OCZ Releases SPD Reprogramming Utility

[zanzabar]

u answered it, thx

[Spawne32]

Got this news in from Lisa tonight, cool stuff, cant wait to try it

[RyderOCZ]

Ok

Thanks

[selectodude]

I'd just program the SPDs to 5-5-5-15 @ DDR2 400 1.8v. Sometime I have problems where I can't get the computer to boot because RAMs require like 3v and it ticks me off.

Can you do that for me OCZ?

[RyderOCZ]

Your sig says Crucial ram, so the answer would be no.

The program will only flash an OCZ SPD to OCZ ram and only from a directory in the repository that is for your ram part number.
I have to build the folders and put SPD's in the folder's, yet.

[grimREEFER]

amazing stuff, it should allow me to use my old ocz ram on p35 boards that dont support ddr533 anymore...does spd contain info about voltage too or just timings?

[cpuz]

does spd contain info about voltage too or just timings?

Jedec standard SPD does not, but EPP does (for DDR2 at least).

Jedec timings are supposed to work at nominal voltage.
EPP profiles include a voltage, that can go up to 2.2V if I remember well (DDR2 nominal voltage is 1.8V)

[Bluebeard]

so whats the deal here? Wizzard has SPD-Tool out for long time now - looks for me like this tool is kand of "OCZ only" SPD-tool, right?

[saaya]

Now of course SPDtool will do the same job but not everyone would feel totally comfortable using this tool so we developed something a little easier for them to use.

dont you think people who think spdtool is "too complicated" maybe shouldnt edit their spds?

and why did yo lock it to ocz modules only?
if you would unlock it then the community might actually adopt it.

if i have to chose between complicated and full featureset or easy but limited feature set i will always take the first. think about the enthusiast community, it has always been like that. tuning mem on dfi nf4 boards was extremely complex and complicated, but it was a huge success. everybody wants as many features and freedoms as possible, even if they never use it.

[Tony]

Its a tool specifically for OCZ customers, I have put a ton of time into testing and came up with the idea of allowing a "bios flash for dimms" IE reflash the SPD to enhance what OCZ do...so why would I want this tool to work with crucial et al...little bit stupid to do so me thinks.

If you want a tool for none OCZ memory that voids warranty then use spdtool, if you are an ocz customer and you want to test new spd's like you love to test new bios files then you can use the tool we provide.OCZ support will also use this new tool to solve issues.

SPDtool is not going away, W1zzard released a new version just this week I hear, so if you must edit then you have the tools you need.

[K404]

I dont blame OCZ for releasing something for their own RAM only. Its a competative market after all!

I hope this doesnt send OCZ RMA through the roof though. I think some parts of overclocking are best kept away from just anyone with the money to play, but il give this a chance

[OBR]

It look interesting, but for full funcionality we will need some chipset to support it? or not? Are they reprogrammed modules compatible with every board?

[Jaco]

It's always the same , OCZ comes up with something new and everyone starts bashing them .
Well I think this is a great idea might reduce RMA costs a little too for OCZ

[3NZ0]

W1zzard´s spd tool works on all memory, but this one doesn´t

QFT, I used it to tweak the ram in my laptop

[Bluebeard]

It's always the same , OCZ comes up with something new and everyone starts bashing them .
Well I think this is a great idea might reduce RMA costs a little too for OCZ

i´m not bashing at all - just want to discuss and get more info.
from my point of view atm it´s like EPP - imho useless for the enthusiasts around in this forum. But of course a nice move from OCZ to prevent RMA issues and solve SPD problems directly without shipping etc.
End-user friendly

[Tony]

i´m not bashing at all - just want to discuss and get more info.
from my point of view atm it´s like EPP - imho useless for the enthusiasts around in this forum. But of course a nice move from OCZ to prevent RMA issues and solve SPD problems directly without shipping etc.
End-user friendly

You know you working for a dram company I thought you would have known there are timings that bios can not touch...SPD can though.

So useless...NOPE...i can tweak spd to suit a board or a memory controller very easy with the right info to hand.

[Tony]

WE have not uploaded files yet, you will get 404 errors if you try the tool.

I said in the forum post that was linked in our PR that files will be uploaded over the next few weeks.

Please everyone read what i posted it explains why you are getting errors.

[Tony]

To explain again how this works:

You have to be using OCZ memory the tool looks for this and will block none OCZ from being flashed. One you have chosen to flash you are prompted to look on an online repository...this is chosen by the tool as it looks at the part number on your memory and points you atomagically to the right folder

Once there you can choose the SPD you need and flash the modules.


So, the flash you make is part number specific, you can only flash off the repository the files that are right for your modules.

Now people will cross flash with spdtool and void warranty, thats certain to happen just like we flash bios files off one board to another but on the whole we have tried to make a tool thats user friendly and multi platform ready.

[Bluebeard]

sure buddy - i was talking about spd (esp. spd-tool) not the bios. hope you didn´t get me wrong on this

what happens if i catch any of the OCZ SPDs out there (there are quite a lot) and flash - will i be able to use the repository-flash?

[Revv23]

Hey Tony; does this mean that in the future we may see multiple SPD's for one stick of ram? Such as one SPD optimized for high speed loose timings; one for tight timings low speed; one for low voltage; another for high voltage, maybe one for nvidia mobo's one for 975, 965, etc, etc..? obviously not that many but maybe a few more general ones.

If thats the case - then this software is a huge win for OCZ in my book; that would mean tons of value added that no other manufacturer comes close to offering.

[uOpt]

The SPD eeprom lives on the i2c bus and can be written into the same way as any i2c device. This is really not rocket science.

Now, the question is - what to write, how to compute the right values, and the checksum etc.

And that's where the OCZ utility comes on, incorporating some "intelligence" about what to write for specific modules.

Of course nobody on this forum actually needs this as we all lock all the values in the BIOS anyway.

[RyderOCZ]

Of course nobody on this forum actually needs this as we all lock all the values in the BIOS anyway.

Accept for several settings in the SPD that are not configurable in any bios I have seen to date, that really do make a difference in the performance/compatibility/"smoothness" (if you will) of the module.

[uOpt]

Accept for several settings in the SPD that are not configurable in any bios I have seen to date, that really do make a difference in the performance/compatibility/"smoothness" (if you will) of the module.

Right, I overstated that one, at least for the Intel world. As a matter of fact I have one set of modules that doesn't work on anything else than "pick up SPD" for the timings. In two boards. Works fine in a third.

[Bluebeard]

the feature will also be very helpful for upcoming technologies like nvidias EPP - rumors say that intel and amd will bring up this feature as well (but of course not compatible with each other) so there could be one module with three different spds to match each chipset... spd-flashing will become more and more famous in the future...

[Jumba]

Excellent news, guys. I can't wait to see how my SLI-ready PC8500 modules fare on my P965 system with a tweaked spd profile. Question: what else apart from the modules' sub-timings does flashing a new spd with this tool affect?