Ballistix sticks, you served me well...

[Liet]

Hi all,

Basic specs:
Q6600
X48 DQ6
Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 2.2v 4-4-4-12 (flaky, dying)
eVGA nVidia 8800 GT

A week ago, after flashing the BIOS of my 1-yr-old MSI P6N Platinum motherboard, my system refused to post. I tried the standard troubleshooting methods, but nothing worked so I assumed hardware failiure and started buying components piecemeal, in order to find out which piece had failed. I bought a Gigabyte X48 DQ6 mobo, a PCI-slot graphics card (they still make them!), a cheap dual-core Celeron, and eventually a 2GB $40 stick of Kingston DDR2.

Replacing the RAM did the trick. As near as I can tell, when I flashed the BIOS on my MSI, it reverted back to the default 1.8v voltage, and since both of my DDR2-800 Crucial Ballistix sticks (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16820146565) now refuse to boot at anything below 2.2v, obviously I couldn't get into the BIOS to ramp up the voltage. The $40 stick allowed me to change settings, but the Crucial sticks are now unreliable and sometimes won't even boot at 2.2v.

What's odd is that I remember boosting the voltage to 2.2v when I first got them, so I'm pretty sure they used to work at the default 1.8v. I ran them them without any problems at the rated 4-4-4-12 for a year... Just for the sake of learning; is it normal for high-voltage performance RAM to go wacky like this? Is it possible the SPD is corrupted, or can it just not handle 2.2v anymore?

Anyway, I'm keeping the X48 DQ6, and am looking for opinions on new RAM. I've been searching this forum for a week and trying to learn from you gurus , and I understand that with a Q6600 CPU and Gigabyte X48 DQ6, there won't be any real-world appreciable difference between DDR2-800 and DDR2-1066, right? I would like to modestly overclock the CPU in future (from 2.4 to 3GHz, or maybe 3.2GHz) when I learn more about overclocking... will a set of DDR2-800 allow that?

What do you guys think of these Mushkin 1.8v DDR2 800 5-4-4-12 sticks? I like the tight timings and the fact they run at 1.8v. I don't have Vista, so 4GB would be my max buy.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146731

 

[disports]

I think those sticks are fine as are the G.Skill DDR2-800 5-5-5-15 1.8v sticks ($59.99 w/o rebate)

 

[Wuzup101]

Personally... I would just call crucial and tell them your memory died and you need them to RMA it...

 

[18 Is Number 1]

Pay the extra $12 and get Redlines:http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146755

 

[Liet]

Hi folks,

smith: Thanks for the recommendation. I don't mind spending another $15 for tighter timings, so it seems the Mushkin might be the better option.

wuzup: There are a few reasons I'm reluctant to RMA. One is that this RAM is no longer being produced, and it seems unlikely I'd get sticks of the same high quality, considering the reports on this forum of really poor Crucial quality as of late.

18: Is there reason to get DDR2 1000 over 800? Those run at slower timings and at a higher voltage, so I'd rather not unless I'm actually need the extra bandwidth.

 

[18 Is Number 1]

They will run 4-4-4-12 minimum and possibly lower if you like. The reason to get Redlines is to allow flexability in OCing your RAM. Intel processors love bandwidth and perform better when run asynchronously with the FSB.
Here is a good example:http://www.overclock.net/intel...4-5-v.html#post4615487
You may or may not notice a difference in your applications, but the better ram will allow you the flexibility to decide that now or later. Either way, Mushkin is top notch quality and customer service.

 

[disports]

The DDR2-1000 just gives you a little bit more headroom to overclock than the DDR2-800 does.

 

[18 Is Number 1]

Originally posted by: smithrwon
The DDR2-1000 just gives you a little bit more headroom to overclock than the DDR2-800 does.

Those Redlines will do over 1100 MHz. My 800 Ascents will do 1115 MHz.http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=412840

 

[Gillbot]

Buy new sticks that will reach the speeds you want, RMA your current crucial ram them sell them.

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
Buy new sticks that will reach the speeds you want, RMA your current crucial ram them sell them.

QFT...

You still should RMA your ram... even if you don't end up using it (send it to me!!!) hehe.

Note: I didn't realize that crucial quality was "slipping." I haven't been doing a whole ton of research as of late. I have recently thought about purchasing a 2x2gb kit of crucial (4-4-4-12) but perhaps I'll go with the redlines this time. I've used quite a few of the major vendors in the past, and I don't have anything bad to say about them (crucial, corsair, mushkin). I've dealt with all of their CS... never had a problem. Crucial CS was awesome last time I used them.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820148212

One thing that pisses me off: I recently bought a 4gb kit from newegg of corsair XMS (slow stuff... 5-5-5-18). They shipped it in a fecking yellow mail envelope. One of the modules was physically bent... no chance it was even going into my motherboard (didn't want to try shoving it really hard). Does anyone know what the packaging for the mushkin ram is like currently. I know crucial would ship in a padded box... I'm trying to avoid running into the same problem from the egg!

 

[Liet]

Wuzup, I only found out about Crucial's DDR2 quality issues after reading these boards. Here's one thread that touches on it: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...key=y&keyword1=CRUCIAL

Another from a few months ago:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...key=y&keyword1=crucial

I did really love these Ballistix sticks, and I respect Crucial, but I just don't want to risk another too-hot-to-touch set running at 2.2v. Great idea about RMAing them though, didn't even think of that.

I'm still confused on how much bandwidth I really need. I've been searching for threads about it (like this one: http://forums.anandtech.com/me...word1=q6600+bandwidth) and there seems to be some conflict over whether there's any noticable difference. Then I need to start worrying about timings, and learn more about 1T vs 2T! Sigh. Back to the research.

 

[Andrew1990]

actually Crucial is now sending back the 2.0v versions I believe.

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: Andrew1990
actually Crucial is now sending back the 2.0v versions I believe.

Yeah, from what I've read (now that I'm looking into it hehe) they are already out of the old 2.2v sticks. People have been reporting getting the new 2.0v sticks back from RMA's.

But yeah, get whatever you want ... just RMA and e-bay!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: smithrwon
I think those sticks are fine as are the G.Skill DDR2-800 5-5-5-15 1.8v sticks ($59.99 w/o rebate)

Have you seen the new ones that run DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 at 1.8v? $80 or so.

 

[Old Hippie]

People have been reporting getting the new 2.0v sticks back from RMA's.

Great! That's what I've been waiting for.

I've got 4 sticks that need returned.

 

[Rubycon]

The ones they sent me have 2.2 v stamped on them. They need to be stamped again - with a 7kg hammer! :|

Text

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Wuzup101
Note: I didn't realize that crucial quality was "slipping."

IMHO, Crucial's quality is not "slipping" as their products still work well ad their advertised speeds. They just don't OC as high as everyones old sets did.

 

[Zapper48]

Iv'e used memory from Crucial,G.Skill,Mushkin and OCZ. The only ones ever to fail were the Mushkins. Currently running 4x2GB OCZ at 1.8v at rated 400 fsb.

 

[18 Is Number 1]

Everyone's sticks fail sometimes. How did Mushkin do with the RMA process?

 

[sticks435]

Originally posted by: Gillbot

Originally posted by: Wuzup101
Note: I didn't realize that crucial quality was "slipping."

IMHO, Crucial's quality is not "slipping" as their products still work well ad their advertised speeds. They just don't OC as high as everyones old sets did.

I agree with this. My 2.2 volt sticks from back in Oct '07 went bellies up last month, and I RMA'd them. First they sent me the 2.2v edition's again, and one of those were DOA. I called them again and the RMA to replace those were the 2.0v ones. With my original 2.2 one's, I got up to 961mhz at 2.3v, and with these new one's, I can only get 851mhz at 2.0v. I could run 333/800 multiplier with the 2.2 ones, and with the 2.0's, I have to drop it down to 333/667 inorder to be able to run my processor at anything over 3.2ghz. I'm strongly thinking of craigslisting these and making the jump to 4gigs and vista64.

 

[Wuzup101]

I did end up going with the 2x2gb 4-4-4-12 ballistix sticks from newegg (the 2.0v ones). CPUz shows an EEP of 500mhz @ 5-5-5-15 2.0v and 400mhz @ 4-4-4-12 2.0v (both 2T). Ram is running fine right now with my 4gb of reaper in the other slots... no complaints... on to the funny part:

So I whip open the envelope and open the package and install the ram. All good on that front. I boot up, everything works (as expected)... again all good. Now I check out the rebate stuff ($40 rebate on this kit currently at newegg). So... I'm not on any drugs right now... haven't had anything to drink today... but there is NO UPC ON ANY OF THE PACKAGING MATERIALS. It came in a standard plastic package with a standard cardstock insert advertising the product. Generally, the UPC is on this insert... but not today... so I have a barcode with the "retailer product number" on it... but it's no a UPC.

I called up the "UPC support line" and felt like a total sped when I asked the guy what to do when there is no UPC. His first question was if I was looking at the mailing envelope or the actual product packaging. After assuring him that I wasn't a sped, and I indeed did know what I was supposed to be looking for (seriously... after a few dozen rebates you kinda know what a UPC looks like), he told me just to send in a copy of my packing list with the rebate form... wait until I get denied... and then call up and they will change it. I think I'm going to scan that cardstock insert too and send a copy of it to them... maybe they can find the UPC!