Mushkin Lv. 2 over Corsair XMS?

[Blind_GI]

Well I have 1GB of the ol' XMS PC3500 in my comp now, but I have a chance to get 1 gig of Mushkin Lv. 2 PC3500 for the same price as I can sell my Corsair (and no hassle involved either). So do you think its worth it to grab the Mushkin over my XMS, or should I just stick with the Corsair and be happy :p: ... ?? :confused:

Or should I grab some PC4000 RAM and run this baby in a nice 1:1 ratio ;) ???

Oh and I will be getting a Mach i after the holidays (probally in Feb. with a Prescott), so keep that in mind when giving me some advice.

Thanks!

[Techmasta]

Low latency bh-5 is your best bet as long as you can give it a lot of volts. I think that all mushkin II is bh-5.

[afireinside]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH you never told me 512 sticks. I'm not sure if the 512s are BH5...

[lalPOOO]

If you're running 243mhz fsb 1:1 with the ram, at those timings, then it's probalby bh-5, so don't bother buying the mushkin. If your not running 1:1, and you have the money, go ahead and buy the mushkin.

Don't bother with pc4000, its generally better to run 5:4 with good timings then 1:1 with bad timings. The bh-5 also gives you more things to play around with, where as with the pc4000, timings are going to be bad pretty much regardless of what you do.

[UsMarine]

The 512 sticks of Mushkin pc3500 Level 2 are bh-5.

I say get the Mushkin because you will be able to run them at 2-5-2-2 I bet you cant do that with your corsair. :)

Tell us your processor and what you plan to overclock it too So we can tell you what is best. but I say Mushkin definetly. Gotta love the timings on it

[Clevor]

I say get the Mushkin because you will be able to run them at 2-5-2-2 I bet you cant do that with your corsair.

Gee, I'm getting tired of posting this screenie; I got five 512 MB XMS3500 sticks that do this:

[Techmasta]

Nice. Looks like you got some good sticks.

[Blind_GI]

Well first of all my specs are in the sig, and second of all I am no noob or anything, just need a little advice on what to do. I am very satisfied with my current RAM, but if the Lv. 2 will give me even better results then im all for it.

And yes the 512 sticks are indeed BH-5, so thats not a concern.

Oh and as stated in my sig ;), I am running my Corsair at 2-2-5-2 timings @ 2.8 VDimm but running it at 5:4. I will need some good RAM that will keep its good timings once I break the 200FSB mark (im only at 198 FSB now on my RAM). So im hoping the Lv. 2 will let me get to 220 (still at 5:4) and keep the excellent 2-2-5-2 timings as well. Can anyone confirm or verify this to be true (I think you said it would Zero).

[afireinside]

Should do 230 FSB with 2-5-2-2 with high enough VDIMM easy. I plan on getting some after the holidays for my rig. Question:
If I burn it in at 3.5V on my 8RDA and than dumb it in a non VDIMMed NF7 will I get the same results at 2.9V or better(than before burn in, not same as at 3.5V :p: )? Or should I just try VDIMMing my NF7?

[Clevor]

It's not impossible to do 243, 1:1, 2-2-2-5 on the IC7-MaxIII, but it's not easy, even with the best of sticks. The VDIMM output is not as good as the 4PCA3+, where I am doing the 250, 1:1, 2-2-2-5 thing at 3.1-3.2 volts. The same sticks on the IC7-MaxIII do 240, 1:1, 2-2-2-5 at 3.2 VDIMM. 3.2 on the 4PCA3+ is actually 3.23, whereas 3.2 on the Abit is more like 3.15.

XMS3500 start off slow, but have long legs on the top end with volts. I think the Mushkin are made with later fab BH-5 and are the opposite. I just picked up another 512 MB XMS3500 stick a week ago and this is what I got in single channel on the 4PCA3+ (all at 2-2-2-5 of course):

DDR400 at 2.6 VDIMM
DDR418 at 2.7 VDIMM
DDR435 at 2.8 VDIMM
DDR454 at 2.9 VDIMM
DDR468 at 3.0 VDIMM
DDR500 at 3.1 VDIMM

The sticks were 80% 3D stable at DDR500 with 3.1 volts. It needed 3.2 to pass the CPU1 test in 3DMark2003 and a 30' IL-2 Sturmovik demo run. One thing I like about the Canterwood/Springdale boards is they overclock two sticks just as well as one, unlike the 845PE boards. I've gotten the same results above in DC.

[Blind_GI]

Well I got some bad sticks then... I can only hit 228 Stable with 3.2 Volts thrown into it (but the VTT is still at a pathetic 1.39 :( on my Max3). Im just going to get the Mushkin Instead and just hope for a good stick/sticks. I really want to run it at 240 FSB @ 1:1 with 2-2-5-2. Dam I might crack 22k if it will run that high ;)

[Clevor]

You should be OK at 1:1 on the MaxIII. In my experience, 5:4 on the board does not work over 280 fsb, which is also where the VDIMM over 2.8 stops working. However at 1:1, VDIMM up to 3.2 seems to work - crappy that it is - as long as you stay under 280 fsb. I'm gonna RMA my board to Abit; at worse, it's already fixed.

Not too sure, but aren't the Mushkins certified at 2-3-2-5? I think due to the late fab. Real good BH-5 register no #6 Memtest errors on the way up, mainly a few #5 that are relieved by upping the voltage.


If I burn it in at 3.5V on my 8RDA and than dumb it in a non VDIMMed NF7 will I get the same results at 2.9V or better(than before burn in, not same as at 3.5V )?

I always say burning in doesn't seem to help but doesn't hurt. I've found this true for DDR and RDRAM. I don't bother with burn in though the worse stick I have did seem to improve 2 mhz to 248, 1:1 with more run in time.