Corsair Dominator TwinX 8500

joshley

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
136
The Dominator's are out of stock, everywhere! Everything else for my PC has either arrived or has been shipped, so I'm now just waiting on the RAM. I have the Dominator on order, but can cancel if anyone can tell me of any RAM that is just as good and around the same price?

eVGA 680i
Intel E6700
Asus 8800GTX

Should I even get the Dominator? I don't bloody know! RAM is the most subtle of ingredients for your PC, it's difficult to understand what is and what is not good. I wouldn't ask, it's just now I have everything else and don't want to wait three weeks for the RAM if I could just buy something else! :D So I found the OCZ, with the same specs, but I think the heatsink is better on the dominator. Any ideas?

Thanks,
josh
 
Basically, which is better, the OCZ Platinum or the Corsair Dominator? Or are they the same?
 
if u dont want to wait... i'll go with some other memory sticks like mushkin

but ur comparing ocz to corsair dominator and just from past experience i rather wait then have to deal with sending things back... i made several computers for friends with different memory sticks and i just like the stability after ocing even if it costs a bit more. As time goes by games like WoW base so much on memory that its more then just OCing its about sticks with least amount of errors... the geil memories i have now have been RMAed several times because of error issues and my past with OCZ havent been great (although i know they have changed a lot over the years)
 
lee0539 said:
if u dont want to wait... i'll go with some other memory sticks like mushkin

but ur comparing ocz to corsair dominator and just from past experience i rather wait then have to deal with sending things back... i made several computers for friends with different memory sticks and i just like the stability after ocing even if it costs a bit more. As time goes by games like WoW base so much on memory that its more then just OCing its about sticks with least amount of errors... the geil memories i have now have been RMAed several times because of error issues and my past with OCZ havent been great (although i know they have changed a lot over the years)

Well, I'm perfectly willing to wait if they're going to be good, plus, they're cheaper than the OCZ! So I'll take your advice and hold on. Of course I could put the PC3200 RAM from my old PC (which is fairly dead) into the new one just to get it up and running... but I can't bring myself to do it, I don't want any potentially knackered hardware screwing up my rig! I'll be patient... I'll be patient.... I'll be patient.....!!!
 
Personally i'd get the dominator 6400c4d instead of the 8500. They should overclock just the same but are cheaper.
 
joshley said:
A-Data do a 1066Mhz 8500 RAM, are they worth investigating?

They are certainly not bad but it depends how cheap you can get them :)

Take a look at OCZ titanium pc8000 4-4-4, Teamgroup pc6400 3-3-3 or Cellshock pc8000 4-4-4 (in Europe)
 
kiwi.fruit said:
They are certainly not bad but it depends how cheap you can get them :)

Take a look at OCZ titanium pc8000 4-4-4, Teamgroup pc6400 3-3-3 or Cellshock pc8000 4-4-4 (in Europe)

I can get the A-Data PC8500 1066Mhz for £257.39 delivered... is that a good price? It is cheaper than the Corsair by about a tenner, and it's in stock. What should I do! :(
 
nippyjun said:
Personally i'd get the dominator 6400c4d instead of the 8500. They should overclock just the same but are cheaper.
stay away from the 6400C4D...they are not even close to the same as the 8500 C5/C5D (nicely binned D9GMH).

the 6400 C4Ds shipping now have Promos ICs and will have limited overhead. just letting everyone know because what Corsair is charging for them is a joke. grab anything but the 6400 C4Ds, i almost got stuck with a set thinking they were going to be D9GMH. HTH
 
Can Redbeard comment on this information about the 6400C4D's and their use of Promos chips instead of the better Micron ones.
 
i just order the new Corsair PC-9136C5D Twinx2 (2x1024mb) not too bad of a price aswell US$520
 
nippyjun said:
Can Redbeard comment on this information about the 6400C4D's and their use of Promos chips instead of the better Micron ones.

Some of the 6400C4Ds use PROMOS, some use MICRON. I'm not going to lie and say that the PROMOS are as good as the MICRONs, they're not. But they do the rated speed, and they even have a bit of headroom for mild overclocking.

If you want guaranteed Microns, right now, all 6400C3, 8500, 8888, and 9136 parts are guaranted to be Micron ICs.


For those wondering, you can always check our IC Inquiry thread:
http://www.houseofhelp.com/v3/showthread.php?t=44365

It will tell you exactly what revision of what IC you have on your module.
 
i'd find out exactly what your getting before u wait for that corsair u got... if its micron i'll keep otherwise i wouldnt wait on a promos
 
This is quite an interesting issue to crop up over the 6400, thanks 3oh6 for pointing it out and Redbeard for confirming it!

Kherozene said:
i just order the new Corsair PC-9136C5D Twinx2 (2x1024mb) not too bad of a price aswell US$520

Anyone know where I can get the Corsair 9136C5D in the UK for the equivalent of $520 (£269)??? :D
 
Actually, I can get the 9136 for a UK-reasonable £412 including delivery. But they're not available yet, anyone got any idea (Redbeard?) when they might start cropping up in the UK? Should I wait for these, or just go for the 8500 which I can get for £265 including delivery?
 
Redbeard said:
Some of the 6400C4Ds use PROMOS, some use MICRON. I'm not going to lie and say that the PROMOS are as good as the MICRONs, they're not. But they do the rated speed, and they even have a bit of headroom for mild overclocking.

If you want guaranteed Microns, right now, all 6400C3, 8500, 8888, and 9136 parts are guaranted to be Micron ICs.


For those wondering, you can always check our IC Inquiry thread:
http://www.houseofhelp.com/v3/showthread.php?t=44365

It will tell you exactly what revision of what IC you have on your module.


This unfortunately is very disappointing. A product such as the dominators should have the best memory, not the Promos. I'm sure the ones that i ordered (an order that i cannot cancel or return) will have the Promos and i'll have big time buyers remorse. I purchased them thinking that they would have the Microns. I didn't even think that they could have anything else. I should have done some more research. Oh well.
 
joshley said:
This is quite an interesting issue to crop up over the 6400, thanks 3oh6 for pointing it out and Redbeard for confirming it!
no problem, i ordered the 6400 C4Ds shortly after they were available in Canada and was quite dissapointed with the performance. this was before Ram Guy updated the IC list. i knew they had to be Promos based on the results i was seeing...a week or two later the IC list was updated and sure enough, Promos. i was fortunate enough to have the ability to return them for a full refund.

the Promos isn't complete garbage, i mean, they do rated speeds at a nice low voltage but they don't scale with voltage at all and the overhead, like Redbeard said, is for "mild" overclocking. for the price your paying i wouldn't recommend them for anyone that wants to overclock at all. try to find someone in an enthusiast forum bragging about their v2.1 6400 C4D results...it won't happen. if they were $100CDN cheaper then they would be a decent buy but not what they are at now.

grab some Team Group 6400 C4s. Under $300USD from Tank Guys, and they are definitely D9GMH. you won't get any super crazy results from them but you will get solid decently binned D9GMH for sure. or get in on the Newegg deal of the month if you are buying right now...

Crucial Ballistix 2 x 1GB PC2 8000 - $260 after MIR (only $285 before)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146563
crazy price for some nicely binned D9GMH...you can't go worng.

to say i was idssapointed in Corsair's decision to switch the 6400 C4 Dominator line over to Promos is an understatement. what is the point of an elaborate heatspreader on an IC that doesn't respond to voltage at all? leave the Promos for the standard 6400 C4s but at least put low binned D9GMH on the 6400 C4D.
 
Unfortuantely I bought the 6400C4D Dominators before I realized they use the Promos chips. :rolleyes: I was under the impression that all the Dominators use the superior Micron IC's---Hence their use of the term DOMINATOR. Just what the heck are the heat spreaders for anyways?? Oh. I know. You need them just to run the memory at stock.
Yeah I can tell you from experience--the 6400C4D's suck Oprah! What a waste of $300!
A little headroom is right on. A very little. Get something better and less expensive. **Still kicking myself in the a##.**
 
I'm in the same boat. Ordered 4 gigs of Dominator 6400 from Ncix in Canada for just a shade under $800 and now find that they are using the same IC's as their value ram. Good thing I bought the extra Dominator fan to cool my value sticks. Kinda like putting a giant fart can exhaust on a riced out Honda Civic.
 
loafer87gt said:
I'm in the same boat. Ordered 4 gigs of Dominator 6400 from Ncix in Canada for just a shade under $800 and now find that they are using the same IC's as their value ram. Good thing I bought the extra Dominator fan to cool my value sticks. Kinda like putting a giant fart can exhaust on a riced out Honda Civic.

Ouch...

I'd refuse shipment on those man.

Get yourself some Team Xtreem DDR2-800 or the 667 stuff; both are available thru NCIX or cheaper thru http://www.directcanada.com/

Here:
http://www.directcanada.com/product...=TXDD2048M800HC4DC&manufacture=TEAM GROUP INC.
 
sardonic.n7 said:
Ouch...

I'd refuse shipment on those man.

Get yourself some Team Xtreem DDR2-800 or the 667 stuff; both are available thru NCIX or cheaper thru http://www.directcanada.com/

Here:
http://www.directcanada.com/product...=TXDD2048M800HC4DC&manufacture=TEAM GROUP INC.

Unfortunately they have already arrived and are sitting on my desk. 6400C4D V2.2 Promos specials. Here's hoping Redbeard and Mike C can help us out - otherwise it is going to be one helluva expensive set of budget ram.
 
loafer87gt said:
I'm in the same boat. Ordered 4 gigs of Dominator 6400 from Ncix in Canada for just a shade under $800 and now find that they are using the same IC's as their value ram. Good thing I bought the extra Dominator fan to cool my value sticks. Kinda like putting a giant fart can exhaust on a riced out Honda Civic.

The Promos that we use for the 6400C4 is not the same IC we use for the value Ram.

We might use Promos ICs on the value stuff occasionally, but they're not the same Promos part and are not screened like the 6400C4 parts are.
 
Redbeard said:
The Promos that we use for the 6400C4 is not the same IC we use for the value Ram.

We might use Promos ICs on the value stuff occasionally, but they're not the same Promos part and are not screened like the 6400C4 parts are.
Are the PC-8500C5 the same as the PC-8500C5D (except of the use of the HS)?
 
Eastcoasthandle said:
Are the PC-8500C5 the same as the PC-8500C5D (except of the use of the HS)?

Yes, the PCB is significantly different due to the addition of ground-plane cooling, but otherwise they are the same ICs used.
 
joshley said:
The Dominator's are out of stock, everywhere! Everything else for my PC has either arrived or has been shipped, so I'm now just waiting on the RAM. I have the Dominator on order, but can cancel if anyone can tell me of any RAM that is just as good and around the same price?

eVGA 680i
Intel E6700
Asus 8800GTX

Should I even get the Dominator? I don't bloody know! RAM is the most subtle of ingredients for your PC, it's difficult to understand what is and what is not good. I wouldn't ask, it's just now I have everything else and don't want to wait three weeks for the RAM if I could just buy something else! :D So I found the OCZ, with the same specs, but I think the heatsink is better on the dominator. Any ideas?

Thanks,
josh

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145165 :cool:
 
Redbeard said:
Yes, the PCB is significantly different due to the addition of ground-plane cooling, but otherwise they are the same ICs used.
I also read that:
PC8500C5 are rated at 2.2V under warranty.
PC8500C5D are rated at 2.4V under warranty.

Is this also true?
 
Eastcoasthandle said:
I also read that:
PC8500C5 are rated at 2.2V under warranty.
PC8500C5D are rated at 2.4V under warranty.

Is this also true?

Because of the heatspreader and PCB design the 8500C5D can run higher voltage safely. They are both spec'd to run at 2.2V, I believe. But the warranty on the 8500C5D is good up to 2.4V.
 
Redbeard said:
Because of the heatspreader and PCB design the 8500C5D can run higher voltage safely. They are both spec'd to run at 2.2V, I believe. But the warranty on the 8500C5D is good up to 2.4V.
Thanks for the quick response.
I am still researching if this ram is good for a P5W DH Deluxe @ 1066 Ocing (with E6700). So far the results are a flat no so far... Any input?
 
Eastcoasthandle said:
Thanks for the quick response.
I am still researching if this ram is good for a P5W DH Deluxe @ 1066 Ocing (with E6700). So far the results are a flat no so far... Any input?

The P5W DH is an i975X based board and has some problems doing 1066 reliably. Usually you can see around 1040-1066 or so with tweaking (and disabling HyperPath3 in the BIOS).

The i965 boards are considerably faster, for memory overclocking, but slightly slower at the same clock speeds.

For example, a 965 and 975 board, both with a 2.4 GHz processor and 800 MHz RAM, the 975 is just a bit faster. But when overclocking, the 965 will go considerably higher than the 975. It's a tradeoff.
 
Redbeard said:
The P5W DH is an i975X based board and has some problems doing 1066 reliably. Usually you can see around 1040-1066 or so with tweaking (and disabling HyperPath3 in the BIOS).

The i965 boards are considerably faster, for memory overclocking, but slightly slower at the same clock speeds.

For example, a 965 and 975 board, both with a 2.4 GHz processor and 800 MHz RAM, the 975 is just a bit faster. But when overclocking, the 965 will go considerably higher than the 975. It's a tradeoff.

The P5W DH Deluxe is a bit tricky to OC. I found that doing this with my pC6400Pro provided the best stability (E67):

CPU Freq 300 <--this is a mild OC
Dram Freq 900 <--this is not 1:1 timiing
PCI Express Freq 100
PCI Clock Sync 33.33
Mem Voltage 2.20V
CPU Voltage 1.3875V
ICH Voltage 1.20V
MCH Voltage 1.65V
Performance Mode Standard
FSB Termination Voltage 1.40V
Timing 4-4-4-12
Dram ECC Mode 2 Clocks
Hyper Path Enabled
Dram Throttle Disabled
Boot as: PC7100

The options in bold was what did it for me for stability. Keep them on auto would cause problems every now and again. In particular web browsing where IE or FF would simply stop working, for example.

I have been able to get the timing as low as 3-3-3-10 but the ram required some serious cooling.
3_3_3_10_ram-1.jpg


Thanks again for you help. I may just get them after all.
 
Redbeard said:
The Promos that we use for the 6400C4 is not the same IC we use for the value Ram.

We might use Promos ICs on the value stuff occasionally, but they're not the same Promos part and are not screened like the 6400C4 parts are.


Its nice to have an official rep in here answering questions.
 
Redbeard said:
The Promos that we use for the 6400C4 is not the same IC we use for the value Ram.

We might use Promos ICs on the value stuff occasionally, but they're not the same Promos part and are not screened like the 6400C4 parts are.

is the information about corsair true-hand picked ?
http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/
 
dp0001 said:
is the information about corsair true-hand picked ?
http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/

I guess you could call it hand-picked, but it's technically an elaborate screening process at the IC and module level.

We buy unsorted sometimes, screen them at the IC level and bin them into different categories. 6400C3, 8500C5, etc. We then build up modules based on that, and when the modules pass the sort, they get labeled and sold at that level.

We experience a bit of fallout at the module level. So let's say we take 16 ICs that all screen fine to 6400C3, but when put at a module, they don't do 6400C3. So we screen that module again at 8500C5, and it passes that. So now that module is an 8500C5.

Our 8888C4, 9136C5, 6400C3, and 8500C5 are all based on the same IC with different levels of fallout.
 
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