Yet another memory thread.

[st0nedpenguin]

Yup, they just never stop coming. :D

I just received my new OCZ Limited Edition BH-5's, after I had to RMA my first pair, and just have a few questions.

The new stuff seems happy enough at its rated speed of 217MHz @ 2-2-3-6 timings, but any attempts to drop to 2-2-2-6 timings will error Prime95 in a matter of minutes, this is with 2.85v vDIMM.

Is this normal for BH-5?

I have to say I was expecting a little more.

Should more vDIMM open them up a little, if so, what should I expect for, say, 3.2v?

I'm just finding it a bit odd that BH-5 would have trouble with tight timings at such relatively low speeds. :confused:

[Firelord-OCHW]

Thought BH-5 was 2-6-2-2 and CH-5 was 2-6-3-2??

[\/icious]

yeah i would say check the chips but i wouldnt want you to void your warrenty. Send those bastards back. If your not please why not try to get a pair you will be pleased with

[st0nedpenguin]

Umm, primarily because this second pair will run at specified speeds and timings, so no RMA.

[\/icious]

have you done a vmod on your board yet?

[st0nedpenguin]

Nope, that's why I was wondering if any more voltage would help, if I could get me some 2-2-2 timings with a little more juice, I'll get the board modded ASAP, a few more MHz would be nice too. :D

Does BH-5 only start really performing once you are running 3v+ through it?

[unrealneo]

I saw someone yesterday saying they couldn't reach 2's on the OCZ 3500EL.:(

I think OCZ could be up to tricks.:(

the other person's RAM was definately behaving like CH-5.:confused:

[MrIcee]

The OCZ Platinum limited Edition does indeed like voltage. I would say a bump up to 3.0v would give you what you want and more.

I am one who is not typical of the average with the way I run ram, and I do run excessive amounts of voltage to accomplish my goal. The 2 sticks of Platinum limited Edition I have, have run successfully in bandwidth and 3Dmark benches at 275Mhz 2-2-2-5 at 3.6v to 3.7v:eek: I have been as high as 290Mhz with reduced timings, but bandwidth was better at 275Mhz and tight timings.

I must say that the Kingston HyperX PC3500 nor the Corsair PC3200LL I have, which are BH-5 based, will not go where the OCZ PLat. LE will go even with increased voltages. There is something a bit special about this latest offering from OCZ.:)

Randi:D

[st0nedpenguin]

Ah, thanks Randi, I was hoping you would stop by. :D

Looks like I should order me some SMD grabbers and a bunch of resistors then, I'll see how this stuff likes the volts, and if all is looking good, I can mod the board more permanently.

I have heard that OCZ RAM tends to be quite voltage hungry, but being pretty new to the old overclocking business I don't have any first hand experience of either BH-5 or high volts.

Just a bit of 275/2-2-2-5 for day to day usage would suit me fine, with the capacity for cranking it up for benching of course. :D

[eva2000]

try different dimm slots.. on my AI7 dimm 1+3 sucked for 1GB OCZ PC3500 Plat LE DC could get past 234mhz 2-2-2-6 at 3.2v without error out after 5 passes in memtest #5

swapped to dimm slots 2+4 and i'm doing 240mhz 2-2-2-6 at 3.2v 10hr prime95 v23.7x2 stable and 3hr memtest #5 loop error free

http://www.fileshosts.com/pentium4/D1/abit/AI7/results/2.4C_Q322A285/OCZ/pc3500plat/2x512/dimm_2-4/240-240-2226-AAAAA-1.6v-3.2v-1.65v/prime95_10hr5min.jpg

IIRC 217mhz 2-2-2-6 took

AI7 3.05v vdimm (bios reads 3.03 - 3.06v)
P4C800-E 2.85v vdimm
4PCA3+ can't remember have to check my notes tomorrow

results will vary from board to board, bios to bios and mem size 256 vs 512 = usual factors

[st0nedpenguin]

Originally posted by st0nedpenguin
Just a bit of 275/2-2-2-5 for day to day usage would suit me fine, with the capacity for cranking it up for benching of course. :D

That's 5:4 by the way, if I could get some RAM to run 275/2-2-2-5 1:1 at 3.0v I would have to marry it, settle down, and start a family, I could make a fortune out of you guys with the offspring...

[\/icious]

where did you buy them at

[st0nedpenguin]

Crap, just got word that 5:4 217MHz/2-2-3-6 has just crapped out on me, the CPU was good for 3.3GHz last week so I can't see that being the problem, I swear, I'm the unluckiest memory purchaser on the face of the earth. :mad:

[Hell-Fire]

Originally posted by MrIcee
The OCZ Platinum limited Edition does indeed like voltage. I would say a bump up to 3.0v would give you what you want and more.

I am one who is not typical of the average with the way I run ram, and I do run excessive amounts of voltage to accomplish my goal. The 2 sticks of Platinum limited Edition I have, have run successfully in bandwidth and 3Dmark benches at 275Mhz 2-2-2-5 at 3.6v to 3.7v:eek: I have been as high as 290Mhz with reduced timings, but bandwidth was better at 275Mhz and tight timings.

I must say that the Kingston HyperX PC3500 nor the Corsair PC3200LL I have, which are BH-5 based, will not go where the OCZ PLat. LE will go even with increased voltages. There is something a bit special about this latest offering from OCZ.:)

Randi:D

OMG...3.7v. You got balls of solid rock Icee. :hehe:

StonedPen, those BH5s love the juice man, feed em more. I'd run say 3.0-3.3v thru em while running memtest86 to help burn em in better.

Although I am using CH5, they wouldnt do even stock speed @ stock timings when I got them (stock volts are 2.6v). One night at 3.15v running memtest86 in loops on test 5 (205fsb), and now they do 230fsb....only had em for a week or 2.

[st0nedpenguin]

I'll probably give them a night of stock speeds/timings in 1:1 @ 2.85v, and then cross my fingers, reload my settings, and fire her up again...

[\/icious]

Originally posted by st0nedpenguin
I'm the unluckiest memory purchaser on the face of the earth. :mad:

I dont know about that lol ive gone through more memory then i can remember just in the past 6 months

[st0nedpenguin]

Well, Prime95 was fine overnight at 217MHz/2-2-3-6 timings at 1:1, I have just e-mailed the place I got the motherboard from, se if I can get an RMA, especially considering the mad electrical problems this board seems to have.

If possible, I might try and get an IC7-G MAX3, maybe I can get luckier with ABIT, would this be a good idea? And are the newer boards free of the mad problems?

[Hell-Fire]

I had same issues with the earlier revisions of my board...after I got a Rev2.0, things got alot better.

[Nitestorm]

I had no end of problems getting both OCZ PC3500 EL (non-limited) and OCZ PC3700 EL (total of 6 sticks tested in all) to run 2-2-2 @ 200Mhz a while back, let alone 217MHz. Infact could only manage something like 2-2-2 @ 180MHz.

Before buying, reviews had no problems, reviews could even run much higher than 200Mhz with 2-2-2 with a modest increase in voltage. I bought mine and couldn't get 2-2-2 no matter what I tried. Then I noticed users in forums with the memory and my motherboard also had no problems running 2-2-2. OCZ never stated any changes or any problems. So was a bit miffed and disappointed. Was it my system or the memory? Then slowly, other users like me started reporting problems. Some suggested a chipset issue, but it was also speculated it might be an IC issue. That a website quoted OCZ saying a while back they use Winbond IC for those speeds and wondered if Winbond starting production of CH-5 had anything to do with the difference.

Well the fact now supposedly OCZ say the PC3500 EL (non-limited) uses CH-5, while the limited ones that can do 2-2-2 at 200Mhz use BH-5 might suggest the IC speculation wasn't far off. It's possible the first batches of PC3500 EL Non-Limited and PC3700 EL, that included ones sent to reviewers and some users did have BH-5 IC, thus had no problems with 2-2-2. But then OCZ were forced to move to CH-5, but didn't say anything. If that was the case, some might argue it could be misleading to customers. It might of been prudent of OCZ to of called them Rev2 modules or something and mention they were unlikely to cope with 2-2-2 at 200MHz, unlike what had been experienced by reviewers and previous sticks. But they didn't. At least Corsair did change their rev 1.1 to rev 1.2.

[st0nedpenguin]

Well after a night of burn in the new stuff is ticking along happily at 220MHz/2-2-3-6 timings, I reckon with a few more volts I should be away, if I ever get this damn motherboard replaced, 3 days, no contact, looks like it's telephone time when I'm on a break.

Word of advice, never buy from http://www.overclockers.co.uk, the customer support isn't so much bad, but non existent...

[Ewok]

i cracked and ordered the mushkin. god knows when itll be here, it shipped yesterday from pc-memory-upgrade place and at the moment is at PORTLAOISE CO LAOIS in ireland somewhere.

how long did your sticks take to arrive from that shop?

i could have told ya never to buy from ocuk, they are a joke. Tried to RMA a bad mb and they basically said "2 bad motherboards youve had now thats strange" because it was the second rma I needed in the space of a year, and i never heard another word from them. This was for a NF7 where the bios dropped dead. i now avoid them like the plague and use cpucity.

[st0nedpenguin]

Yeah, needless to say I won't be ordering from them again, I'll be calling them at about 12:45, lunchtime, if I get no luck then, I'll get the address and take a trip down, no way am I being stuck with a board that, according to MBM 5, has registered a CPU temp of between -128C and 98C over the last 12 hours, hell, if it has, why the hell am I saving for a Prommi? :D

I bought the OCZ from Chillblast, so I haven't got a clue how long yours will take I'm afraid, shoudln't be too long though I would imagine.

[st0nedpenguin]

5 minutes on hold so far, the rage is building...

[st0nedpenguin]

Well (triple post frenzy), I finally got through, got myself the RMA request form, so this insane mobo should be on its way back ASAP, hopefully to be replaced with one that manages to work properly. :D

[Hell-Fire]

Ahh....the good ole RMA bug bites again. Dont ya just love it when somehow it is your fault that something they sold you doesnt hold up to what its suppose to.