mini review: 4GB Tanscend aXeRam

Transcend has been proving itself in the enthusiast sector with micron based aXeRam for some time now.
they produce from DDR800 to DDR1200 modules. the DDR1200 has awsome high surface area aluminium heatspreaders.
there are a couple of threads on-board for those 2GB kits.

what we have here today is their 4GB (2x2GB) kit of overclocking aXeRam DDR1066. > press release <
after some help identifying the IC's and by the code "P" behind the barcode on the heatspreaders we can conclude that these IC's are Powerchip manufactured.
this seems like a good thing since they are capable of very high speed using low volts.
the particular kit i have seems to do even better than usual and i can only presume this is due to the particular batch and the binning process at Transcend.
Transcend rates this kit a 2V max but i discovered that beyond almost 1.95 volts was not necessary.

This kit has polished aluminium heatspreaders that did get warm.
however i stripped the heatspreaders easily, due to the conductive material not being bonded to the IC's.
this left me with naked modules which i cooled with 2x 60x10mm fans on 12volts.
in this condition the IC's didn't even get warm using as much voltage as provided scaling and as high speed as i could reach.

a couple of pictures showing the memory

http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...gb/package.jpg

http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...end/4gb/2v.jpg

http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c.../4gb/label.jpg

http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...gb/icdimms.jpg

http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...nd/4gb/pcb.jpg

http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...4gb/icedge.jpg

first off i did a little testing at 4-4-4-12
motherboard is DFI DARK P35 which overvolts the memory by 0.04 from bios setting to load.
voltages listed in the testing are approximately the exact load voltages as measured.
at 1.85volts which is the lowest this board will deliver 4-4-4-12 was stable at 400mhz which is where i run this kit day to day.
pushing 2volts was unable to pass 433mhz at similar timings.
i am glad it does 400mhz at 4-4-4-12 timings but i can safely say overclocking at those settings will be limited.

ok so canning any further cas4 testing i set 5-5-5-15 timings and go back to stock volts on the board which as i say delivers 1.85 real vdimm under load.
this was just unable to achieve 533mhz so i bumped vdimm up a notch giving me just under 1.9vdimm. this cleared 533mhz without issue...so basically well under the rated voltage this ram can run its stock 533mhz no problem.
setfsb up to 550mhz...cleared also no problem ..setfsb up to 560mhz = failed.
so back into the bios and another notch up on the vdimm results in just over 1.9vdimm real...this now cleared 560mhz so i setfsb up to 566 = failed.
more vdimm up to 1.96 real allowed 566mhz to clear but not 570mhz.
570 required me to start dropping the performance level and using 1.99vdimm.
i was unable to clear the dual super-pi 32m obove 570mhz.

what really impressed me was the ability of these modules to go so far with so little volts.
i would run these at at around 1.9volts most of the time with anything up to 550mhz.

1.85vdimm
http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...-4-800-180.jpg

1.89vdimm
http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...5-1066-185.jpg

1.89vdimm
http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...5-1100-185.jpg

1.92vdimm
http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...5-1120-188.jpg

1.97
http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...5-1133-193.jpg

1.99vdimm
http://www.flytek.effectivehosting.c...5-1140-195.jpg

Nice been doing alot more 2x2GB kit testing myself but on Vista Ultimate 64bit SP1 :)

How do they fair @4-4-4-12 and 5-5-5-15 for hyperpi v0.99b quad 32M http://www.virgilioborges.com.br/vir...r_pi_0.99b.zip ?

Great review. Did u maybe try 600? :) Greets!

What was used for stability testing ?

George...replied in the other thread: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=182310

Lewis23 - 570mhz was my limit on the P35 chipset...i could maybe squeeze a couple more mhz if a really went wild
these results should be more or less comparable to what is achieved by anyone as this is a standard retail kit.
it would likely do better with a modern nvidia chipset

bito - dual 32M super-pi was what i used for stability...its pretty good at knocking over a system if the ram is unstable

thanks ... quad 32M using hyperpi passes are good stress test too :)

Any idea when this kit will hit US retail channels?

i think you can buy them from their website as listed in the photo of the barcode on the heatspreader

Good binning Transcend as always.
Powerchips do get warm like mine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flytek

i think you can buy them from their website as listed in the photo of the barcode on the heatspreader

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Thanks for the tip.


~$190 ... I think I'll wait for Newegg to start selling them. :confused2

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spyrus

Powerchips do get warm like mine.

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Weird, I thought powerchips run cool, at least mine do.

Im wondering how well this RAM would do in a non O/Cing server envoirnment...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by beard

Weird, I thought powerchips run cool, at least mine do.

---

Yes they are cooler than D9 for example but put a cooler over them and you will see a difference so it is a temp issue. ;)

I know this thread is almost one year old, but I got a question about the aXeRam... I want to buy a 2x2gb DDR2-1066 Kit, and it has an "E" after the barcode. I know that "P" means Powerchips and "N" means microns, but I have no idea what does "E" mean...

Thank you for any answer.

Greets!

EDIT: Found it :) http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...21&postcount=7
Tnx anyway :)

PS: Does anybody know how is the overclocking with elpida chips? Thanks :)

Overclocking with Elpida varies. I've seen DDR 1000 4-4-4-15 at 2.2v from a Kingston 667 set with Elpidas. I guess it depends how high they are binned. :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by s e t h

George...replied in the other thread: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=182310

Lewis23 - 570mhz was my limit on the P35 chipset...i could maybe squeeze a couple more mhz if a really went wild
these results should be more or less comparable to what is achieved by anyone as this is a standard retail kit.
it would likely do better with a modern nvidia chipset

bito - dual 32M super-pi was what i used for stability...its pretty good at knocking over a system if the ram is unstable

---

570mhz really on a dfi dark. i had my blood iron at 600mhz.

Axe RAM is awesome. Ive 4x1GB DDR1066+ Axe RAM (Micron's).

I couldnt get DDR1200, however I didnt push real hard cause I was afraid of killing either the DIMMs or the IMC.

Anyhow I could get DDR1000 4-4-4 easily. I just got a new kit (in sig), but I cant get the same results sadly, not evenm DDR1200:( Prolly due to 2GB DIMMs, but I was really hoping only two DIMMs would actually help vs 4 DIMMs.

But Ill be going back to the good old Axe's, however because they're Micron they need a lot more Vdimm (2.2~2.4Vdimm IIRC). You said taking of the heat spreaders helped a lot though? Ive a Corsair Dominator fan on order right now, might have to try it as well then:rolleyes:

Lewis23, Elipda runs great :D in combination with Asus P5Q-E and E8400 E0 ;)

I bought a year and half ago, 2x2GB 1066 kit at MemoryC (ireland). Same as yours, they have E near barcode.

From day 1, I run them at 1140 MHz (570 MHz) with 5-5-5-15 @ 2,0V. I didn't try any further, don't have the guts for that :D

Here is my validation and screenshot ;)

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=915700

http://www.imagesforme.com/thumb/thumb_92675121.jpg