- Joined
- Nov 23, 2003
- Location
- England Uk
Hi, in the memory section there are a wide arrary of guides to help people learn the basics and some of the more advance information on memory. But after spending many hours trying to learn about memory, i still could not find a guide that could tell me what all this talk about bh-5 ect is about. After asking a few questions of the forum, i found out what bh-5 is and many other things, like what generic memory can do and why i should by memory from the likes of Corsair, OCZ, Mushkin, Kingston and Geil. But i still had many questions. I have now found out all of the answers to all of my question, but i know that there are many people who have not. So i made this topic to try and help them.
I recomend that you read the memory guides where in the memory section first as otherwise you might not know what i am going on about.
Here are the speeds of DDR SD-RAM that have been around in the last few years.
PC1600 or DDR200 runs at 200mhz (100*2) and has a bandwith of 1.6gb/s
PC2100 or DDR266 runs at 266mhz (133*2) and has a bandwith of 2.1gb/s
PC2400* or DDR300 runs at 300mhz (150*2) and has a bandwith of 2.4gb/s
PC2700 or DDR333 runs at 333mhz (166*2) and has a bandwith of 2.7gb/s
PC3000* or DDR375 runs at 375mhz (187*2) and has a bandwith of 3.0gb/s
PC3200 or DDR400 runs at 400mhz (200*2) and has a bandwith of 3.2gb/s
PC3500* or DDR433 runs at 433mhz (216*2) and has a bandwith of 3.5gb/s
PC3700* or DDR466 runs at 466mhz (233*2) and has a bandwith of 3.7gb/s
PC4000* or DDR500 runs at 500mhz (250*2) and has a bandwith of 4.0gb/s
PC4200* or DDR525 runs at 525mhz (262*2) and has a bandwith of 4.2gb/s
PC4300* or DDR537 runs at 537mhz (269*2) and has a bandwith of 4.3gb/s
PC4400* or DDR550 runs at 550mhz (275*2) and has a bandwith of 4.4gb/s
*=These speeds are not current JEDEC standards and most of them will remain this way.
The speeds in mhz are approx to 1mhz. Currently motherboards only officialy support DDR400 (PC3200) as that is the most that current stock CPU's need. Now i will explian what the use for each type of RAM.
PC1600:
Almost no use, early P4's and AMD Athlons abd durons use it. I do not think that you can get it anymore
PC2100
266 (133*2) AMDs and 533 (133*4) P4s still use this along with most servers.
PC2400
This was arround at the time when all new computers use PC2100. It allowed someone to overclock their 133fsb cpu a little. But now has no use and i do not think that you can buy it.
PC2700
Many cpu's still use this, but most of them are AMD's as Intel never had a 166 fsb cpu.
PC3200
The current standard for AMD and Intel.
PC3500
Allows users to overclock their 200 fsb cpu a little.
PC3700
Mainly only used by intel owners are amd cpus do not usually overclock this far.
PC4000
Allows intel users to overclock even further. I have only ever seen a few amd cpus run fast enough to require it.
PC4200
A slight gain from PC4000. Only used by the extreme overclockers.
PC4300
Not very common, only a very slight gain from PC4200.
PC4400
Currently the fastest RAM that you can buy. Very few CPUs are able to clock high enoguh to need it.
Most RAM will overclock, some PC3200 can get to PC3500 with almost no trouble. But there is a bit of luck involved.
That is one of the main reasons that you should buy quality RAM as if often will overclock better and will be able to run tigher timings. I have also found that most PC2700 and PC3200 is the same chips and PCB ect. The only difference is the lable and the SPD settings. This means that is you had some PC2700 and some PC3200 they should both max out at the same speed.
Now i am going to tell you about the black 'chips' that you see on the RAM. The black 'chips' are hard to make and only a few compaines make them, Samsung, Micron and Winbond just to name a few. Different chips are rated to run at different speeds and at different timings. It would take a long time to go through all of the common chips so i will just go over the one that you will hear about the most.
There are some chips that everyboady wants, they are Winbond bh-5, these chips have been around for a while and are 5ns, they are able to run speeds of PC3500 with 2-2-2, which is much lower that any other chips. However bh-5 is no long made and is getting rare that is what everyone wants it. Some people have been able to get it to pc4000 with 2-2-2! But that is only possible with a lot of voltage.
Winbond bh-6 are the next best thing and you are still able to get them, but they are 6ns. People have been able to get almost as gooder results with them but a lot more voltage is needed.
The chips that the being used a lot at the moment are ch-5 these are also made by Winbond. People often do not want thse as they do not overclock as well and do not respond to voltages over i think 2.75 volts. Anouther problem with these chips is that the do not like runnig in a 5:4 ratio. ch-5 are not in most pc2700 to sometimes pc3500 chips.
Hynix are chips seen on the faster memory, PC4000+, the chips are 4ns. They do not like tight timings, no matter what the voltage or clock speed is.
I am sorry that i could not tell you about more types of memory chips, but i myself do not know at the moment, but as soon as i know i will update this topic with all the new information. I am sorry about spelling errors.
I recomend that you read the memory guides where in the memory section first as otherwise you might not know what i am going on about.
Here are the speeds of DDR SD-RAM that have been around in the last few years.
PC1600 or DDR200 runs at 200mhz (100*2) and has a bandwith of 1.6gb/s
PC2100 or DDR266 runs at 266mhz (133*2) and has a bandwith of 2.1gb/s
PC2400* or DDR300 runs at 300mhz (150*2) and has a bandwith of 2.4gb/s
PC2700 or DDR333 runs at 333mhz (166*2) and has a bandwith of 2.7gb/s
PC3000* or DDR375 runs at 375mhz (187*2) and has a bandwith of 3.0gb/s
PC3200 or DDR400 runs at 400mhz (200*2) and has a bandwith of 3.2gb/s
PC3500* or DDR433 runs at 433mhz (216*2) and has a bandwith of 3.5gb/s
PC3700* or DDR466 runs at 466mhz (233*2) and has a bandwith of 3.7gb/s
PC4000* or DDR500 runs at 500mhz (250*2) and has a bandwith of 4.0gb/s
PC4200* or DDR525 runs at 525mhz (262*2) and has a bandwith of 4.2gb/s
PC4300* or DDR537 runs at 537mhz (269*2) and has a bandwith of 4.3gb/s
PC4400* or DDR550 runs at 550mhz (275*2) and has a bandwith of 4.4gb/s
*=These speeds are not current JEDEC standards and most of them will remain this way.
The speeds in mhz are approx to 1mhz. Currently motherboards only officialy support DDR400 (PC3200) as that is the most that current stock CPU's need. Now i will explian what the use for each type of RAM.
PC1600:
Almost no use, early P4's and AMD Athlons abd durons use it. I do not think that you can get it anymore
PC2100
266 (133*2) AMDs and 533 (133*4) P4s still use this along with most servers.
PC2400
This was arround at the time when all new computers use PC2100. It allowed someone to overclock their 133fsb cpu a little. But now has no use and i do not think that you can buy it.
PC2700
Many cpu's still use this, but most of them are AMD's as Intel never had a 166 fsb cpu.
PC3200
The current standard for AMD and Intel.
PC3500
Allows users to overclock their 200 fsb cpu a little.
PC3700
Mainly only used by intel owners are amd cpus do not usually overclock this far.
PC4000
Allows intel users to overclock even further. I have only ever seen a few amd cpus run fast enough to require it.
PC4200
A slight gain from PC4000. Only used by the extreme overclockers.
PC4300
Not very common, only a very slight gain from PC4200.
PC4400
Currently the fastest RAM that you can buy. Very few CPUs are able to clock high enoguh to need it.
Most RAM will overclock, some PC3200 can get to PC3500 with almost no trouble. But there is a bit of luck involved.
That is one of the main reasons that you should buy quality RAM as if often will overclock better and will be able to run tigher timings. I have also found that most PC2700 and PC3200 is the same chips and PCB ect. The only difference is the lable and the SPD settings. This means that is you had some PC2700 and some PC3200 they should both max out at the same speed.
Now i am going to tell you about the black 'chips' that you see on the RAM. The black 'chips' are hard to make and only a few compaines make them, Samsung, Micron and Winbond just to name a few. Different chips are rated to run at different speeds and at different timings. It would take a long time to go through all of the common chips so i will just go over the one that you will hear about the most.
There are some chips that everyboady wants, they are Winbond bh-5, these chips have been around for a while and are 5ns, they are able to run speeds of PC3500 with 2-2-2, which is much lower that any other chips. However bh-5 is no long made and is getting rare that is what everyone wants it. Some people have been able to get it to pc4000 with 2-2-2! But that is only possible with a lot of voltage.
Winbond bh-6 are the next best thing and you are still able to get them, but they are 6ns. People have been able to get almost as gooder results with them but a lot more voltage is needed.
The chips that the being used a lot at the moment are ch-5 these are also made by Winbond. People often do not want thse as they do not overclock as well and do not respond to voltages over i think 2.75 volts. Anouther problem with these chips is that the do not like runnig in a 5:4 ratio. ch-5 are not in most pc2700 to sometimes pc3500 chips.
Hynix are chips seen on the faster memory, PC4000+, the chips are 4ns. They do not like tight timings, no matter what the voltage or clock speed is.
I am sorry that i could not tell you about more types of memory chips, but i myself do not know at the moment, but as soon as i know i will update this topic with all the new information. I am sorry about spelling errors.
Last edited:
