Mushkin 4GB XP2-8000 – Return of Redline!

[Dainas]

Indeed, Mushkins was always one of those brands that was always a touch more expensive, but I could never figure out why going back to the sdram days. There still good, and if they were on special I would buy mushkins again, but certainly not infallible. Some of the worse crap ram I've had was Mushkins DDR400, turned out no better than a shoddy patriot kit that cost half as much at the time.

[Eldonko]

So true and unfortunate. You have to build brand loyalty from good support and quality products because exclusive chip supply is a thing of the past. Just remember it is not about who can build and sell a part the cheapest..

[zfactor]

can anyone tell me how these compare to the geil esoteria's?

[ccokeman]

I hate to say Brother, but that's complete bunk, and the results in this thread help to prove that.

Since I have had my 3 sets of Mushkin ram I have had 2 sets of OCZ, 2 sets of Bufffalo and 1 set of Corsair just up and die on me. The Mushkins have been punished and still they live on.

[zsamz_]

Since I have had my 3 sets of Mushkin ram I have had 2 sets of OCZ, 2 sets of Bufffalo and 1 set of Corsair just up and die on me. The Mushkins have been punished and still they live on.

from all my ddr2 only my mushkin xp2-8500 have died
i'm on my third set lol 2.26v max 24/7 lol
and my kingston valueram 667 outperformed all 3 sets and still 100% after a year of use

[EnJoY]

Since I have had my 3 sets of Mushkin ram I have had 2 sets of OCZ, 2 sets of Bufffalo and 1 set of Corsair just up and die on me. The Mushkins have been punished and still they live on.

from all my ddr2 only my mushkin xp2-8500 have died
i'm on my third set lol 2.26v max 24/7 lol
and my kingston valueram 667 outperformed all 3 sets and still 100% after a year of use

You both have proved what is essentially fact. It's all just luck of the draw. Binning certainly can play a big role. But if you look at one set of OCZ PC2-8500 with D9's and one set of Mushkin PC2-8500 D9's...you essentially looking at the same sticks.

[zsamz_]

You both have proved what is essentially fact. It's all just luck of the draw. Binning certainly can play a big role. But if you look at one set of OCZ PC2-8500 with D9's and one set of Mushkin PC2-8500 D9's...you essentially looking at the same sticks.

yup as i said its whats inside that counts
mushkin binning use to be good but now
only when you get the new micron ics that it will get better and of course depending on their stocks lol
when you pay more you should get the best but not the case with ram lol

the problem is ram manufacturers reading overclocking forums n passing lower grade chips @ higher rating

my freinds mushkin xp2-6400 can do 4-4-4-12 @ 1100mhz with 2.3v
since most d9s can do 1100mhz with cas 5 we gettin the shaft n getting low grade chips when we buy some pc8500 sticks
but i gotta give kudos to crucial most 8500 rated sticks rock
i paid my ballistix 8500s 1/4 of the price as my mushkins and thats 2007 prices not 2006 price and i dont need more than 2.13v to make them sing above 1200mhz
my muskins need 2.34v
and i just got them back from from rma a month ago

[zfactor]

fyi these are available at newegg now...

[Eldonko]

Yah, available in Canada now too, Ill update the availability section.

[@rne]

In Europe / Germany they are also available in one shop (T4PC)

[zfactor]

so any more results with these yet

[jagt]

Got mine today, and the box was a lovely surprise:






They didn't boot up at 1GHz, stock timings/voltage straight away. I'm hoping it's just my sub-timings from the Crucials that's causing it. Haven't had the time to test them properly yet.

[jagt]

Hm well, seems like one of the sticks is a dud. I've tested one of them up to 1100MHz, which it does quite happily. The other one though, starts pumping out errors at 1040MHz, which quite frankly is very disappointing. I'll be doing more testing tomorrow, but if I'm not able to reach around 1080MHz, which is what I need for my current settings, the kit will go back on monday.

[-n7-]

OMG that is absolutely gorgeous.

I mean frickin' beautiful!



I've never been overly excited when i see fancy boxed or packaging, but that simply takes the cake.

I might have to buy one of these kits if Mushkin promises me that box!


As for how they clock, it's Powerchips, so anything over 500 MHz is somewhat luck, since vdimm won't help results really.

Make sure your TRFC is set loose, as least 48+.

If you want something that scales with voltage, you'd likely be better off with this kit: http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/...ail.asp?id=634

Will usually beat the Powerchips kits like this one or G.Skills, but will need some vdimm to do that.

[Eldonko]

Oooh, I like the box, but I didnt get one! Must be a Europe thing?

[-n7-]

Oooh, I like the box, but I didnt get one! Must be a Europe thing?

Now i'm disappointed.

Once again, Euro awesomeness strikes again

That box is just too awesome.

[Sniper]

Just got theese, seems slightly better than my gskill sticks, but not much.

[jagt]

What motherboard are you running them on? You bought them from Netshop.no, right?

[Sniper]

What motherboard are you running them on? You bought them from Netshop.no, right?

Its a GB DS3P, 2.1vmem, and yes, picked them up at Netshop Oslo, 850NKr.

[Cronos]

Its a GB DS3P, 2.1vmem, and yes, picked them up at Netshop Oslo, 850NKr.

Keep in mind that DS3P overvolts by 0.05V.

[Sniper]

Yes, will try lower vmem later. My gskill sticks likes 2.05 just as much as 2.1.

[Cronos]

There is virtually no improvement over 2.0V for this memory.

But i fear this memory may degrade over time too quickly. So it is wise to keep the voltage as low as possible to prolong its life.

[Eldonko]

That is pretty decent, just a few mhz less than my kit. Yah give 2.0v a try, I found that to be optimal.

[Sniper]

There is virtually no improvement over 2.0V for this memory.

But i fear this memory may degrade over time too quickly. So it is wise to keep the voltage as low as possible to prolong its life.

I'v been running my gskill sticks at 2.05 (bios) for months now, lots of priming, and no sign of degrading.
I think I can go higher with them if I loosen performance level, but 7 seems to be the best on this mb.

[Cronos]

I'v been running my gskill sticks at 2.05 (bios) for months now, lots of priming, and no sign of degrading.
I think I can go higher with them if I loosen performance level, but 7 seems to be the best on this mb.

First, priming loads only a small part of memory and the load is rather light.
Second, the degradation is rather subtle to be detected by most tests/benchmarks. I am not yet positively sure about this, but Linpack seems to show signs of degradation after approximately a month of heavy load.

You are right about performance level, it is the most important timing and should be kept as low as possible. With higher performance level it may be possible to tighten some primary memory timings, but performance will be worse.