OCZ DDR BOOSTER anyone using this?

[ROH]

I've heard a couple good reviews regarding this Booster. So I had a chance to get one at a reasonable price recently so I jumped on the offer. :) It'll be here monday for me to play with! :)

Anyone have good or bad experiences with these? I've talked with a couple people and I hear it helps condition the ram voltages. Some people are seeing improvement even before boosting their ram voltages with this unit.

I figure if I can boost my ram timing from what I have in my sig below it'll be worth the $40 over having to go purchase better ram then the stuff I'm running!

Here's to hoping I can get a really good boost :beer: !!!

O.

[MrCooper]

I've heard a couple good reviews regarding this Booster. So I had a chance to get one at a reasonable price recently so I jumped on the offer. :) It'll be here monday for me to play with! :)

Anyone have good or bad experiences with these? I've talked with a couple people and I hear it helps condition the ram voltages. Some people are seeing improvement even before boosting their ram voltages with this unit.

I figure if I can boost my ram timing from what I have in my sig below it'll be worth the $40 over having to go purchase better ram then the stuff I'm running!

Here's to hoping I can get a really good boost :beer: !!!

O.

It doesnt help condition voltages, but it extendends your vddr selection. :p Just have a fan on top of it, if your using the booster. It could get really hot while in action. :santa:

[glock19owner]

It doesnt help condition voltages, but it extendends your vddr selection. :p Just have a fan on top of it, if your using the booster. It could get really hot while in action. :santa:

Actually yes it does...it helps supply cleaner power to the DIMMS...

And you will definetly need some active cooling when running past 3.2v...the booster itself gets very hot...and with the way it sits in the NEO 2...all that heat will transfer right to the memory...

I personally use a side monuted 60mm fan to cool both the memory and the booster...I can run it up to 3.6v before the booster starts to get warm...

Now with the memory you are using...I wouldnt expect a big improvement...the using UTT/BH is where you will see the big improvment when using a booster...but the key thing will be the cleaner power going to the DIMMS...

[MrCooper]

Actually yes it does...it helps supply cleaner power to the DIMMS...

And you will definetly need some active cooling when running past 3.2v...the booster itself gets very hot...and with the way it sits in the NEO 2...all that heat will transfer right to the memory...

I personally use a side monuted 60mm fan to cool both the memory and the booster...I can run it up to 3.6v before the booster starts to get warm...

Now with the memory you are using...I wouldnt expect a big improvement...the using UTT/BH is where you will see the big improvment when using a booster...but the key thing will be the cleaner power going to the DIMMS...

This will supply much cleaner voltage compare to the booster :p
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42220

[ROH]

Ya, it's a very nice piece of computer technology. BUT, I can't see myself convincing the wife to let me spend the kind of money needed for one anytime soon. :P

Definately something to keep an eye on. :)

In the meantime my booster comes in the mail tomorrow and I already have plans for modding it. gonna make that sucker fit in the dimm sockets without so much interfearance. :) warming up the desoldering iron as I type! ha.

O.

[MrCooper]

Ya, it's a very nice piece of computer technology. BUT, I can't see myself convincing the wife to let me spend the kind of money needed for one anytime soon. :P

Definately something to keep an eye on. :)

In the meantime my booster comes in the mail tomorrow and I already have plans for modding it. gonna make that sucker fit in the dimm sockets without so much interfearance. :) warming up the desoldering iron as I type! ha.

O.

lol ROH, :p What kind of mods are you exactly going to perform to that bugger? I'm guessing remving the stock pot and placing it somewhere more accessible eh? Heheeh. You can also add caps to it for better filtering. :p

[tresmonos]

Please let us know what clock speeds you achieve/@ x.xx volts :)
I'm curious as I'll be walking in your shoes in about a week or so.

[mikeguava]

This will supply much cleaner voltage compare to the booster :p
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42220


Yep - that will be a sweet unit once it is available - espcially since it'll do DDR2 and DDR3 as well

Waiting for it patiently myself.


Mike

[glock19owner]

lol ROH, :p What kind of mods are you exactly going to perform to that bugger? I'm guessing remving the stock pot and placing it somewhere more accessible eh? Heheeh. You can also add caps to it for better filtering. :p

He's probably talking about the droop mod


Please let us know what clock speeds you achieve/@ x.xx volts :)
I'm curious as I'll be walking in your shoes in about a week or so.

Heres some screenies...

My old G. Skills at 3.3v

http://home.insightbb.com/~myglock19/230.5.2.2.JPG


The 3200 VX's at 3.6v...

http://home.insightbb.com/~myglock19/268.JPG

Given the right memory and tweaks...ROH should be right around the same

[Reefa_Madness]

Check this out for ideas.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=48617

and these pictures are kind of interesting. I've lost the link to that thread so all I have are the pictures.

[tresmonos]

glock19owner / whoever else has a booster with the neo plat 2 :

You achieved 3.6v on a neo plat 2? OCZ's booster is only rated up to 3.4v on that board... I've been debating picking up a gigabyte K8NS Ultra 939 b/c of voltage ratings. If 3.6 is achievable, I'll go with the neo 2 plat.

[nstabl]

interesting.. wonder if they will have a standard version out

[Reefa_Madness]

glock19owner / whoever else has a booster with the neo plat 2 :

You achieved 3.6v on a neo plat 2? OCZ's booster is only rated up to 3.4v on that board... I've been debating picking up a gigabyte K8NS Ultra 939 b/c of voltage ratings. If 3.6 is achievable, I'll go with the neo 2 plat.


I read in a post from one of the OCZ reps that they test up to 3.4v and not beyond. If a board is rated on their site any higher than 3.4v one of the beta testers or another well respected individual confirmed to them that they had operated at higher than 3.4v.

I've had mine to 3.7v and have read posts from others of going up to 3.9v, so yes, the Booster will go beyond 3.4v on a Neo2. You should have no issues with 3.5-3.6v with that board.

Whether anyone would want to run 3.8v 24/7 is entirely another issue.

[glock19owner]

glock19owner / whoever else has a booster with the neo plat 2 :

You achieved 3.6v on a neo plat 2? OCZ's booster is only rated up to 3.4v on that board... I've been debating picking up a gigabyte K8NS Ultra 939 b/c of voltage ratings. If 3.6 is achievable, I'll go with the neo 2 plat.

This will depend on how well your VTT will track...most will only track up to 3.4v...others can get up to 3.9v...

I personally can run up to 3.9v before the motherboard shuts down...but to be honest...anything past 3.6v is a waste for these VX's...

If/when you get a booster...*make sure you have ram that can handle high voltage*...then just up the voltage until the MB freezes or locks up...if you have UTT/BH chips...they should handle up to 3.7- 3.9v...if the MB locks up before those voltages (or at 3.4v)...then the VTT stopped tracking and that is your MB's voltage limit..

BIG FORWARNING:

The DIMM slots and a few resitors and caps will get extremely hot when running past 3.4v...so active cooling is a MUST...not talking some weak 20cfm cooling either...40+ cfm is a must...


This will supply much cleaner voltage compare to the booster :p
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42220

Hipro has been working on that for months and their is no ETA or price on it...if you read...he hasnt even tested it out yet...

[Reefa_Madness]

Here is a tester commenting on it.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=828287#post828287

Here is a manual that can be downloaded.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=818078#post818078

It is in the final stages and will be here soon.

[glock19owner]

I found his newest thread on it...seen he had someone testing it...but still has no ETA or price on it...

Dont get me wrong...hipro has been a great XS member and knows his stuff...but for right now...the only thing out is the booster...

[MrCooper]

He's probably talking about the droop mod
Heres some screenies...
My old G. Skills at 3.3v
http://home.insightbb.com/~myglock19/230.5.2.2.JPG


What week of TCCD is that? So 3.3V eh! :) The furthest voltage i shoved my newly aqcuired tccd 501 was 3.15V. It errored more than it fixed it. But I never got the chance to give this P.o.S 3.3V yet. I will give it a try one of these days :p

[glock19owner]

Those where my old G. Skill LC's...they had the 431 chips on them...

Those could run at 5-3-3-2.5/275 for about 20 minutes...good enough for some good benchmarks...at 2.85...and could ran at 5-3-4-2.5/275 at .2.85v perfectly stable...

The high voltage did not help the top OC...but did help the 2-2-2 timings...at 2.85 the best they could do was around 213 at 2-2-2 timings...

[MrCooper]

Those where my old G. Skill LC's...they had the 431 chips on them...

Those could run at 5-3-3-2.5/275 for about 20 minutes...good enough for some good benchmarks...at 2.85...and could ran at 5-3-4-2.5/275 at .2.85v perfectly stable...

The high voltage did not help the top OC...but did help the 2-2-2 timings...at 2.85 the best they could do was around 213 at 2-2-2 timings...

My P.o.S TCCD's could only do 2-2-2-5 at 218 the most that's with 3.1V going right through it. :p A little dissapointed on these set since they are suppose to be the new revision and supposedly would re-act to more voltage bumps. Oh, well...So how much can yours do at 2-3-3-5? With those timings, I can do 250 really easily at only 2.95V :p

[glock19owner]

Dont know...never tried them...I traded my LC's for some OCZ VX's a few weeks ago...just waiting for the new 4000 VX's to be shipped...last week was shipped the 3200's instead...trying to get between 265 - 270 at 2-2-2 timings since my Winnie tops out at 277

[MrCooper]

Dont know...never tried them...I traded my LC's for some OCZ VX's a few weeks ago...just waiting for the new 4000 VX's to be shipped...last week was shipped the 3200's instead...trying to get between 265 - 270 at 2-2-2 timings since my Winnie tops out at 277

Are the OCZ PC3200 Gold (BH-5) the same as the VX series there now? :) I've found a nice place who sells these with some nice pricing on them. :p

[Reefa_Madness]

Are the OCZ PC3200 Gold (BH-5) the same as the VX series there now? :) I've found a nice place who sells these with some nice pricing on them. :p


I don't think those are the same and I base it simply on the fact that most VX won't run 2-2-2-8 with 2.8v, which is what the specs are for the Gold. I believe that the VX is based on the CH die. On the other hand, I guess you could argue the point that BH is nothing more than ICs from the same die that are able to run those timings at lower volts, the rest then is deemed CH.

[MrCooper]

I don't think those are the same and I base it simply on the fact that most VX won't run 2-2-2-8 with 2.8v, which is what the specs are for the Gold. I believe that the VX is based on the CH die. On the other hand, I guess you could argue the point that BH is nothing more than ICs from the same die that are able to run those timings at lower volts, the rest then is deemed CH.

So you're trying to say these OCZ PC3200 BH-5 are same breed from the old times now :)

[ROH]

Hey, got my booster today. tried it out. it's working just fine. No overvolting just yet. I do plan on doing the 15turn pot mod as well as the extension mod so I can adjust the booster without having to open my case each time.

Sofar, I'm not 100% sure what a good set of timings for this Corsair ram should be. here are my ram specs. let me know what you guys think.

RAM: Corsair CMX512 - 3200C2PT
XMS3200 512MB 400Mhz CL2
XMS 3202 V4.1 0438107-1
SAMSUNG 437 K4H560838F - TCCD CHIPS

Packaging said timings were 2.5,3,3,6 CPU-Z says the timings are 3,3,3,8

I'm currently running them @ 3,3,3,8 @ 240 as I was having stability issues at any other time with a voltage of 2.85V in the bios.

Now for some fun stuff. My bios voltage was set at the 2.85, but once windows loads I get a voltage of 2.70 in Core Center. I have sandra and Everest installed but can not find the area that shows the ram voltage. So I"m not 100% sure if core center is telling me the trueth.

Now with the booster on it shows @ 2.8 volts when I turned my settings in the bios down to 2.8 and 2.9 when I had the 2.85 bolts in bios. BUT as soon as windows starts loading it also drops to 2.7 volts.

Is there a possability this board is not regulating voltages properly?

As well I can't seem to find any voltage monitor in the bios for this board either. :(

Any help or comments apreciated. :)

O.

[ROH]

ok, initial testing with booster installed, I'm @ 245 2.5,4,4,7 1T which is a big improvement over my 240 3,3,3,9 1T. I still have to get P95 or SuperPi running for a couple hours, but I"m gonna jump into some CoD for some real world testing! LOL!

I'm running my booster @ 3.0V. BTW.

BTW. It fits, but barely with the Corsair ram I have, but I'm still thinking I'll replace the pot and add some wiring in so I can adjust on the fly. I might even wire out the LEDS so I can mount them into the panel along with the pot. It'll be my very first panel mod! :P The only bad part about this is that my case has a door on it that only gives me about 1/8th of an inch clearance. Hmm..well having the pot recessed and a tad harder to turn might be a benefit anyway, just in case the kids get the door open when I'm not around! :P

Sofar, I'm impressed. It's definately giving me more overclock on my RAM. Woot.

I'm going to also do a bit of testing with this booster to see if it in fact does improve the power quality. but I wanted speed tests tonight. hehe! After looking at it, I'm thinking it doesn't do much for cleaning the power. But I'll keep you all posted. :)

[Reefa_Madness]

So you're trying to say these OCZ PC3200 BH-5 are same breed from the old times now :)

I said what I was trying to say...what are you trying to say?

VX is not Gold...

Neither one is original Winbond BH-5 which ceased to be produced in 2003...

Tom Duong, a.k.a. Duonger (Mushkin rep) claims in a post that he made about 3 weeks ago that there are two different UTT(s), a BH die and a CH die.

You decide for yourself what to make of it.

[Burnt_Ram]

i've got a booster on it's way. *subscribed* ;)

[ROH]

UPDATE:

Ok, here is my final setup with the booster running! :)

Booster @ 3.2V

FSB @ 280 for a nice 280x9 = 2520 OC on my 3000+ 1.8Ghz CPU
Ram: 2.5,4,4,7 1T @ 166 for a total off 233Mhz on my ram.

I personally feel the settings on the ram are more dictated by the memory control on the CPU then the actual ram itself. no matter what timings or voltages, if my RAM went over 235 it would crap out on me.

Now I can run 3dMark, SuperPI, Sandra Burn-in and a bevy of games and applications with no problems, but I'm still unable to get Prime95 to run at anything over stock speeds.

Everything and I mean everything is running stable. I even ran MemTest for 12+ hours without errors.

So I'm currently going to disregard my Prime95 issue and I'm happy with my current setup. :)

O.

[Burnt_Ram]

UPDATE:

Ok, here is my final setup with the booster running! :)

Booster @ 3.2V

FSB @ 280 for a nice 280x9 = 2520 OC on my 3000+ 1.8Ghz CPU
Ram: 2.5,4,4,7 1T @ 166 for a total off 233Mhz on my ram.

I personally feel the settings on the ram are more dictated by the memory control on the CPU then the actual ram itself. no matter what timings or voltages, if my RAM went over 235 it would crap out on me.

Now I can run 3dMark, SuperPI, Sandra Burn-in and a bevy of games and applications with no problems, but I'm still unable to get Prime95 to run at anything over stock speeds.

Everything and I mean everything is running stable. I even ran MemTest for 12+ hours without errors.

So I'm currently going to disregard my Prime95 issue and I'm happy with my current setup. :)

O.what slot do you have the booster in, and does it heat your case up much ?

[ROH]

I'm running the booster in slot 4, with my Ram in slots 1 & 2.

I'm currently working on a mod to run the LED's and the pot out to a drive bay cover in my case. This should do alright for reducing a bit of the heat as it will promote better airflow since only the Mof's will be there.

@ 3.2V you can feel a BIT of heat @ the booster but nothing major.

Overall my system temps did not change.

O.

[Burnt_Ram]

I'm running the booster in slot 4, with my Ram in slots 1 & 2.

I'm currently working on a mod to run the LED's and the pot out to a drive bay cover in my case. This should do alright for reducing a bit of the heat as it will promote better airflow since only the Mof's will be there.

@ 3.2V you can feel a BIT of heat @ the booster but nothing major.

Overall my system temps did not change.
O.

i just put mine in 1&2 in anticipation of my OCZ DDR Booster's arrival .. and damned if it did drop my temps 2c !!! weird ... hopefully it will be here tomorrow so i can play too ;) Oh and i'll be VERY interested in seeing your mod's ! i would like to do that too mine aswell. kinda a pain to open the case everytime i want to change or see voltage ....

[glock19owner]

Key thing...when using the booster and running past 3.2v...you will need to run active cooling...with 3.2v...it does start to heat up like mentioned...but what heat the booster creates will heat the memory up also...which in turn can create some lousy performance...

I personally have a 60mm YS Tech fan zip tied to the +12v PSU cable (sideways mounted air flow)...with this fan...I can run up to 3.6v+ without the booster getting so hot you can not touch it...

And yes...most NEO2's will run up to 3.6 - 3.9v...but when running past 3.4v..some NEO2's start to flake out...if this is the case...you know that 3.4v is the max stable voltage to run throught the booster

[Burnt_Ram]

Key thing...when using the booster and running past 3.2v...you will need to run active cooling...with 3.2v...it does start to heat up like mentioned...but what heat the booster creates will heat the memory up also...which in turn can create some lousy performance...

I personally have a 60mm YS Tech fan zip tied to the +12v PSU cable (sideways mounted air flow)...with this fan...I can run up to 3.6v+ without the booster getting so hot you can not touch it...

And yes...most NEO2's will run up to 3.6 - 3.9v...but when running past 3.4v..some NEO2's start to flake out...if this is the case...you know that 3.4v is the max stable voltage to run throught the boosteris voltage beyond 3.2 needed for better timmings ? the main reason i bought this booster was to get better timmings and *maybe* finally be able to run *1t* not too mention i want to hit 300 HTT ;)

[glock19owner]

Most NEO2's will not run at 300HTT in DC...so good luck on that one...

And with TCCD's chips...some like higher voltages...but if like my old G. Skills...the higher voltage did not help the top OC because of the NEO2 limit (so honestly I do not know how much it would of helped for top end OC)...nothing helped them running stable at 5-3-3-2.5 past 275 for more then 15 mintues between runs...but it helped them run at 2-2-2 setting up to 230...better then the 213 at 2.85v...

I got my booster because I wanted to run the VX's on my NEO2...my goal is to run at 2-2-2 between 260 - 270 (gunning more towards 270) since my winnie maxs out at 2.75...and the 2-2-2 timings will be better then running at 275/5-3-4-2.5...