Corsair XMS2 6400C4

D

Dudebrah

n00b
Joined
Jun 16, 2006
Messages
15
I have 2 sets of this RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034

The advertised CAS timings seem to be inconsistent and i was wondering what you guys think. Some places say 4-4-4-12 and other parts say 5-5-5-18. The stock settings my mobo (P5K-E) is running them at is the 5-5-5-18. So my question is, Would running them at 4-4-4-12 actually be overclocking them and would i have to bump up the voltage?

Also this was overclocking them would I be seriously shortening their life, I dont really plan on OC'ing too much as I want my system to last for atleast a couple years.
I am pretty much a complete noob to OC'ing so your advice/help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
Would running them at 4-4-4-12 actually be overclocking them and would i have to bump up the voltage?
Click to expand...

No, the 5 5 5 18 are the pre-programmed settings so the memory will work with every junk motherboard out there. If running at stock speed or less you go into the bios and set them to the 4 4 4 12 settings at stock voltage. In some cases the motherboard memory voltage/power is a bit weak so running at 1.9V is recommended (by me) for rock solid stability. Corsair will honor the warranty up to 2.1V on that ram regardless of what final speed or timings you use. See my sig. - still covered by warranty (but since they have not failed in 17 months I doubt I need to worry about it) .

Also this was overclocking them would I be seriously shortening their life,
Click to expand...

Not sure where you are reading that BS, but suggest you stop ;) OCing if done correctly and with knowledge does not abuse hardware reducing neither its life or reliability. Stupid kills computers, not overclocking.
 
Ok so I tried changing it to 4-4-4-12 and 1.9v and I got this weird error about the /System/Config file from windows and it wanted me to pop in the XP cd to repair my windows installation. Any thoughts?
 
Strange but I would hesitate to connect it directly to the change in memory settings. Hopefully the repair worked fine.
 
Well I changed the settings back to auto and windows booted up fine so I didn't even have to do the repair.
 
hmm apparently they were related. Checking the specs on that ram it appears Corsair has upped the voltage recommendations, this happens from time to time as stick manufacturers change the supplier or get a new batch of the indvidual memory chips they use on their sticks. (Mine were rated 1.9-2.1V, yours says just 2.1V I hate to think you are loosing performance you paid for. As mentioned above, on auto, they should default to "plain jane" settings. The performace difference is not huge but I would want to run them at 4 4 4 12 @2.1V this is what Coursair warranties them for and if they will not run at that spec Corsair will replace them.

Corsair has a presence in the memory forums and is very helpful.

Here are the manuf specs.
http://www.corsairmicro.com/_datasheets/TWIN2X2048-6400C4.pdf

To repeat myself, my older version of this memory used to be speced/advertised at 1.9 -2.1 V and it looks like Corsair tests/verifys operation at 2.1V so that is what I would run them at with full warranty. And if they will not run the Corsair people will swap them out but lets hope that is not needed.

That is very compatible memory and I have read few (actually none that I can remember) reports that it has any compatibility issues. Corsair tested that memory in the delux version of your board but they did do it at 2.1V.

http://www.corsairmicro.com/testreports/report_print.aspx?r_id=161190&p_id=160716&m_id=9716

I can (sorta ;) ) understand your reluctance to run the parts at high voltage. However thats what Corsair is in business for, to provide high performance parts that they have verified can be run at higher performace settings/voltages and back that up with a warranty. Try 4 4 4 12 @ 2.1V, its what you paid for and if they will not do it Corsair will replace them.

Edit:

To provide some balance (sorry I am a performance nut and get carried away sometimes) there would not be a thing wrong with running them at the 5 5 5 15 or 5 5 5 18 @ 1.8V, the performance penality would not be large and if you are more comfortable with that , then, well, there it is.
 
Lots of good info there, you know the more time I spend reading these forums, the more I want to OC my stuff. By now i am seriously looking into doing a mild OC on my cpu. Especially given the fact that after running Orthos for nearly 2 hours my core temps peaked @ 45c or 55c to tjunct max.

Anyways thanks for the info, as soon as I get off work ima try to run those settings and ill update to elt you know how it goes.
 
Bumped up the voltage to 2.1V and Vwha-la, everything is working great. Haven't stress tested for a long time yet but it seems to be running good. Thanks for all the help Bill

PS Does Orthos stop on errors like Prime95 does?
 
Don't worry about running it at 2.1V. Mine are a tad newer than Bill's and I've been running at 2.1V for almost a year on the Corsair guy's recommendation in the memory forum.
 
I purchased this RAM back in September on the advice of a friend.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145175
Sucks to see that the price dropped as it did.
This is the first rig that I have ever built and I am just starting to OC it now.( specs here: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1198647&page=9 go to post # 171).
By the way, I am running 4 gigs of the RAM.
I recently bumped up the RAM timings from the stock 5-5-5-18 @1.8v to 4-4-4-12 @ 2.1v and I have noticed much quicker boot times (about 8 seconds).
I am still tweaking and trying to control some minor heat issues.
I have been running prime95's torture test which also loads the RAM and have not had 1 error after letting it run all night.
Good luck in your OC'ing endeavors.

Nice info bill.
 
The rated votage to get this ram to go 4-4-4-12 @400MHz is actually 2.1V. Personally I have gotten these sticks to do 3-3-3-9 @366Mhz with 2.2V...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top