Using faster ram in DFI mobos

rvvae · Aug 12, 2005

I've been seeing some people on other forums with ram faster than 3200 on DFI AMD mobos. I'm wondering, is it possible to put faster ram of DDR2 into a DFI mobo and be able to use it? I'm very skeptical of the memory these people are posting in their sigs so I wish to confirm this with others that have faster ram in their DFI mobos.

Cheers,
RVV-AE

RedDragonXXX · Aug 12, 2005

the adam · Aug 12, 2005

Depends what DFI motherboard it is.

ochungry · Aug 12, 2005

rvvae said:
I've been seeing some people on other forums with ram faster than 3200 on DFI AMD mobos. I'm wondering, is it possible to put faster ram of DDR2 into a DFI mobo and be able to use it? I'm very skeptical of the memory these people are posting in their sigs so I wish to confirm this with others that have faster ram in their DFI mobos.

Cheers,
RVV-AE

Do you have Intel P4?
AMD as of now can only use DDR, or so called DDR1. Intel latest P4 or celeron or xeon processors use DDR2. AMD is changing to DDR2 next year.
You can buy faster DDR(1) like pc3200(400 mhz), pc3500(433), 3700(466), 4200(533) and so on.
Generaly a good memory can be overclocked (in Bios change settings of the ram to run faster 400>466>500>533,,,). So people here buy a good set of memory 2x512 or 2x1024(2x1gig) and play with the mem clock to make it run faster. it is cheaper this way than going buying a pc4200 from store.
Read the stickies here and you will have a pretty good idea of the memory concepts and overclocking.
Below is an example of a set of good dual DDR ram 2x512 for $159 made by patriot.
after checking the link below (newegg.com) then click on the manufacturer's website(below price/description @ newegg) and read info on their memory and what recommend for your motherboard.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220033

Tiesto · Aug 12, 2005

A good set to get is OCZ Platinum Rev2 2x512mb PC3200 dual channel kit. It goes for about $250CAN, which is more than 2 normal 512mb chips, but less than high-end PC4400 or PC4800. It runs at default 200mhz (DDR400) but can easily be overclocked to anywhere between 275mhz (DDR550) to 300mhz (DDR600). At those speeds it matches and even surpasses many DDR2 modules in terms of performance, mostly because DDR1 chips can hold tighter timings (2.5-3-3-7) vs DDR2 chips (example 3-4-4-10).

and in my opinion, after struggling with MSI Neo2 Platinum, and now having a DFI Ultra-D nF4 board, I must say the amount of options on a DFI board is excellent help in getting your RAM running the fastest possible speed.

so bottom line, buy DFI board, and good quality PC3200 RAM (check the boards on here; your best bet is RAM based on Samsung's TCCD or TCC5 chips), and you should easily be able to achieve PC4800 or higher bandwith.

the adam · Aug 12, 2005

I feel so stupid forgeting about the other boards DFI makes (forgot all about intel... I guess my AMD fanboyness came over me).

EDIT: He has posted a thread about getting a DFI NF4 ultra-d in the DFI mobo section... now I dont feel like such a retard

rvvae · Aug 12, 2005

Very useful information guys. Thanks. I guess the people posting they have PC4000 or PC4500 must be overclocking their PC3200s. LOL.

Cheers,
RVV-AE

ochungry · Aug 12, 2005

Tiesto said:
A good set to get is OCZ Platinum Rev2 2x512mb PC3200 dual channel kit. It goes for about $250CAN, which is more than 2 normal 512mb chips, but less than high-end PC4400 or PC4800. It runs at default 200mhz (DDR400) but can easily be overclocked to anywhere between 275mhz (DDR550) to 300mhz (DDR600). At those speeds it matches and even surpasses many DDR2 modules in terms of performance, mostly because DDR1 chips can hold tighter timings (2.5-3-3-7) vs DDR2 chips (example 3-4-4-10).

and in my opinion, after struggling with MSI Neo2 Platinum, and now having a DFI Ultra-D nF4 board, I must say the amount of options on a DFI board is excellent help in getting your RAM running the fastest possible speed.

so bottom line, buy DFI board, and good quality PC3200 RAM (check the boards on here; your best bet is RAM based on Samsung's TCCD or TCC5 chips), and you should easily be able to achieve PC4800 or higher bandwith.

OCZ's TCC5 is not as good as you are promoting it here to the poster. Check OCZ website and their forum and see how many people are unhappy and having problems w/ this TCC5. In fact the CEO of OCZ has an article there trying to asure people this TCC5 is a good ram too. I guess someone gotten stuck w/ his/her TCC5 will have a hard time being objective. But one can always look at the reviews and find out what is what and why OCZ w/ TCC5 really did an unjustice to their long time customers and beleivers.
I dont know Canadian exchange rate but OCZ TCC5 is selling for $169 and aint pure gold as you are trying to picture it.
So I dont think it would be fair to the poster when you put TCCD and TCC5 side by side. And about your DDR being faster than DDR2? well you need to do your homework. I guess AMD changing to DDR2 is because they really are trying to degrade their new products and stepping backward instead.

Tiesto · Aug 12, 2005

TCCD = TCC5. same chips, same manufacturing. only difference is TCCD was speed binned by Samsung, which they stopped doing. Now they just release only TCC5 that are proven at 200mhz, but many have gotten their TCC5 to the 300mhz barrier. I'm a total n00b at timings and all the RAM settings and i got my first pair going prime stable at 280mhz.

I do frequent the OCZ forums, and what they say makes sense. The PC3200 Plats will be guaranteed to 2-2-2-5 at 200mhz, and if you want a guarantee it will go minimum 250mhz, or 280mhz, or even 300mhz, buy their more expensive RAM. If you buy the PC3200 (just like when you buy a 3000+ Venice), more often then not you will hit high speeds, but if you can't break even 230mhz (or say 2.4ghz on a 3000+ CPU), you can't really complain since overclocking is luck of the draw.

besides, what other options are there out there? TCCD are no longer in production, and Winbond need so much juice and even then can't go much past 250mhz, so if you have a 3000+ and are shooting for HTT of 280 to 300, your ram choices are limited to Samsung.

regarding the DDR2, I guess thats why AMD users are frequently in the 7,000 to 8,000 range in Sandra memory bandwith, while DDR2 Intel users are proud of 6,000+. AMD was smart by waiting until DDR2 got some half decent timings before migrating to them.

ochungry · Aug 12, 2005

Tiesto said:
TCCD = TCC5. same chips, same manufacturing. only difference is TCCD was speed binned by Samsung, which they stopped doing. Now they just release only TCC5 that are proven at 200mhz, but many have gotten their TCC5 to the 300mhz barrier. I'm a total n00b at timings and all the RAM settings and i got my first pair going prime stable at 280mhz.

I do frequent the OCZ forums, and what they say makes sense. The PC3200 Plats will be guaranteed to 2-2-2-5 at 200mhz, and if you want a guarantee it will go minimum 250mhz, or 280mhz, or even 300mhz, buy their more expensive RAM. If you buy the PC3200 (just like when you buy a 3000+ Venice), more often then not you will hit high speeds, but if you can't break even 230mhz (or say 2.4ghz on a 3000+ CPU), you can't really complain since overclocking is luck of the draw.

besides, what other options are there out there? TCCD are no longer in production, and Winbond need so much juice and even then can't go much past 250mhz, so if you have a 3000+ and are shooting for HTT of 280 to 300, your ram choices are limited to Samsung.

regarding the DDR2, I guess thats why AMD users are frequently in the 7,000 to 8,000 range in Sandra memory bandwith, while DDR2 Intel users are proud of 6,000+. AMD was smart by waiting until DDR2 got some half decent timings before migrating to them.

TCC5 is not = TCCD. TCC5 takes a lot of voltage to give you decent timing and speed. over 3.3 up to 3.5 v. TCCD 3200 will do 4200 w/ less than 2.9 volts ( if I remember). Most mobo can not take over 3volts. patriot ram is TCCD and cheaper than OCZ TCC5. and most mobo can use it because of low voltage.
As for intel and DDR2- well everyone knows that intel doesnt give you as much oc compared to AMD w/ HTT and mem controler built into cpu. DDR2 uses les voltage (about 1.8-1.9v if I recall). When AMD moves to DDR2 I am guessing it will be even greater oc'ing w/ ddr2 because of low voltage.
But despite the argument here, OCZ is a great ram and most benchmarks and tests on hardwares are conducted w/ OCZ rams. But I think it was a mistake for OCZ to discontinue TCCD and replace it w/ TCC5.

rvvae · Aug 13, 2005

Very interesting. Thanks for the warning on the TCC5 chips ochungry. I went to tigerdirect.ca and found that Kingston and Cosair have overlock ram with speeds as high as 5400 which I would plan on getting since the overclocking is already done. Glad to have useful information on making decision for my current setup.

Cheers,
RVV-AE

Sucka · Aug 13, 2005

ochungry said:
TCC5 is not = TCCD. TCC5 takes a lot of voltage to give you decent timing and speed. over 3.3 up to 3.5 v. TCCD 3200 will do 4200 w/ less than 2.9 volts ( if I remember). Most mobo can not take over 3volts. patriot ram is TCCD and cheaper than OCZ TCC5. and most mobo can use it because of low

Actually no. TCC5 acts almost exactly like TCCD. It does not take 3.5v to hit high speeds. In fact, anything over 3.0v you probably run the risk of killing the modules. You must be confusing TCC5 with UTT based memory, which does in fact take 3.2v or higher.

rvvae · Aug 13, 2005

Sucka said:
Actually no. TCC5 acts almost exactly like TCCD. It does not take 3.5v to hit high speeds. In fact, anything over 3.0v you probably run the risk of killing the modules. You must be confusing TCC5 with UTT based memory, which does in fact take 3.2v or higher.

Would you post a link that explains the TCC5? Having a rather weird day with google and other search engines.

Thanks,
RVV-AE

Sucka · Aug 13, 2005

rvvae said:
Would you post a link that explains the TCC5? Having a rather weird day with google and other search engines.

Thanks,
RVV-AE

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=388790

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=388919

There's some reading to get you started. It's bassically the same as TCCD, just scales a little differently. The latest OCZ releases in the PC-4800 and PC-5000 flavour have been TCC5. And i would not reccomend pumping 3.5v into these things

rvvae · Aug 14, 2005

Thanks for the links Sucka!! Really helps knowing what's new and unheard of these days. Thanks for getting the links (as I had a hard time with google or any search engine as it didn't come out right) and am happy to know about these chips. I'll be looking for these kinds of chips for my next set of ram sticks.

Cheers,
RVv-AE

Using faster ram in DFI mobos

rvvae

Member

RedDragonXXX

Senior RAM Pornographer

the adam

Member

ochungry

Member

Tiesto

Member

the adam

Member

rvvae

Member

ochungry

Member

Tiesto

Member

ochungry

Member

rvvae

Member

Sucka

Member

rvvae

Member

Sucka

Member

rvvae

Member

Similar threads