely prefer the VDIMM modded 9NDA3+ as it uses grabbers and a pot and runs off the 5-volt line, so I can go up to 3.8 volts with no heat problems (except what the ram generates).

Robert, what s/n is the MSI Neo2 Plat board you got?

I recently picked up a 0501 s/n MSI Neo2 Plat, and this one has a 0452 Korea chipset . Havent' tested my BH-5 on it yet though.

BTW, the NF3 boards are known for having lockup problems with Nvidia cards that are overclocked. I have this problem with the first MSI board, an NF8, and the DFI UT3. No problem on the 9NDA3+ with 0445 Korea chipset. I think Nvidia fixed the problem.

Gautam said:

222 Special is BH6. Also excellent. Both are most certainly worth keeping.

As long as you feed BH5 3.2v or above, 250MHz is a no-brainer.

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But why run at 3.2v when you can run at 2.85v with my sig specs (motherboard and CPU allowing) and still have better bandwidth and lower latency speed/time...

I can understand if your system wont allow past 260 or so...but if your system can handle 260+ then you should really think about some TCCD memory...

Great info about the nforce3 motherboard: Thank.

As for now, I still have P4 system. What is the recommandation on motherboard for A64 with AGP8x + good memory VDIMM? I think MSI K8n Neo2 P seem to have a lot of features I need.
I love nforce4 but I want to keep my ati X800 PE AGP8x. High-end PCI Express card is more expensive.
I don't know how long can these memory sticks last when it run at 3.2v or more.

Robert said:

Great info about the nforce3 motherboard: Thank.

As for now, I still have P4 system. What is the recommandation on motherboard for A64 with AGP8x + good memory VDIMM? I think MSI K8n Neo2 P seem to have a lot of features I need.
I love nforce4 but I want to keep my ati X800 PE AGP8x. High-end PCI Express card is more expensive.
I don't know how long can these memory sticks last when it run at 3.2v or more.

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I have both the MSI and Epox NF3, and the Epox is a better overall board. I have tested both boards with the exact same components and video card, and the 9NDA3+ can run 2760 at 1.56 whereas the MSI needs 1.58 and is not quite as stable.

The 9NDA3+ also runs higher HTT: I can run 5xLDT up to 290. No way on the MSI. I've also run up to 338HTT with the 166 divider with Ballistix at 2.5-2-2-5. The MSI with early chipset does not like CAS2 or -2-2-, either in synch or with a divider.

I can also run 2x256 Vitesta PC600 at 300x9, 1T, 2.5-4-4-7 but the MSI tops out at 295. I can also run 2x512 Vitesta at same settings 2T (but 3-4-4-7) but again, the MSI falls short.

The 9NDA3+ has additional chipset voltage which helps stabilize SuperPI 1M at extreme clocks.

Then of course, the VDIMM mod is easier on the 9NDA3+, and the board loves BH-5 (probably due to the later NF3 chipset). On the MSI you have to use the Booster which gets dangerously hot, or a VDIMM mod where you only get 3.3 volts.

Check out the RebelHaven forums where Polygon and I have flogged both boards. I have more details there on the Epox.

Again, I got no bone to pick. It's not like I own only one board and one set of ram and that's what I push. I got two MSI Neo2 Plat boards, but I'm probably gonna sell the early chipset board. It's a good overclocker if you stick to TCCD.