Need new ram...Kingmax 2400 or Crucial 2100?

[Pitspawn]

I just wrecked both of my two 256Mb Crucial 2100 sticks through too much voltage and not enough heat dissipation.

I need to know what stick shall I get to replace them? I would go for a Mushkin HSDRAM 2100 2-2-2 which is the best on the market, but I live in the UK.

I need the ram to operate at atleast 150FSB 2.5-3-3. I WANT the ram to hit 150 2.5-2-2. It would be even nicer for it to cope with 150FSB 2-2-2.

So here are my choices (unless someone else can tell me of a UK retailer that offers overclocking ram like Mushkin HSDRAM)...

1 x 256Mb Crucial 2100 DDR stick with Tt Heatspreader
1 x 256Mb Kingmax 2400 DDR stick with Tt Heatspreader

Bare in mind I dont care about price here, I just want memory that will overclock more and last LONGER. My last two crucial sticks died quickly.

[UnseenMenace]

Ive got PC2100 Kingmax without heat spreaders and I have run this on 160 mhz FSB @ cas 2. The quality is pretty good and as such if the PC2400 is more of the same I would reccomend the kingmax.
I also wonder how much faster do we think will will get with PC2400? I would personally consider getting a good quality PC2100 such as crucial or kingmax and saving the money as I have not seen people obtain much higher FSB speeds using 'high performance DDR memory' as of yet

[Placid]

Dont know how much voltage you were using but I get 155fsb at 2.7v cas 2-2-2 using 2x 256mb crucial.

[WinXP]

You are the first I have read about killing ram from to much voltage. I have a Epox 8K7A+ an Crucial PC2100 will run 168 fsb cas2 an at 2.9v with 2 sticks, 174fsb with one stick. Since first install about 3 months now set ram to 2.9v an never have changed it, my ram never even get warm

[Pitspawn]

WinXP, your ram is going to fail and soon. I have had the exact same thing...

2x256Mb Crucial runs upto 174Mhz 8862222 Timings with 2.9v

I ran my Crucial at 158Mhz 8882822 Timings with 2.8v for two months or so. I DONT think the sticks have died, but my system has become very unstable with them in it. One stick out of the two causes more problems than the other.

At the moment, I am running with 1x256Mb Crucial at only 150Mhz 88828222 2.7v

This still doesnt give me much stability. Personally, I think a new 2400 DDR stick with heatspreader would do the trick.

I am NEVER going to run my ram at 2.8 or 2.9 volts for any long length of time again. It is far too risky.

[Pitspawn]

Well here is the update...

One of the two sticks is definatly dead. The other is working fine atm. Got the settings a little lower so I can run at really low voltage (2.6v)

I dunno what I'm gonna do about the ram, I might order another crucial stick but get two Tt Heatspreaders.

I am probably right in thinking that I ram doesnt have its lifespan shortened through voltage increases, but it will die if pushed to high. I think that the stick I have that works is fine and so I will just get one to replace the one that died.

I have decided, that is important for me to have 512Mb RAM because my framerates suffer quite badly in games like T2 with only 256Mb

[Maximus Nickus]

I think thats rubbish about the mem, you can run it at as higher voltage as you like AS LONG AS YOU PUT A FAN ON IT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD....

[oc jason]

id go with crucial 2100 as it will meet and probably excedd the rated speeds for the other type of mem

[PeteyPete]

Go for the crucial..every thing i've ever read about their PC2100 can meet or exceed any other type of memory..even PC2700

[Nitestorm]

You can get Kingmax PC2700 now in the UK, 256MB for about £69+VAT I think.

[Alex99]

Go for Crucial PC2100. I run mine at 155 CAS2, 4-way, etc....everyting on most aggressive settings, and at 2.7 volts.

I've had horrible experience with Kingmax, but not with their DDR RAM though. I bought a Kingmax PC150 that's rated at CAS2 at that speed. You'd think you would at least can hit 150 at CAS2 right...wronggggg. On my KT7A mobo, I have a Tonicom PC150 that I can run at 155 CAS2,Turbo,4-way. But with the Kingmax, I can't even hit 145 with those settings, only 140. I wouldn't buy any Kingmax RAM any more.

[Nitestorm]

Well maybe their SDRAM wasn't much good, but going by the following review the DDR-SDRAM seems to fair much better:

http://www.pcpowerzone.co.uk/reviews56_1.html

2.9v, CAS2, 'TURBO' with 4-way interleaving enabled:
CRUCIAL PC2100 - 165MHz
KINGMAX PC2400 - 170MHz


Admittedly the Crucial did well considering it is only rated for 133MHz and how much cheaper it is. Not sure if 170Mhz was a memory limit or system limit. But I'd expect the PC2700 stick to do better. I do know some people have said that while increasing the voltage to the memory does wonders for Crucial sticks allowing for higher speeds, Kingmax sticks tend to do worse at higher voltages. So best to experiment with the voltages when trying different makes of memory.

[Maximus Nickus]

Ha someone hit 180FSB @ cas2 wif crucial, and some guy hit 192fsb, cas2.5 both @ 3.2volts....

[Hugo 59]

I would also go with the Crucial.