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Give 'Ole Hoot some advice

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H

Hoot

Inactive Moderator
​
Joined
Feb 13, 2001
Location
Twin Cities
I'm tired of my Buffalo BH-5 sticks and got some jingle burning a hole in my pocket. So, considering my setup, (in sig) tell me which of the following sets to get and briefly why:

2x512 Kingston HyperX (KHX3200ULK2) TCCD 2-2-2-5 $179 Free UPS Ground
2x512 Mushkin L2V2 (991357) TCCD 2-2-2-5 $199 Free Fedex Saver
2x512 OCZ EL Platinum Rev2 (OCZ4001024ELDCPER2) TCCD 2-2-2-5 $224 Free Fedex Saver
2x512 Corsair XMS 3200XL (TWINX1024-3200XL) TCCD 2-2-2-5 $211 Free 2day

Thanks,

Hoot
 
I believe that out of all of those, the OCZ consistently performs the best. In addition, they currently have the best customer service for overclockers. By that I mean that they know this group tweaks and they don't discourage it. If you have a problem they will generally get you back up and running in no time.
 
^^ i agree with Reefa. My friend has those exact same OCZ sticks and they perform very well. he's running them on his s754 @ 250*9 with 2.5-3-3-8 timings. he had to RMA them when his PSU went out and OCZ was very friendly to him and replaced them with no problems.
 
"Why are you getting rid of the BH-5?"

That question should be asked more often these days. They bring so little in resale that it's probably better to keep them...just for a little variety.
 
If I get rid of the BH5s, it'll mainly be because my motherboard only goes up to 2.85V and I don't want to get a ram booster or do a Vdimm mod to it. The only other reason would be the issue of despite them being sold as PC3700, their SPD is programmed as PC2700 and my motherboard will not allow you to overide the SPD (thank you MSI :mad: ). I don't have access to a dimm SPD programmer.

Hoot
 
OCS911 said:
maybe you need to replace your board instead your RAM :)
Click to expand...

It's not like I haven't thought of that, but with $400 tied up in an AGP video card, a card that when paired up with my current system, delivers 3D Mark 2001 scores in excess of 25,000, it's hard to walk away from. That SPD issue and perhaps the lack of higher Vdimm settings, are the only issues I have with the board. It has served me very well and rock stable under the current configuration. I just felt my system ram was holding me back. Perhaps I read these forums too much. It does run PC3200 2-2-2-6-1T, but no faster. At 9x300, the next divisor step (5:6) is too fast for it.

Hoot
 
You can beat the SPD problem by using CAS 2.5, and it won't make a performance difference. If you're ready to plunk down that sort of cash for new memory, its better to just pop a fraction for a DDR booster, or better yet, just vmod the board.

If you can get your BH5 to run at its full potential, anything else would be a downgrade. 245MHz 2-2-2 wouldn't be an issue with more volts and would beat any of those other options pretty easily.
 
Okay, I relented and ordered a DDR Booster from NewEgg. I have bins full of 10-Turn Trimpots, micro soldering pen, stereo microscope, etc, but I am tired of having to unmount the WC stuff and pulling out my accessories to get to the motherboard. Besides, while I'm not adverse to wicking and cutting, that is one small trace!

Don't, for one minute, think that Hoot's going soft though. Just too much else going on right now. I seem to recall going through this about two years ago when I first got those BH5 sticks. Back then they were on my A7N8X and later my NF7S and having modded the Vdimm on both, increasing the voltage did not help. But then, they had other issues with running non-synched memory as I recall. Time has a way of etching away the loose fragments at my age :)

Hoot
 
Last edited:
Booster works pretty good with that mobo. I've gone to 3.8v (for a short stretch) without any smoke, sparks or fires...and it still booted up the next day. :)
 
Gautam said:
You can beat the SPD problem by using CAS 2.5, and it won't make a performance difference. If you're ready to plunk down that sort of cash for new memory, its better to just pop a fraction for a DDR booster, or better yet, just vmod the board.

If you can get your BH5 to run at its full potential, anything else would be a downgrade. 245MHz 2-2-2 wouldn't be an issue with more volts and would beat any of those other options pretty easily.
Click to expand...


Gautam,

Did I understand you correctly in that if you manually set CAS to 2.5 (with another stick in the socket, I presume) then the board will boot up at 200 (1:1) instead of at 166?

I'll hve to go try that out cause I've got some PC3000 that I'd sure like to try out on this board.
 
Reefa_Madness said:
Gautam,

Did I understand you correctly in that if you manually set CAS to 2.5 (with another stick in the socket, I presume) then the board will boot up at 200 (1:1) instead of at 166?

I'll hve to go try that out cause I've got some PC3000 that I'd sure like to try out on this board.
Click to expand...

I tried CAS 2.5 and it still would not let me use 200 (1:1).

Hoot
 
Skiing Squirrel said:
Well Mr. Hoot. I believe the OCZ performs the best. Do you have the newegg link for that ram you got in your list?
Click to expand...

No Mr. here, I work for a living :)

Yes, I researched all four possibilities for price and availability. I'm in a holding pattern now, until I can see what the ddr booster can do for me, besides killing my BH5 sticks. It should be here Friday.

Hoot
 
Skiing Squirrel said:
Ah I see. Kind of ironic, but I just sold my Buffalo too. Things just wont go any higher.

Would your OCZ be the same as this?

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890

I've got a 256meg stick with (I believe) the same chips. My CPU can't keep up with it!
Click to expand...

Yeah, those are one of the types I'm considering. They sure look promising. From my reading, it looks like they all use the same chip. How they perform then is a matter of the quality of the PC Boards they are mounted on, the quality of the associated components on those boards and quality of the workmanship putting them together.

Even if the ddr booster doesn't buy me anything with the Buffalos, it's money in the bank for other modules that require more than the JEDEC voltage standard. It wouldn't even be needed if the motherboard manufacturers gave their customers more freedom of choice where voltages setting are concerned. I for one am tired of being protected from making the wrong choice. I'm a big boy. I pays my money and I takes my chances. Thanks to all the people not man enough to admit they caused a problem and who RMA things they ruined. We all pay for that kind of abuse...

Hoot
 
Hoot said:
I tried CAS 2.5 and it still would not let me use 200 (1:1).

Hoot
Click to expand...

Did you change it to 2.5 with your bh-5 sticks already in the slots or did you take the bh out, boot up with another stick, change to 2.5 then shut down and re-install the bh5 sticks to see if they would then run 200 at 1:1.

I think if you just change the timings in BIOS without changing out the sticks it may not accomplish what Gautam was saying. I will try that tomorrow...right now I'm going to bed.

First I'll PM Gautam and ask him to post a reply/clarification.
 
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