[dominick32]

I had to post this review for one reason. Newegg is currently shipping the GSkill Extreme Series PC4000 2-Gig sets for $157 with no Mail In Rebate, only an instant discount.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231021

G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 500 (PC 4000) Dual
Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
Model #: F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ



Over the last month I have been through 4 different memory sets: Corsair XMS PC3200, Team Xtreem Micron, Team Apollo TCCD, and now currently the GSkill 2-Gig set. I am trying to figure out what set is best for my system. As far as absolute overclocking potential is concerned I vote my TCCD Apollo sticks. I achieved a 315mhz fully stable overclock with them. The down side and reason for my switch back to 2-gig dual channel is that some of my
games wouldnt run correctly in Ultra Quality/High Resolution settings. The ram would immediately run out and shove a gig into in the page file. Ex: (Quake4, BF2) Right now, the GSkill in a price to performance ratio is unbeatable!! With the price of high end dual channel 2-gig kits going for upwards of $200 and even close to $300 for the newer -5b f modules I was a little disheartened after obtaining results of 282 mhz with absolute EASE on my GSkills.

The other high end modules in question, costing upwards of $250 have been clocking in on average at 260 to 275 mhz based on my most recent observations on multiple online forums. I do have the latest run production GSkills the "0603" serial number and I have a hunch that newegg.com has a crap load of the same exact "0603" binned stock that I received. For a price of $157 I would highly recommend these sticks.

Another important thing to note is that these are not cherry picked. I simply pressed the "Buy it now" button using Newegg.com. That means that my results may be average for many of you buying the same ram set as me. "Please note the words: may be average"

On to the results. I always test out my ram initially with stock rated timings and no adjustments in the bios or using A64Tweaker. I like to see how far I can push the frequency without touching a thing.

First test: 250Mhz 1T (3-4-4-8) 2.6v Memtest Stable in dos for 5 runs on test#5, Superpi32m stable.3D gaming stable (BF2,Q4,Farcry)



Second test: 275Mhz 1T (3-4-4-8) 2.6v Memtest Stable in dos for 5 runs on test#5, Superpi32m stable.3D gaming stable (BF2,Q4,Farcry)



Third test MAXIMUM STABLE SUPERPI 32M OVERCLOCK, VOLTAGE RAISED .03 Points in Bios: 282Mhz 1T (3-4-4-8) 2.65v Memtest Stable in dos for 5 runs on test#5, Superpi32m stable.3D gaming stable (BF2,Q4,Farcry)



Finally, I strapped down my normal processor overclock settings and finally achieved my goal of getting a 1:1 memory/cpu setup of 10 X 280 (2.8Ghz) 1.52vcore The results are excellent bandwith at stock timings and settings and great 1:1 setup.



Thank you GSkills!!
Now its off to adjusting all of the timings in A64Tweaker to get the absolute maximum out of these.

Regards,
Dom

[Mustanley]

Very nice looking for memory Dom, especailly at that price. You could have 4GB of these Gskills for what my Ballistix cost.

Could you tell me what your superpi times are for 1M and 32M at 280MHz 1:1? That is exactly my overclock atm with my X2 (differing cache sizes though) and I like to see what effect the memory timings have between our kits. I'm still running the Cronus atm which should perform about the same as my Ballistix at 3-3-3-7.

[dominick32]

Originally Posted by Mustanley

Very nice looking for memory Dom, especailly at that price. You could have 4GB of these Gskills for what my Ballistix cost.

Could you tell me what your superpi times are for 1M and 32M at 280MHz 1:1? That is exactly my overclock atm with my X2 (differing cache sizes though) and I like to see what effect the memory timings have between our kits. I'm still running the Cronus atm which should perform about the same as my Ballistix at 3-3-3-7.

Thanks for the response Mustanley. My 1M times are usually 29 seconds, with an occasional 30 if I am internet browsing in the background. My 32m times are usually around 26 and 1/2 minutes, give or take a few seconds.

Dom

[mynihilism]

any one know if its compatable with an A8N32-sli ?

i f#(ed up and bought some corsair xms pc3200.. needless to say i'm returning it to new egg because it would crap out at 210mhz.

165 opteron going to 2.4ghz+...... yeah stupid move on my part.

I'm REALLY interested in this ram especially with those numbers.

[Luftwaffle]

I received my sticks on Wednesday. For some strange reason, I can't get them to boot into Windows. I can't figure it out. I was trying for the past two nights to get them to work. I even reset everything to optimized settings. No take. I ran memtest86 on it a few times (test5) and everything looks good. I get the Windows swishy bar load screen, but when it tries to get into the OS, I will either blue screen or the machine will just reboot itself.

As far as I can guess, my BIOS revision is too old, my OS just doesn't like me, I'm using the wrong slots (orange) or there is something I'm forgetting. Tonight I will probably try installing a new OS on a spare drive to see if it's just the OS. I'm guessing no matter what, I should really install a new BIOS... Got any suggestions?

[dominick32]

Originally Posted by Luftwaffle

I received my sticks on Wednesday. For some strange reason, I can't get them to boot into Windows. I can't figure it out. I was trying for the past two nights to get them to work. I even reset everything to optimized settings. No take. I ran memtest86 on it a few times (test5) and everything looks good. I get the Windows swishy bar load screen, but when it tries to get into the OS, I will either blue screen or the machine will just reboot itself.

As far as I can guess, my BIOS revision is too old, my OS just doesn't like me, I'm using the wrong slots (orange) or there is something I'm forgetting. Tonight I will probably try installing a new OS on a spare drive to see if it's just the OS. I'm guessing no matter what, I should really install a new BIOS... Got any suggestions?

I am using the 11/14/05 bios. The newest revision. Try testing sticks individually as well. It could be that you received a faulty stick. This happened to me recently with a Micron Cronus Purchase. Good luck!
Also, what bin stock are your sticks? 0603?

Dom

[Luftwaffle]

How do I check the bin? I'm at work right now, so I can't do anything till I get back later tonight. :T

I'll surely give the one stick at a time a shot. I think I tried it before, but the motherboard wouldn't post and started beeping angrily at me. Also, when I replaced all my old TwinMOS RAM, it wouldn't post until I switched sticks. Like literally, I had to put one stick in the slot occupied by the other or it wouldn't post. What's up with that? I think my computer is crazy.

[OldOne]

Originally Posted by mynihilism

any one know if its compatable with an A8N32-sli ?

i f#(ed up and bought some corsair xms pc3200.. needless to say i'm returning it to new egg because it would crap out at 210mhz.

165 opteron going to 2.4ghz+...... yeah stupid move on my part.

I'm REALLY interested in this ram especially with those numbers.

I am a noob at this, that being said all I can get out of mine is 260.

[dominick32]

Originally Posted by Luftwaffle

How do I check the bin? I'm at work right now, so I can't do anything till I get back later tonight. :T

I'll surely give the one stick at a time a shot. I think I tried it before, but the motherboard wouldn't post and started beeping angrily at me. Also, when I replaced all my old TwinMOS RAM, it wouldn't post until I switched sticks. Like literally, I had to put one stick in the slot occupied by the other or it wouldn't post. What's up with that? I think my computer is crazy.

The production number will be the first four digits of your serial number.
Example: Serial# 0603XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Keep me posted with updates on your situation. Another thing, after looking at your bios version. It is definitely way too old! Off subject: I dont even think the Ultra-D has X2 capability until the 6/23/05 bios. On subject: I am aware of many ram compatibility issues being fixed through upgrading to 6/23/05 or 11/14/05. I would definitely give this a shot before anything.

Regards,
Dom

[mynihilism]

Originally Posted by OldOne

I am a noob at this, that being said all I can get out of mine is 260.

that would work just fine for me. I'm not doing anything to extreme yet but want the headroom for later on.

you haven't had any issues with it on your A8n32 then? been stable and reliable?

[dominick32]

New personal 3dmark record with this new ram!!
11,835 This is at the stock clock speeds. I have an easy 12,000+ with a GPU overclock.

[HousERaT]

nice sticks you got there Dom.... now crank that card up and make us proud.....

[Son1990]

Those are very nice stocks you got there! Im prob gonna go out now and get some. Damn you Dom Nice find BTW

[dominick32]

Originally Posted by HousERaT

nice sticks you got there Dom.... now crank that card up and make us proud.....

Always good to hear from one of my X1900 series brothers. Thanks for the response. I am a bit hesitant on cranking my card up at the moment. That is a whole other ordeal. I am very happy with my current performance at stock clocks.

Dom

[dominick32]

Originally Posted by Son1990

Those are very nice stocks you got there! Im prob gonna go out now and get some. Damn you Dom Nice find BTW

Well, go out and buy them before Newegg.com raises the price based on demand generated from my review. No joke here: Newegg.com actually raised the price on WD74 Raptors after my Raid0 Raptor review( http://www.overclockers.com/articles1297/index03.asp ) displayed promising results. I must have made 100 people go out and buy a second raptor.

Dom

[mynihilism]

should have mine next week.

[Son1990]

Gah. 157......here goes coumpulsive(sp?) buying

[OldOne]

Originally Posted by mynihilism

that would work just fine for me. I'm not doing anything to extreme yet but want the headroom for later on.

you haven't had any issues with it on your A8n32 then? been stable and reliable?

none what so ever.

[Steel23]

yea i got my sticks in my rig yesterday running them @486 33338 timings@1t

[dominick32]

Originally Posted by Steel23

yea i got my sticks in my rig yesterday running them @486 33338 timings@1t

I will give those timings a shot tonight. I actually tried 3-3-3-8 at 280 mhz and the pc froze up on me.. hehe I guess that was a little too much to ask of these sticks.