TwinMOS PC-3700 Initial Results

First off, the details on the configuration I'm running:

Abit IC7 w/ 1.4 Official BIOS
P4 2.4B SL6RZ @ 3533Mhz, 1.68v, bong cooled
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

First off- I popped the RAM in, and no POST. I reset the CMOS and it posted. Went straight ahead and set my CPU back to 3533Mhz, RAM @ 1:1 ratio, no boot. Reset the CMOS again.

Left the RAM ratio @ "SPD" and got to the desktop @ default CPU speed, no problems.

Tried 3533Mhz, 4:5 ratio for 245Mhz DDR, used the highest VDIMM available in the BIOS, and it posts no problems, but craps out right before it loads Windows.

I took a look in the PC Health Monitor in the BIOS and the VDIMM is only 2.78v.

The DDR is rated 466Mhz, 2.7v CAS2. I suppose 2.78v for a post @ 490Mhz isn't too shabby then.

Right now I'm running @ 4:5, memoy @ DDR466 and the CPU @ 3350Mhz. Using SetFSB I inched up to a 190Mhz fsb (DDR475), ran a SiSoft memory bench and then it crapped out.

The RAM has been running 2.5-3-3-7 all this time btw and the RAM is recognized properly as PC-3700 in CPU-Z.

Right now it looks like it'll take a VDIMM mod to achieve anything in the DDR500 range- and I can't say I'm that great of a solderer.

Going to play around with it some more and in the end I'm going to have to ultimately decide to do the VDIMM mod or get rid of the TwinMOS and get some OCZ.

*Edit*: its now crapping out while loading windows @ 1Mhz over 186Mhz. This is at 2.78v.

That sucks... based on this and this i don't think TwinMos' 3700 is very good.. beaten badly by Golden Dragon 3500 and HyperX 3500 in that other thread. The TwinMos chips must just not be too good.

q149 said:

That sucks... based on this and this i don't think TwinMos' 3700 is very good.. beaten badly by Golden Dragon 3500 and HyperX 3500 in that other thread. The TwinMos chips must just not be too good.

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I *have* seen a number of happy TwinMOS PC-3700 owners- it seems for the most part that the TwinMOS needs the voltage to perform. I can either volt mod or buy OCZ.

Agreed the Twinmos loves volts - plus it has no heatspreaders on active cooling, add that and you may get a few extra mhz....
I was going to dump the single stick of 3200 and buy 2 of 3700 today (for my new P4C-800E), but Im just gonna risk buying another single stick of 3200 and dropping it in there.
I can do DDR466 7-3-3-2.5 on the PC3200 with 2.85v, need a volt mod though and like i810 I am no soldering master, but I heard about some "grabbers" that can do the job?

So, now your at 186 fsb and 4:5? The ram is running at 465 MHz DDR and that's all she wrote? DAMN, I've read a lot of good stuff about this ram but now I'm disappointed. Sorry it didn't work out bro, I really figured this ram could do 500MHz. Did you try CAS 3?

markodude said:

Agreed the Twinmos loves volts - plus it has no heatspreaders on active cooling, add that and you may get a few extra mhz....
I was going to dump the single stick of 3200 and buy 2 of 3700 today (for my new P4C-800E), but Im just gonna risk buying another single stick of 3200 and dropping it in there.
I can do DDR466 7-3-3-2.5 on the PC3200 with 2.85v, need a volt mod though and like i810 I am no soldering master, but I heard about some "grabbers" that can do the job?

Click to expand...

I know as far as the IC7 mod goes you need to solder no matter what (you need to remove a resistor and then connect a pot)- not sure about the P4C800 mod though. I'd check out XtremeSystems.org for more info on that one.

Got the RMA number for the PC-3700- its freezing up about every 15 minutes on here regardless of the speed.

Right now I have my "cheap old" TwinMOS PC-3200 @ 225Mhz, CAS2.5, 2.78v. It'll run for about an hour or so until SETI craps out on it. 4515MB/sec in Sandra, not to shabby for having the CPU only @ 3.2Ghz.

At this point I'm really curious to know if my PC-3200 could do 245MHz with the voltage- I'm willing to go up to 3.3v. If its willing to post and begin loading Windows @ 245Mhz, 2.78v- maybe I've got a chance? I'd save the money for PC-3700 alltogether.

BadThad said:

So, now your at 186 fsb and 4:5? The ram is running at 465 MHz DDR and that's all she wrote? DAMN, I've read a lot of good stuff about this ram but now I'm disappointed. Sorry it didn't work out bro, I really figured this ram could do 500MHz. Did you try CAS 3?

Click to expand...

DDR465 is all that its "remotely" stable in- it still freezes up every 15 minutes or so.

For timings I've tried SPD to the worst timings available on the board.

Isnt the IC7 real picky about memory?
Ive read of a P4P800 running Twinmos pc3700 at over DDR500.