MB: DFI SLI-DR Expert
CPU: Opteron 146@3G 300*10
Ram: Crucial DDR500 1G*2
Power: Zippy 600W
VGA: Matrox G450 PCI
CPU Cooler: TT Sonic Tower
http://andreyang.myweb.hinet.net/Expert-MT300.JPG
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MB: DFI SLI-DR Expert
CPU: Opteron 146@3G 300*10
Ram: Crucial DDR500 1G*2
Power: Zippy 600W
VGA: Matrox G450 PCI
CPU Cooler: TT Sonic Tower
http://andreyang.myweb.hinet.net/Expert-MT300.JPG
Awesome rig !! 300x10 with 2gigs is a great gaming machine :D
I'm looking forward to run my Opteron with my OCZ PC4000 EB, but these won't do 300MHz, that's for sure =/
:toast: You belong at the overclocking data base.
What voltage are you putting through the mem to get them to 300mhz? I've got mine running up to 290mhz on the Expert at 2.85v but I'm not sure if I want to push them any harder for 24/7 duty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdzcpa
BIOS 2.96V
Windows 2.92V
Thanks. I may put a little more juice to them and see if i can hit 300 on this expert.
Did you also test you're ram on a "non-expert" nF4? How fast did it go?
Nice result! :D
My Ballistix were a bit weird. It needs at leat 2.8V for it to post on both SLI-DR and Expert. Then it started falling apart and I cna't keep it stable even at DDR500. Being sent back for RMA. i hope I have goood sticks like yours.
I've had at least 6 sticks of Micron chips die on me after being OCed @ 2.8-2.9v for 24/7 use. They always start erroring after 2-3 months tops, even with a fan over them. This is why OCZ discontinued the PC3700EB stuff.
Friend of mine had PC3200 1GB ballistix kit die on him the same way as well.
man...I'm still waiting for my RMA pair of ballistix but the 2nd pair that I'm using now is dying already, only have this pair for 3 weeks and I have them at 2.8v 95% of the time, highest they ever saw was 2.9v for short period of time but this crap is getting old.... same degrading symptoms as the first pair, I thought the first pair was just coincidence but it looks like I'm not the only one. This is getting ridiculous to go through 2 pairs in less than 2 months :( I'm done with micron....anybody know some good replacement please PM me.....
Why am I not surprised :(Quote:
Originally Posted by ben805
I had a Pair go bad in only 4 days of running and Volts were only 2.7 I RMA them for my money back and got some OCZ PC 4000 EB and Love them they dont run hot and I mite never hit 300 HTT but im not sending them back either. I run stable at 280 HTT so for what I do I love them. :D
did you get the OCZ EB in single module or dual kit?
Mine went bad after about 2-3 months too.. i just sent them to Newegg for RMA, gonna see if they will let me get a refund to buy different brand sticks. It seems inevitable that the Ballistix die over time.Quote:
Originally Posted by HKPolice
I Bought the matching pair the week they came out :D Lucky I guess, when my Ballistix went bad, I jumped on these and have not looked back. They run cool too, like I said they mite not go 300 HTT but 280 Stable is fine for Gaming I do.
What settings are you using for 280Mhz stable? I haven't seen any PC4000EB @ 280 prime and windows memtest stable...
Same here, 2.9v will kill the ballistix, they may work fine for benching but under 24/7 use definetly keep at 2.8v or less.Quote:
Originally Posted by HKPolice
you sure? as reason PC3700EB was discontinued was Micron changed the die revisions which ended up not up to spec with what OCZ needed for PC3700EBQuote:
Originally Posted by HKPolice
Im was running a 180 Divider with T1 3-3-2-10 timings it wont do 1:1 at 280 anything above 286 HTT gets unstable I have got it too post at 290 but thats about as unstable as it gets but will post. The sweet spot on these seems to be about 270 Htt with 3-3-2-8 timings T1 with the 180 divider :D I play alot of FPS mostly COD 2 and it runs all night no problem. I just flashed to the new DFI FX60 BIO and so far so good , I tried the 704-2BTA but my system became very unstable even at lower HTT's so I went ahead and flashed to the new ones.
yes, the D die is 110nm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Major
but then again, i've had a stick of micron 5b D in a crucial value stick:
http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=66657
i've never had a problem with them, and i used em for quite a long time at 2.9v (>3 months), and gave it 3.0v for a day or two, and went for a couple 3.2v benching sessions. :confused:
Yep...I run no more than 2.75v for 24/7 use. I haven't had any problems. But, long before we saw this streak of dying ram, I remember Crucial saying to stay away from the higher voltages.Quote:
Originally Posted by Major
i'm thinking there's some components on the ballistix PCB that don't like dealing with the high current that the 5b D draws, and that's why i was able to abuse my 5b D so hard on the BP808 pcb, but the ballistix is randomly dying with the levin pcb?
Crap... this is not what I wanted to hear right now - I just ordered the ballistix yesterday to replace my value sticks.
Strange though because I've been running this ram at 2.9v 24/7 for the past two months (250mhz 3-3-3-7) without any problems. The value ram uses the same chips as the ballistix doesn't it?
micron 5b D, yesQuote:
Originally Posted by gpcola
Mine went bad after about 1.5 months being set at 2.8V in BIOS with active cooling of 2 80mm fans [54 CFM combined]. For giggles, here's the result of a single pass of memtest #5 I ran at what I consider rather conservative values, considering they used to be able to do 280-285Mhz ...Quote:
Originally Posted by Diverge
Errors flying by so quick not even a camera could capture the display:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40276
n/m
*whitles* I've been running mine at 3v 307 3-3-3-7 Jason's WR sticks too :( better tweak it down some.Quote:
Originally Posted by Major
Jason told me nothing more than 3v and it should be fine... aint 2.8v way too low?
Nice results on that overclock, but watch the voltage. I am also in the proccess of a 2x1gb Ballistix RMA, they both went bad after 3 months of 2.9v. The computer they were in wasn't mine, and after seeing others have the same issues I'm happy to know that there wasnt something else in the machine causing them to go bad.
Hmmmm well newegg and crucial say 2.8v is needed for stock..... so i don't understand how 2.8v is killing the chips. :(
**** i remember running 3.9v through my redline heheh and stock is 3.3v :nono:
nowhere does it say that it's needed, only that it's the "rated" voltage.. though your logic does hold trueQuote:
Originally Posted by eBoy0
Well i'm just using it from my many chats i've had with Mushkin Reps and as said on newegg 3.3-3.5v they said that it is NECESSARY to put 3.3 to run them stock so i figured the same for the Ballistix, diffrent chips=diffrent system?Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzimark
Go to DFI street and just key in "Ballistix" in their search engine...be prepare to read countless of horror stories of these dang sticks dying left and right, there's a Crucial tech support there and he recommended people to use 2.80V and Tref Auto.....but that didn't stop my sticks from dying :stick: These microns are like top fuel dragster....ran like mad but only for a short burst....what a shame. IF OCZ or Mushkin could get their hands on some of these ICs I bet we would see some bad azz killer ram.Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzimark
yeah, i know all about it :pQuote:
Originally Posted by ben805
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=981479
i think it's a problem that'll pass
Very nice overclock. The system be really nice and fast.
Thanks
275 2.8v air cooled 24/7 1 month
veredict
DEAD
What can I say? Short lived huh?
I wonder if it's the DFI boards killing them... Any dead sticks from other brands?
i think i've seen one or two die in the asus a8n board.. but i know that board sometimes has issues with 1gb sticks.Quote:
Originally Posted by HKPolice
Well, I don't know what say anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by amrgb
I was still testing some secondary timings, and yesterday night I changed Read Preamble from 6 to 5 and Twtr from 2 to 1 on A64 Tweaker. I knew that those setting were somewhat stable, and I wanted to test them on D2OL overnight.
Supposedly, just after I changed those 2 settings the D2OL services crashed but the windows don't. This morning I give ok to the two error boxes and the windows crashed shortly thereafter.
After that I tried to enter in windows at know stable settings and nothing, or if it entered, it just rebooted in a short while.
Put a divisor, still the same thing, until it stop passing the DMI update.
Tried each memory individually, one the symptoms remained and with the other it booted again.
Changed sticks for the bad one to test it in Memtest, no errors.
Tried to enter in windows with the bad stick, and I entered. Run SP32M successfully.
Put the 2 sticks together, seem to be working fine now.
wtf has happened here? The bios went crazy?
well my ballistix just died, both sticks at once, the board wont even post with them in there, 3 LEDs in a dfi ut sli d 1 stick, both sticks, and any slot, nothing works, they dont work in my a8n sli premium or gigabytega-k8n51gmf-9 (heheh that ones a cheapy) back for RMA they go, now im stuck running a 512mb stick of ocz budget rated for 2 3 3 6 at ddr400, bf2 will be fully sik mayte with 512mb i imagine :rolleyes:
edit: whats the date today, i got them on the 5th of the 11th, thats gotta be a new record, they were at 2.8v in an airconditioned case with a 120mm fan on them the whole time, case idle temp is about 10 degrees so its definatly not my temps
my 2gig ballistix died after a few weeks. ran incredibly up till then. i had them @ 2.8 with 80mm active cooling. a few times i didn't run the active cooling but not for long. what crap. now i've got some corsair pc4000 2x1024 sticks that run just find and at 2.75.
n/m
ive had 2 sets die on me .. and last night one of my 1gb sticks died .. called crucial and the guy is like i have never seen someone needing 3 rmas .. i said go check any forum .. they are countless people who have them die after a month or so .. he is like ill send you a new one .. but if it dies im gonna have to say something in ur system is killing them lol
I just got my set a couple of days ago and they seem to be good ones; they'll do 275mhz 3-3-3-8 at only 2.6v.
I'm happy they run so well with such low voltage because I'd kinda like to keep em for a while longer than a few months, assuming it's the volts that kills them :confused:
n/m
funny how this thread just turned into a crapfest on ballistix. i'll add to it and mention that my sticks started failing after about 2 months @ 2.8v. just got the new sticks today and they're working nicely at 250mhz 3-3-3-8 2.6v. hopefully they will last a lot longer at this voltage...
Good thing I stayed away from them ever since the OCZ EB's died. I had a pair of 512MB ballistix that seemed to be dying when I had a S754 setup. I gave them to a friend with an NF2 setup and they seem to be running fine @ 2.8v, for months now.
I've had two sets die on me....good performance when they work though.
someone said earlier in the thread if you think DFI nF4's are killing them.
well im running mine 261mhz 2.5-3-3-10 2.85v in my neo4. if they die, then we'll know. :rolleyes:
uhm... now I understand why OCZ changed my 2x256MB 3700EB for 2x512MB OCZ PC4000 Gold Rev 2 :D :D (mine went wrong after 1 month or so, I had them at 280 3-2-2 2.9v and did 295Mhz at 3-3-2 as you can see in my sig ).
I ran my 3700EB sticks for over a year at 3v and never had any problems. I dumped these for the 2gb ballistix kit. After all the stories, I am just waiting for them to go tits up. I am stable at 284 right now with 2.6v. I am hoping this low voltage will keep them alive. FWIW I never saw a gain when overvolting them (up to 3v) while I was first dialing in my overclock on the ballistix and Opteron.
I am glad they have a lifetime warranty.....
Never seen such streaks of bad reviews given for a high-end product like this ram. The reviews on newegg are especially funny.
Is crucial aware of this even?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squire
And im even and even more scared, i just bought a pair of 2x1g, they are arriving tomorrow, so after reading thousands of stories of horror deaths, i think that i will keep mine at 2.6 as well
GOD BLESS my pair :(
Wish me luck :D
I think heat might be killing the ram. Micron ram will heat up fast with 2.8V and up. The heat spreaders don't help much for cooling the ram is one of the problems and the tape used dosen't help transfer the heat away. If you can keep the ram cool then it should last.
I ahve a 512 Micron -5B revC with ramsinks running 3.3V for about 11 months now 24/7 at 250HTT 2.5,2,2,5,T1 and the ram chips don't get above 45C.
http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL601.../107723388.jpg
Funny, how everyone says to stay away from 2.8v (and I believe it's a good advice), when they are rated for 2.8v. Something is very wrong here.
SnipingWaste,
Heat is not killing the memory. I always had 2 80mm fans [54 CFM total] running over the memory. They were always cool to the touch. My set of Ballistix died in under two months.
i've seen some fail at 2.7 and 2.6v.. i blame it on a bad batch, nothing more. the problem will resolve itself soon enoughQuote:
Originally Posted by amrgb
I hope you're right. I'd hate to have to buy other memories to substitute these while on the monthly RMA.
It looks like my sticks are good after all, what passed away were the orange slots of my DFI Ultra-D. Now I can get it to work only on yellow slots with bios 704-2BT. With 623-3 it's VERY unstable on both slots.
now THAT'S strange... got a can of air handy? try blowing out the slotsQuote:
Originally Posted by amrgb
I initially thought my slots had died too. I knew it wasn't the slots or CPU when I was able to run my XMS-512-3500C2 chips at 220Mhz 2-2-2-5. Not bad for memory who's SPD is 200Mhz 2.5-4-4-8.
I'm in my second set. First died on me after 2 months... This last one is not as good as the first one but anyways... It also started to show few errors in Memtes86+ #4 and #8. After couple days testing, I concluded that by far at 2.6V all my errors have gone. So now running at 280/2.6 but for how long...
I dont think problem is just heat but voltage.
These things expensive, I can't accept this kind of quality! :slapass:
I don't think that's the problem (everything possible, but...) since the board has 1 month. Exactly 1 month and 3 days when the problems started, so that I can't send it to ZZF. I have to deal with the great tech support of DFI USA. I'd rather buy another one and send this back as DOA and pay 15% of restocking fee. At least it will be quick.Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzimark
Guys, im really scared, mine just arrived and im gonna use it at 2.6v forever, i cant believe that a big budget like Ballistix has this kind of omfg errors :(
Ok, just set all up, Boot whit 2.55 250-3-3-3 1t, Opteron at 2500 :D
Ill leave this scheme one day or two, then, up to 260 and then 270 and beyond :D
lol, i cant believe i didnt read this yesterday. i just ordered these mems yesterday and they are arriving monday.
wish i got the corsair now :slapass:
Quote:
Originally Posted by a5h
Mine are very good at least for now, using 2.55 and hit 265 already, i will raise 5mhz by 2 day to reach DDR580
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7908/opteron3xw.gif
Seem good, but don't fool yourself with SP1M runs. At least SP32M, and even that is not garanty that it's sufficiently stable to keep you out of trouble (unstable memories = screwed OS).
Good luck m8, we Ballistix guys seem to have a lot of that by these days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by amrgb
I really dont have the patiente to wait half an hour, i prefer play HL2 or Frozen Throne DOTA ( Wich is very sensitive to ram ). :banana:
After play 4 hours of both, i think its stable
That's a better way to test stability ;)
I was thinking about getting those ballistix, ill prolly pick them up in a few months once the bad batch has been cleared out on inventory.
Ill be sure to order from crucial.com directly.
As for right now my GEIL ONE W BH is working fine.
I got mine for a few days now.. running at 275 2.6v let's hope they don't die on me.. were they always this bad.. or was there a bad batch?
Well regardless of the early death problems, these modules still are the highest clocking of all the 2 gig sets out right now. Only wish we had a definitive answer on the issue or the batches or the voltages or whatever it is since these are quite expensive.
No doubt. I had to get some even with knowledge of all the deaths, keeping below 2.8V for the time being until more info comes out on these. My only fear is that my set will last just long enough for Crucial to clear inventory and need to replace with some worse clocking product.Quote:
Originally Posted by xgman
My first set died, I was using 2.7V, rma'd them and now my 2nd set died last week, I was running 2.6V on those and have a 80mm fan blowing on them. Hell I was even running these with my opti on a divider at 234MHz wtf!
When I get them back from rma they are going on eBay I'm done with these sticks.
Wish we could figure out what's going on here. I'm not convinced it's strictly a voltage or heat issue as such. In any case I have tried all of the newest 2 gig sets of CE-6 based and Samsung based and they don't even come close to a good set of the z503's, It was too hard to settle for the drop in performance, but that said I had to go through 6 stciks of the Balistix to get a set that worked well for me. I guess if they go belly up I'll just keep rma'ing to Crucial until something better comes along or SocketM/DDR2, whichever comes first.
Hi
I'm testing a kit 2x 1024 Crucial Ballistix Tracer and got the results.
http://commanderhp.planetaclix.pt/tests.jpg
(cpu @ 2750 - 2600 - 2750)
260 fsb 3-3-3-8 1T @ 2.7:
http://commanderhp.planetaclix.pt/260.jpg
275 fsb 3-3-3-8 1T @ 2.8:
http://commanderhp.planetaclix.pt/275.jpg
other timmings are "auto" or defaut by DFI NF4 Ultra-D
not bad the 1'st tests :) Soon test more timmings and multi 9x
EDIT: 280 x 9 stable
290 x 9 2T stable for benchmarks, 1T instable :( (all 2.8 volts)
Agreed. I've been lucky with 2 for 2 pairs doing well so far after about 7 weeks, but I want answers too. I won't invest in another set in any new builds, and I have a hard time recommending them too even though they rock speed wise. Both of my sets are running in the 260-270 range at only 2.63 and into the 275 range with 2.7. If they die, I'll be done with Crucial for a while.Quote:
Originally Posted by xgman
Well, i just reach 275 3-3-3-8 at 2.55 and the memory keeps cool and fast.
God help me to make it stayyyyy on theeseee roaddssss :D
My goal is 290 ! :banana:
hope that there is only 1 faulty batch.
please post the complete timmings and adjustsQuote:
Originally Posted by -=DouglasteR=-