READ...Detailed MEM Comparison... READ

This is a Detailed and very well written article about the testing of 5 of the hottest and highest rated mem modules on the market. A definate read if you will be buying memory soon.

Mem Compared IS

512 mb sticks were used in all tests.

Corsair XMS 3000
Crucial pc2700
KingMax pc 2700
Mushkin pc3000
OCZ pc3000

Max FSB test at normal and turbo settings
SiSoft Sandra ALU and FPU tests
3dmark 2001 test at stable FSB and MAX FSB (had to loop 3x to pass that that FSB)

Very Good Article




http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=177

Just one little problem.
The tests were done on the 8K3A.
A known problem with that board(chipset) is tearing in video even in the bios at 200+ speeds.


"In a very surprising outcome, both the Mushkin and the Corsair continued to be able to take the heat of running at a 200 MHz FSB. There was a lot more video tear here on the 3D Mark tests and even a good amount of it in the boot up sequence and in the BIOS menus."

There are many very experienced overclocker's who have run 200+ on other boards like the KR7A and 8KHA that did not get any of this video tearing problem with the same video cards.

Too bad they chose the 8K3A to use as a test board or they could have gone higher than 200mhz in my opinion.

yes but that board is avery popular and most people who get a new EPox use it. Still i see ur point, but i dont agree tha a diff board will go higher in FSB, IMO the 8k3a is the highest attainable FSB board out? what board consistently get a higher FSB
???

I had my 8KHA+ up to 216 FSB with no video problems using a Geforce2 ddr or a Radeon VE. I really wish they had a board that could take the ram further since I know some are up to the task. I was able to get 220 MHz out of my PC3000 Mushkin and thats at default voltage. Testing ram with a board like the Asus P4S333 would allow them to focus on true mem speed since you can run it at 1.5 the FSB clock. I still think the mushkin wins, its not to expensive and is obviously a very high quality stick of ram.

Bender said it
I can run my original samsung 2700 512mb stable at 220mhz on my epox 4SDA with 2.7v.

I guess being a amd only site using a intel board might not be very good.

Like in my first post the KR7A and 8KHA both seem to do better at 200+ than 8K3A due to this video problem and it does not seem to be the video cards, possibly a chipset (KT333) bug because the new abit kt333 board has the same problem while the kt266a boards do not when ran at the same speeds with the same video card.

Perhaps they should have run the memory test with an Abit sd7-533. One of its 13 divider settings includes a 3/6 FSB to MEM divider. Most Northwoods don't even break a sweat at 133FSB. This would allow an easy mem test up to 266MHz.

did you ALL miss that i am talking about for an amd mobo NOT an intel.

did you all miss the site that is called AMDMB ? that is for AMD i was not talking about intel. But i guess i wasnt clear LOL

Jason we all know that its strictly an AMD site. All we are saying is for a mem test it would have been better to use one of the new P4 SIS chipsets so you can push the ram to the max.

The trick is ===> chipset plus BIOS support of FSB/memory speed ratio.

8k3a will only run 1:1 (FSB/Ram) beyond FSB of 166 and SiS 645 based P4 board has that 3:5 setting to take advantage of running the AGP/PCI with less stressful speed. That's why we see little higher FSB been attained by SiS P4 board.

I dont know if I am right. I think the key is on VIA's side. They need to do something like SiS; so BIOS guy can implement better ratio option for overclockers.

Among many RAMs I have, the Samsung PC2700 (ATP designed PCB) performs the best and did reach 215 mhz with setting at "normal" and 201 Mhz with setting at 2-2-2-5-1.


Epox 8k3a+ (rev. 1.2)
AMD 2000XP
Corsair XMS3000 -- 199 @ 2-2-2-5-1
Kingmax PC2700 -- 180 @ 2-2-2-5-1
TwinMos PC2700 (Windbond chip stamping A version) -- fail @ 2-2-2-5-1
Samsung PC2700 (ATP designed; still waiting for Samsung original) -- 201 @ 2-2-2-5-1
CoolerMaster ATC210 modified with 8 fans
Thermalright AX-7 with Delta 80CFM
PC mods rheobus 4 channel fan controller (17W per channel)
digiDoc5 for temp hardware monitoring
2 x IBM ATA 100 HD
Toshiba 16x DVD and Pelxter CD-ROM

MV99