Crucial says OC the value sticks Toms CR will kill them in 6 mo.

[zenjitsuman]

Hello,
I read Toms value ram OC test and bought 2 sticks of Crucial CT25664BA1339 - 2GB. I called tech support for DOCP or XMP profiles and they told me that clocking at 1600mhz and running more than 1.53v would void my warantee and kill the sticks in six months. My motherboard set the sticks to 1.6v at boot.
I have good cooling, is this just discouraging me so I buy higher line Ballistics sticks? Is anyone running these sticks at 1600mhz and 1.65v without ruining the modules?

 

[o1die]

Hogwash. My biostar board also runs my sticks at 1.6 which is the lowest setting. Your actual voltage may be slightly lower. Next time never tell any company representative anything that could void your warranty. I'm running my 2 pairs of ddr3 (one hynix, one micron made for mac pro) at 1336 with the i3 overclocked at 3.7. It's stable as a rock.

 

[stridervm]

Perhaps they're just suggesting the worse possible scenario. At least you will not blame them if your RAM fails before six months.

Well, my best suggestion is to lower the voltages a bit and then test for stability, if it fails, then just up the stability. There's no need to up the voltages if your ram overclocks are stable.

 

[tonkatuffmofo]

Voltage generates heat, heat kills.

Each stick will vary in its ability to tolerate excess heat, if your that concerned about it but want to keep your o/c then buy a dominator ram fan,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835704001

Cheap piece of mind.

 

[Blckhaze]

The rules and regulations and all the safety precautions that companies have to follow... They aren't going to tell you it's ok to do something that is not factory tested and specified unless they are 100% sure. If there is a 99% chance your ram will be fine in 5 years... They are going to tell you not to do it, because its not 100% chance. Only 99, because then 1% of their market might start sending returns at them causing them to lose 1 million dollars to their 100 million dollar market. Thats the big company moncho's bonus right there. What would you do if it was your money on the line?

 

[zenjitsuman]

I have 8 fans in my case and two of the internal fans are moving the air around near the modules so that even though they don't blow directly on the ram they are keeping airflow turbulent near the ram.

Since I have the Ram already I think I will try it out, if it fails it won't cost me more because they say I should go out and spend the money now anyway, and if they are just being CYA about the ram and it works I save money.

Meanwhile I can keep my eye open for a super good sale come July 4th and maybe score a good pair for less on ebay.

 

[zenjitsuman]

I am new here, but I was hoping someone who read the article on value ddr3 ram and bought the ram Tomshardware recommended would be able to give me there in use experience with the long term durability of this ram being overclocked one click from 1333mhz to 1600mhz. This post is now a week old and probably no longer very active, can anyone give me personal feedback or recommend what other forums on the web to post this question too.

Since I am new here I guess I expected having over a million members you would easily find someone who overclocked ram Toms check recommended.

 

[zenjitsuman]

Can someone give me some personal experience with after-market ram heat sinks/spreaders.

what do you think of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233034&cm_re=memory_heatsinks-_-35-233-034-_-Product

or these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835110105&cm_re=memory_heatsinks-_-35-110-105-_-Product

Thanks to anyone who gives me some feedback.

 

[Quantu]

There is nothing 'higher line' about any of the ballistix sticks, unless they recently changed their manufacturing. I went through 3 pairs of those myself, two the same and one a different variety, and they all were failures. All three pairs failed memtest with a large number of errors, and would only boot at all when in a very specific order.

Not an answer to your question, just a caution.

P.S. My friend's computer which I also built has one pair of ballistix working fine, but IMO 1 pair out of 4 working is not good odds.

 

[Crashman]

Can someone give me some personal experience with after-market ram heat sinks/spreaders.

what do you think of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233034&cm_re=memory_heatsinks-_-35-233-034-_-Product

or these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835110105&cm_re=memory_heatsinks-_-35-110-105-_-Product

Thanks to anyone who gives me some feedback.

If you've read a few reviews of those modules you'll find they work better without heat spreaders. Specifically, Patroit sold the same memory with heat spreaders, and it had lower overclocking capability. I believe the double-sided tape hinders heat transfer slightly, and the modules don't run hot enough for the spreaders to compensate. The fact that these modules run cool when overclocked contraindicates the use of heat spreaders anyway.

 

[zenjitsuman]

I read a few articles showing for most applications OC increases bandwidth which is not taken advantage of by my applications, even Photoshop which can use all 4 cpu cores.

I found info that the best thing to do with good sticks is to run the same clock speed but tighten up the timings so as to use the sticks more efficiently. I noticed from the Tom's test that these Crucial sticks can run much tighter than the spec timings.

Since extra bandwidth is not used, losing time with longer delays makes completing tasks slower. Spending for faster sticks vs. using your present sticks with quicker timings that is the choice. I would rather save the money for an SSD where the difference in running applications would show faster task completion by comparison than OC of Dram where the bandwidth is not being fully utilized.

Even if the Dram won't be harmed by OC the results for my tasked will only see a 3% improvement. I have seen results published that show decreasing timing delays for the same clocking will exceed the OC in results. Next an SSD is my best investment since the CPU OC will be able to take advantage of the SSD speed.

 

[Crashman]

I read a few articles showing for most applications OC increases bandwidth which is not taken advantage of by my applications, even Photoshop which can use all 4 cpu cores.

I found info that the best thing to do with good sticks is to run the same clock speed but tighten up the timings so as to use the sticks more efficiently. I noticed from the Tom's test that these Crucial sticks can run much tighter than the spec timings.

Since extra bandwidth is not used, losing time with longer delays makes completing tasks slower. Spending for faster sticks vs. using your present sticks with quicker timings that is the choice. I would rather save the money for an SSD where the difference in running applications would show faster task completion by comparison than OC of Dram where the bandwidth is not being fully utilized.

Even if the Dram won't be harmed by OC the results for my tasked will only see a 3% improvement. I have seen results published that show decreasing timing delays for the same clocking will exceed the OC in results. Next an SSD is my best investment since the CPU OC will be able to take advantage of the SSD speed.

Just remember that it's really all about actuation time. DDR3-1333 CAS 8 and DDR3-1666 CAS 10 have the same delay, so they will perform the same when bandwidth is not being fully utilized.

 

[zenjitsuman]

Exactly and Cas 6 or 7 is possible with these sticks without running them faster clock.

 

[zenjitsuman]

I have the opinion that a small ram fan if you have room is better without heat spreaders on the ram then no ram fan with heat spreaders. The point is to get rid of the heat from the chips and vent the case. These chips are running cooler all the time so something small should be enough.