A-Die memory overclcoking?

[yoadknux]

Hi,

Sadly my X79 rig died a few months ago after I accidentally damaged my motherboard, and I had to jump onto the 1151v2 train. I bought a used TridentZ dirt cheap, CL16 3200, ran Memtest a few times, Prime95, RealBench etc... everything is fine and stable with XMP enabled. I am now officially bored and I want to overclock and maybe reach the read/write bandwidth that my X79 had (not so fair because X79 had quad channel). I see that the talk about memory overclocking is Hynix/Samsung and B-Die/C-Die, and I downloaded Thaiphoon burner and it gave the following specs:

Part Number
F4-3200C16-8GTZR
XMP Certified
1600 MHz / 16-18-18-38-56 / 1.35 V
Manufacturer
Hynix
Die Density / Count
8 Gb A-die (21 nm) / 1 die

What exactly is this A-die? is it suitable for overclocking? I have a 8700k and a Z370 Gigabyte motherboard, so I have some more room to explore.

Would love to hear your opinions,
Thanks!

 

[Woomack]

A-die is about the same as any other Hynix or something like D/E-die Samsung. In short, it should run at 3600+ and you can tighten the CL but all other timings will be more relaxed. Something like 15-18-18 or 13-16-16. How high you can OC these modules depends on luck. Some are overclocking better, some worse. I guess you have to check on your own how it overclocks.
You can also check some of the Hynix AFR/MFR tests and compare settings. Most Hynix modules are based on these 2 IC while AFR is in theory overclocking better. In real again matter of luck.

 

[yoadknux]

A-die is about the same as any other Hynix or something like D/E-die Samsung. In short, it should run at 3600+ and you can tighten the CL but all other timings will be more relaxed. Something like 15-18-18 or 13-16-16. How high you can OC these modules depends on luck. Some are overclocking better, some worse. I guess you have to check on your own how it overclocks.
You can also check some of the Hynix AFR/MFR tests and compare settings. Most Hynix modules are based on these 2 IC while AFR is in theory overclocking better. In real again matter of luck.

Thanks Woomack for the great tips. What are some typical (24/7 safe) voltages on those sticks? Also, is there something like VCCSA (memory controller voltage) in Z370? and finally, would you recommend getting a dual-boot to test the memory there to avoid risks of windows corruption?

 

[Woomack]

As long as you do that with small steps, then it's hard to corrupt Windows. It's always good to have a spare drive for additional tests. Can install there OS without activation only to check stability.
Typical max safe voltage for most (if not all) IC is 1.5V. At least I haven't seen or heard about any IC to have problems up to 1.5V. On Hynix, CL is mostly going down and maximum frequency is going up because of higher voltage. Most other settings are not so much different, so if you are using it for 24/7, gaming, etc., then it can be better to keep it at lower voltage and try higher clock.
VCCSA is on all modern Intel platforms. Typically, safe seems up to 1.35V, but I don't think anyone tested it and gives a warranty. Motherboard manufacturers are putting a limit of about 1.35-1.4V or mark this point in red as unsafe.