Which Memory for OC

[darckeen]

Looking at the P5Q and these ddr2 800 2x2 kits are supported:

G.SKILL F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK 4-4-4-12 2.0-2.1v
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 5-5-5-15 1.8-1.9v
OCZ OCZ2P8004GK 5-4-4-15 2.1v

Which one should be the best OC'er?

 

[auscanzukus]

What cpu?

 

[Mondoman]

Don't buy anything spec'd at higher than 1.9V.

 

[darckeen]

CPU is gonna be e8400, PSU 650w single rail.

So Mondo you recommending the G SKILL 1.9s?

The ddr2 1066 corsairs are also supported, but are considerable more expensive.

Corsair TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF 5-5-5-15 2.1v

Are those gonna be significantly better or am I gonna be ok with the G SKILLS?

 

[auscanzukus]

Personally, I'd go with TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF cuz the ram is rated at 1066mhz and o/cing e8400 to 4ghz will need the fsb at 445mhz or higher. 445 x 2 = 890mhz. That's beyond the rated 800mhz. Since you don't know how high the 800mhz ram can o/c, get something faster and you're good.

 

[V3NOM]

mondoman wtf is wrong with a nice 2.1v kit?

 

[Mondoman]

It's just a 1.8/1.9V kit relabeled with the factory overclock specs and with the price jacked up. If it's really good quality stuff, why don't they tell you the specs at 1.8V?

 

[V3NOM]

higher voltage=tighter timings... some cheap kits that are rated at 1.8v, if you stuck it up to 2.1v it would get no where near the performance of good quality ram.

 

[Mondoman]

Yes, overclocking the RAM by jacking up the voltage can allow you to run at faster bus speeds and/or faster timings; as you note, it depends on the quality of the RAM. Certainly, not all DIMMs with 1.8-1.9V specs are good quality RAM. However, RAM that needs to be overclocked to reach CL4 at DDR2-800 is certainly NOT good-quality RAM. Similarly, RAM that needs to run at 2.2V or higher to run at DDR2-1066 is certainly NOT good-quality RAM. There was a time not too long ago that one could buy DDR2-800 CL4 RAM spec'd at 1.9V. Similarly, you used to be able to buy DDR2-1066 RAM spec'd at no more than 2.0V.
The stuff being sold these days, however, is just average DDR2-800 jacked up to ridiculously high voltages like 2.2V. The reason for this is that 2x1GB of real good-quality RAM would cost you $200-300 and nobody is willing to pay that when you can get decent DDR2-800 CL5 RAM for $40. Thus, the manufacturers just take the DDR2-800 CL5 stuff and overclock it, misleading buyers by listing an above-standard spec voltage in the "fine print".

Again, my question is: if the overclocked stuff being sold by manufacturers is really good quality, why aren't they willing to reveal its speed/timings under standard 1.8V/1.9V settings? When someone doesn't want to reveal standard info about a product, doesn't that make you suspicious?

 

[V3NOM]

theres a difference between overclocking and overVOLTING...

"However, RAM that needs to be overclocked to reach CL4 at DDR2-800"
how is that overclocking if its stock at CL4 and 800... sure they might bump up the volts a bit and what exactly is wrong with that??? enver once have u said anything wrong with it....maybe cos there isnt

 

[Mondoman]

Yes, overvolting is a subset of overclocking. All overvolted RAM is overclocked, but not all overclocked RAM is overvolted.
By definition, running at higher than 1.9V for DDR2 is NOT "stock". It means the RAM is lower-quality and can't support that speed under normal voltage, so it is being overclocked.

It's as if a car maker advertised a car as having 500 hp (at 15000 rpm, way over the redline), but refused to tell you that the same car only produces 250 hp if you keep it under the redline. To me, that's a "250 hp" car being sold as a "500 hp" car with a jacked-up price.

All I'm saying is that an honest manufacturer would (a) list the guaranteed speed/timings under standard DDR2 voltage and (b) list the guaranteed overclock speed/timings under a specified higher voltage. As it is now, there's no way to compare apples with apples, since Brand A DDR2-1066 CL5 w/spec voltage 2.2V could very well not even run at DDR2-800 CL4 at a standard 1.8V.