When you fall down you get back up, but what about when costs $300?

Viper87227

Fully [H]
Joined
Jun 2, 2004
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Well, I was an idiot. Some call it [H]ard, I call it wreckless. The seemingly amazing ram in my sig bit the dust, I assume due to to much voltage. I am having a huge battle with myself, should I bother do do it again. Between the BH-5, booster, and a board that supports it, I sunk alot of money into it. I would hate to see if all for nothing, but repeating the mistake is going to forever lurk in my mind. Do I buy some new BH-5, or maybe some OCZ VX? Do I just give up OCing on ram, I dont want to kill anymore, its getting to expensive. I have the money, but that doesnt mean I want to spend it on replacing parts that are frying. So, I need some opinions while I think about it, if you were in my situation, what would you do?
 
there are many factors.

but heres how i see it.
- dont overclock if you dont need it
- dont overclock more than you need
- dont risk more than youre willing to lose
- dont pump 3.2v into the ram and act surprised it died on you.
 
jamestime88 said:
there are many factors.

but heres how i see it.
- dont overclock if you dont need it
- dont overclock more than you need
- dont risk more than youre willing to lose
- dont pump 3.2v into the ram and act surprised it died on you.

Well, thats the thing, I am rightfully surprised. BH-5's claim to fame is that is can take very high voltages. I don't need to overclock, but I certainly benifit from it. Morso than that, its not about performance, It is a hobby I enjoy. I like tinking with stuff, just not replaceing it when it frys, expecially when I am not being out of line by many peoples standards. Its a tough choice on if I want to do it again.
 
Were you actively cooling the RAM? If not, you should have been at that voltage. Honestly, I'd look into some GSkill TCCD that doesn't need such high voltages .
 
MemoryInAGarden said:
Were you actively cooling the RAM? If not, you should have been at that voltage. Honestly, I'd look into some GSkill TCCD that doesn't need such high voltages .
another vote for g.skill
 
MemoryInAGarden said:
Were you actively cooling the RAM? If not, you should have been at that voltage. Honestly, I'd look into some GSkill TCCD that doesn't need such high voltages .


Yes, I had an 80mm fan mounted in the drive bays. It kept the ram cool to warm to the touch. I also had a 80mm side panel fan right over it. I was not being blindly stupid, I just expected to much and tried to hard to get there I think.

Asian Fury, way to be helpful.


EDIT: The Gskill is impressive ram, but its not what I need. It does high speed 2.5-3-3- 7 latencies with lower voltages. I am looking for a 250ish 2-2-2-10 at high voltage. The exellent speed capabilities of the gkill just isnt for me, my chips max stable clock seems to be 250x10 anyways. Thats why the OCZ VX seems better. Its under warrenty at high voltages, so I wont be as nervious.
 
Viper87227 said:
EDIT: The Gskill is impressive ram, but its not what I need. It does high speed 2.5-3-3- 7 latencies with lower voltages. I am looking for a 250ish 2-2-2-10 at high voltage. The exellent speed capabilities of the gkill just isnt for me, my chips max stable clock seems to be 250x10 anyways. Thats why the OCZ VX seems better. Its under warrenty at high voltages, so I wont be as nervious.
g-skill doesnt need to run at 2.5-3-3-7 it can run at 2-2-2-5 probably at 2.5 at 2.85v or damn close
 
eh the way i look at it is if i fry something i get an excuse to upgrade :D go for the vx(life time warrenty up to 3.5 volts!) ive heard that the ocz booster can go outa wack n accidentally shoot the voltage up, n toast a few things mem, memcontroler, and such
 
ryuji said:
g-skill doesnt need to run at 2.5-3-3-7 it can run at 2-2-2-5 probably at 2.5 at 2.85v or damn close


Certainly, but not at 250fsb....or atleast, I havent seen it able to do that.


Oh, and dont even mention mem controller. You don't know what scared that little devil has me.
 
Viper87227 said:
Certainly, but not at 250fsb....or atleast, I havent seen it able to do that.


Oh, and dont even mention mem controller. You don't know what scared that little devil has me.
you wont find anything better then the g.skill other then more bh-5.. bh-5 never lasts long at 3.6v regretably
 
I think 3.6v vdimm is a bit too much... How long have you had it running at that voltage?

If you want 250 at 2-2-2 and have a booster, the OCZ VX seems like the right choice...

But again, it's up to you to decide if it's worth it to do the same thing again, if not, get a less expensive memory and run it at relaxed timings, otherwise, go for the VX... just my .02
 
I think 290x9 > 250x10

Go with the g-skill or another TCCD based ram if you want to tweak. You have a lot more options, and you don';t need to pump 3+v into em to produce results. TCCD gets HOT at 2.5v for me without active cooling though.. lol.. maybe i just have weird tccd
 
To whoever was asking, my BH-5 was activly cooled at 3.6v, and toasted at that. I think I am going to go with the VX, and just get what I can at 3.4v. On the whole Gskill issue, I know its great ram, but its just not what i am looking for. I spent alot of money based on my ram, getting a booster and a motherboard / cpu that worked with it. I dont want it to be money down the drain, so I will stick to 1:1 2-2-2-10 at a 10x multi, and get what I get. I just wont push it as hard this time.

Before I do though, I want clarifacation that this is my ram, because its being very odd. First off, I cant OC at all without getting reboots, but stock seems to be ok. Memtest only last 1-2 minutes before I get errors. Some games, like Far Cry and CSS, get pauses once ever 20 seconds or so. I super underclocked my video card to insure that wasnt a factor. That to me all says ram, but there is one thing that bothers me. For starters, I can use windows like a champ. As long as im stock, I can go 24/7 just fine. Also, in Far Cry, it doesnt just pause, I am getting graphical errors. The ligthing is all out of whack. Somem stuff is really bright, while something right next to it the wall texture might be in shadow or totall black. Everything is so shiney it almost hurts my eyes, definatly not normal, but I wasnt aware that ram woudl cause a grpahical glitch. Anyone think it could be something else?
 
tsuehpsyde said:
What chips are in that OCZ VX?


OCZ wont say. There has been a big to do on it over at xtremesystems. Some people think OCZ made there own chips, others think they stuck a deal with windbond for new, BH-5ish chips (many are calling it BH-4) but the truth is nobody knows. People have ripped off the heatspreader, but all the chips just say OCZ on them. Its actually very smart of them business wise. It cant be coppied if noone knows what it is.
 
I vote the Gskill. I have seen it provide more bandwidth then OCZ pc4200le platinum. Im running my Gskill right now at 275 @ 2.5-3-3-7 @2.65 v and have seen it all the way up to 295 @ the same timmings still yet at only 2.75 volts max. Gskill also seems to just be the perfect stuff for A64 as far as performance for some reason. Just a happy match. The OCZ is is good but man do I hate the price. Lifetime warranty or not (which Gskill has as well) I paid only $275 for my Gskill 2x512 Pc4400LE and anything comparable from OCZ was more then $100 dollars more. Just dont think that its worth that. Not when I get the performance out of what I have. Just My 2 Cents. But sounds like you have some other Issues. Do you have another Rig you could put the mem in and see if it has any issues? May not be the memory.could be a borked board(doubtful) or worse yet a bad chip(more probable). I have heard more stories of the mem controller dying then I have of memory on these set ups.Unfortunatly I would belive that I would point more towards your CPU and the mem controller that lived onboard. They dont like High volts at all heard of them fryng pretty quickly and infact most of them did when they were using the OCZ DDR boster and things went awrigh. (one of my other reasons for why I went with the Gskill mem and dont do the ddr booster)

The Cpt
 
Captin Insano said:
I vote the Gskill. I have seen it provide more bandwidth then OCZ pc4200le platinum. Im running my Gskill right now at 275 @ 2.5-3-3-7 @2.65 v and have seen it all the way up to 295 @ the same timmings still yet at only 2.75 volts max. Gskill also seems to just be the perfect stuff for A64 as far as performance for some reason. Just a happy match. The OCZ is is good but man do I hate the price. Lifetime warranty or not (which Gskill has as well) I paid only $275 for my Gskill 2x512 Pc4400LE and anything comparable from OCZ was more then $100 dollars more. Just dont think that its worth that. Not when I get the performance out of what I have. Just My 2 Cents. But sounds like you have some other Issues. Do you have another Rig you could put the mem in and see if it has any issues? May not be the memory.could be a borked board(doubtful) or worse yet a bad chip(more probable). I have heard more stories of the mem controller dying then I have of memory on these set ups.Unfortunatly I would belive that I would point more towards your CPU and the mem controller that lived onboard. They dont like High volts at all heard of them fryng pretty quickly and infact most of them did when they were using the OCZ DDR boster and things went awrigh. (one of my other reasons for why I went with the Gskill mem and dont do the ddr booster)

The Cpt


Well, I can test them on my bros puter, but he has an 1800+, so its really low FSB, which may skew results. However, what if I took his PC2100 and put it in my rig. It woudl run a dividor, but its still a way to test it right?

On the bright side, a new 3200+ is cheaper than the OCZ VX.
 
FYI: BH-5 ownz any TCCD any day.... too bad you cant find it anymore...

I currently run 1 gb of TCCD and love it, Viper you will fins TCCD to be a great addition to you box..and aworthy replacement...loos the booster thought you wont need it.
 
I(illa Bee said:
FYI: BH-5 ownz any TCCD any day.... too bad you cant find it anymore...

I currently run 1 gb of TCCD and love it, Viper you will fins TCCD to be a great addition to you box..and aworthy replacement...loos the booster thought you wont need it.
this man speaks the truth about bh-5 but its too damn expensive.. might as well put down the $235 for the g.skill
 
My vote goes to any tccd based ram on brainpower pcb for the lower volts, ok you might not be breaking any world records in benchmark land but it does a fantastic job. Ditch the booster and don't pump unnecessary volts through it or overclock beyond a reasonable speed. If the chips max stable oc is 2.75Ghz then I'd automatically back it down 50mhz cpu speed from there and be a happy camper -- I've been overclocking for a long time and doing these little things (not staying right on the bleeding edge of unstability) can really help to avoid frying that expensive chip/whatever it is you're overclocking. Another example is that my GT can run @ 425/1.16 but I use 400/1.1 for everyday use and same goes for other cards I've clocked in the past too. I might push it to the bleeding edge for a benchmark run or two but if it's running like that on a daily basis I think you are asking for trouble really.

Everyone is a g.skill rep at the moment it would seem, despite it being fantastic ram there are plenty of other choices that give similar results so don't limit them to one brand because other people say so.
 
Viper87227 said:
Well, I can test them on my bros puter, but he has an 1800+, so its really low FSB, which may skew results. However, what if I took his PC2100 and put it in my rig. It woudl run a dividor, but its still a way to test it right?

On the bright side, a new 3200+ is cheaper than the OCZ VX.




Even if you can run it at lower FSB in his machine and run it for a while on mem test or pi or something it would tell you if the mem is borked or not and yes, putting his mem in your machine would be another viable way to test the processor and mobo.

Good luck

The Cpt
 
jiminnyjellickerz said:
My vote goes to any tccd based ram on brainpower pcb for the lower volts, ok you might not be breaking any world records in benchmark land but it does a fantastic job. Ditch the booster and don't pump unnecessary volts through it or overclock beyond a reasonable speed. If the chips max stable oc is 2.75Ghz then I'd automatically back it down 50mhz cpu speed from there and be a happy camper -- I've been overclocking for a long time and doing these little things (not staying right on the bleeding edge of unstability) can really help to avoid frying that expensive chip/whatever it is you're overclocking. Another example is that my GT can run @ 425/1.16 but I use 400/1.1 for everyday use and same goes for other cards I've clocked in the past too. I might push it to the bleeding edge for a benchmark run or two but if it's running like that on a daily basis I think you are asking for trouble really.

Everyone is a g.skill rep at the moment it would seem, despite it being fantastic ram there are plenty of other choices that give similar results so don't limit them to one brand because other people say so.


I agree with alot of what you are saying. Definitly ditch the booster. personally Ive seen it fry way to many A64 cpu's. But as far as anyone of us being a GSkill rep.... I wish then I could get all the mem i wanted for next to nothing if not for nothing!!! ;) But its some kick ass stuff ,you have to addmit and especially priced vs other manufactures of same speed and quality.
 
I am gunna test out the CPU and ram, but I am actually hoping its the CPU. If so I will get a new one, a waterblock, and some g.skill. I will then thourly test the BH5, and sell it with the booster, which should cover the money on the gskill memory. Oh, and I am gunna get it some shiney heatspreaders, just because they look spiffy.

One question I have, newegg has three different gskill 1GB dual kits. THey are all TCCD. One was like $235, then $245, then $275. The $275 had a bit thigher timings, but the other two I couldnt find a difference, other than the PCB was darker on one. Which should I get? Or, how is the OCZ Rev.2 TCCD. Any good?
 
Viper87227 said:
I am gunna test out the CPU and ram, but I am actually hoping its the CPU. If so I will get a new one, a waterblock, and some g.skill. I will then thourly test the BH5, and sell it with the booster, which should cover the money on the gskill memory. Oh, and I am gunna get it some shiney heatspreaders, just because they look spiffy.

One question I have, newegg has three different gskill 1GB dual kits. THey are all TCCD. One was like $235, then $245, then $275. The $275 had a bit thigher timings, but the other two I couldnt find a difference, other than the PCB was darker on one. Which should I get? Or, how is the OCZ Rev.2 TCCD. Any good?

The version of Gskill to get is the one thats $275. Its the PC4400 @2.5-3-3-7 @ddr550 but runs @ 2-2-2-5@ DDR400 as well. The part model number will have and LE at the end of it. In fact here is the numbers to look for and the link to new egg.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-231-006&depa=0
Model#: F1-3200DSU2-1GBLE
Item#: N82E16820231006

I found that the Gskill gives more Bandwidth then the OCZ did. Just my experience and some of that of some others that I have heard.
 
u might find this page useful for all your Gskill needs:

http://www.gskill.com/extreme-product.html

get the $275 DDR550 version from newegg.

As for the cpu just drop the multi and pump the FSB keepin 1:1, these Gskill shouldnt have any problems at all, thatll keep the cpu at 2.5, which seems to be the max for your cpu.

hope this helps
 
Allright....one question I have. I am gunna take my bros 256MB PC2100 and throw it in here real quick. Will it automatically set a divider, and would that produce errors if its my mem controller? Same if I throw my BH5 in his, it will downclock to PC2100, but if it had issues, would that stress it enough to pick them up?
 
Well, just to make you feel better, I went ahead and bought the G.Skill LE as mentioned above. $279.73 from Newegg, should arrive early next week.
And I didn't even fry my system, just can't go above 232mz. I suspect it's my memory and there's only one way to find out. I'll sell the Corsair for $200 ($75 off). Someone who is thinking of buying value ram will go for it.

Just pretend you got a speeding ticket, but didn't, and drive slow. Everyone makes mistakes, I've fried a board years ago and know how it feels. If you keep reading these message boards, you'll be back.
 
Viper87227 said:
Allright....one question I have. I am gunna take my bros 256MB PC2100 and throw it in here real quick. Will it automatically set a divider, and would that produce errors if its my mem controller? Same if I throw my BH5 in his, it will downclock to PC2100, but if it had issues, would that stress it enough to pick them up?


It should if you do like a prime 95 or mem test run. Put them under some stress and work. Doing it on both machines testing them the same way you are doing it will be a good way to find out. But this should be a viable way to test both CPU and Mem.

The Cpt
 
Captin Insano said:
It should if you do like a prime 95 or mem test run. On both machines testing them the way you are doing it will be a good way to find out.

The Cpt


Just gunna use memtest86.I have it handy on a floppy
 
allright, this is starting to get werid.

I took my brothers generic no name 266mhz 256MB DIMM and threw it in my rig. Booster I set to 2.6v. Running 2-3-3-10 timings, 266mhz, ten minutes in, still no errors in memtest. With my BH5 in, 400mhz 2-2-2-10, 3.4v, I would get erros in under a minute. So, must be ram right? Dunno....

Put my 2x512MB BH-5 in brothers 1800+ /ECS KT7VA3 setup. Memtest doesnt display speed or timings, but I am guessing its running at the SPD timings of the other ram, 266mhz 2.5-3-3-8, coz I didnt change them. Five minutes in, no errors.

So, a few questions I have. At low voltages, 2.6v, would a bad mem controller still get screwy if it was my CPU -or- if its my memory, would it being severly under SPD cause it to run error free?

EDIT: Set the BH5 to 3323mhz 2-2-2-5 2.6v, thats the most stress I can put on it in this board....its not much of an overclocker. No errors so far..ideas?

EDIT#2: 3200+ is at 45 min so far, fancy free. BH5 is at 35min, also lookin clean. This is most perplexing. So, a thought I am having. I have heard rumors that boosters die. The LED displays the voltage they should be at, but ist not really that voltage. Is there any way to test for that? I dont havae a voltmeter, so is there any sfotware that reads vdimm?
 
Tried my BH5, held out at 200mhz 2-2-2-10. 220mhz 2-2-2-10 was fine at 3.3v. at 320mhz errors like mad. Consensus agrees, its ram? If so, gunna order some g.skill.
 
Viper87227 said:
Tried my BH5, held out at 200mhz 2-2-2-10. 220mhz 2-2-2-10 was fine at 3.3v. at 320mhz errors like mad. Consensus agrees, its ram? If so, gunna order some g.skill.

Sounds like the memory to me
 
NoGodForMe said:
Thats great. I guess we can both come back here next week and post our results.

G-wiz can I play to. Just got mine monday of this week. Still playin with it to se how high I can push em up .
 
Captin Insano said:
G-wiz can I play to. Just got mine monday of this week. Still playin with it to se how high I can push em up .

Your results in your sig thus far ar very attractive. I myself am looking to get something like 275mhz 2.5-3-3-7 2.85v. That will let me run at 2.5ghz with a 9x mulitplier, which my CPU will do with ease. I am gunna be getting a waterblock too, in which case I may shoot for 1:1 2.6ghz and something like 2.5-3-4-8. I will have to just mess around with it a bit. Should be good times.
 
Do we have to "burn in" this ram or is that only on the high voltage stuff?

I was gonna start at stock and run some tests, then try 10% over, then go for the higher OCs.

Mine is already at the local Fedex ramp, it may be delivered today.
 
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