Gigabyte I-Ram, finally here

[EODetroit]

I receieved my I-Ram from Buy.com yesterday, and it was the 1.3 revision. There isn't much of a difference between all those, but its nice to get the newest revision (probably).

Didn't do much testing yet, I don't have all my memory I was going to use in it yet. I tried the stuff from another system, and just tested stability with the I-Ram holding my windows swap file. No problems so far.

 

[EODetroit]

I've been testing all the 1G modules I can get my hands on.

So far with my 1.3rev I-Ram:

These sticks worked:

Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141308

A-DATA V-Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211023

And this didn't:

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Platinum System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210


Funny that my uber-low-latency-and-very-expensive-ram didn't work. Cheap stuff I borrowed from my workplace did work though. The A-Data is the cheapest 1G modules on Newegg too.

I recommend not using ram with heat spreaders. My OCZ stuff that didn't work was a very close fit, and may have ironically overheated due to the heat spreaders being jammed up against each other.

I have 4 sticks of some cheap GIEL stuff with heat spreaders that I'll test tonight.

 

[Jiggz]

EOD, so can you tell us any improvement in the system performance? Any positive or negative affect on performance? What is the most obvious improvement so far? Boot times, load times, program execution, etc?

 

[EODetroit]

Jiggz,

I haven't yet done any quantitative measurements. Qualitatively, things feel slightly faster, level loading times are improved by some small amount, but more importantly are the reduction in "jerks" when the framerate goes real low for a split second.

Here's what I've been using it for: World of Warcraft and the Windows swap file. If you're looking for database measurements or something "more useful", I'm going to dissappoint you.

I have two I-Rams in a raid 0 config for 8GB. Contrary to what I've read in some places, I actually get within a few MBs of the full 8GB of storage, next to nothing is wasted on overhead.

WoW uses a bit more than 5 GB of space. I use a 2GB swap file. The rest is free space. Every time I swap out memory modules to test new ones, or even unplug the SATA connector and plug it back in, the Raid breaks and I have to re-create it, which wipes out all the data. I just copy the whole World of Warcraft folder from its usual location on my C drive to the I-Ram raid drive each time. Takes a few minutes to copy over, then I run it from that.

If anyone wants to know if its "worth the money" for WoW... I'd say "no". The worst bottleneck seems to be the WoW servers themselves, as it turns out. Yeah things are smoother, but 99.9% of people are going to have something better to spend $900 on.

Moving on, last night I did test the Giel sticks I borrowed from work. They are:

GeIL Value 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144322

They failed after a little while. They worked initially, but eventually the I-Ram kept getting errors. Considering that these Geil sticks have heat spreaders just like the OCZ that failed does, I'd say the heat spreaders are causing the memory to overheat. This is because when you snap them in, the heatspreaders are pressing against each other; its a tight fit. Some memory with heat spreaders probably wouldn't fit at all.

 

[Lonyo]

I would buy a cheap second PC for that price.

 

[Googer]

The iRAM has been for sale on the net for more than a month or two now, glad to see that you are just catching on.

 

[EODetroit]

Until two weeks ago, they weren't actually available for sale at any reputable vendor.

Nice troll post though, wonder how many of your 5710 are similarly valuable contributions to these forums.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: EODetroit
Until two weeks ago, they weren't actually available for sale at any reputable vendor.

Nice troll post though, wonder how many of your 5710 are similarly valuable contributions to these forums.

I saw it back in February on a website. But since I do not have SATA, I did not bother placing my order.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: EODetroit
Nice troll post though, wonder how many of your 5710 are similarly valuable contributions to these forums.

wouldn't mind knowing that either lol

 

[Kaido]

I just use RamDiskXP from Cenatek. Makes a virtual drive out of your existing ram (nice if you have 2 gigs). I can see the use for this card, but I use a laptop as my main system, so I'm out of luck. Here's a link to Cenatek; they also makes ram drives like the Gigabyte model:

http://www.cenatek.com/

And a link to their RamDiskXP page:

http://www.cenatek.com/product_ramdisk.cfm

 

[Kaido]

If you do a lot of graphics/video/etc., would there be any point in populating one of these cards with 4gb ram and telling Windows to use it as a 4gb paging file?

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: EODetroit
Nice troll post though, wonder how many of your 5710 are similarly valuable contributions to these forums.

wouldn't mind knowing that either lol

That was a long time ago, I now have 5713.

 

[Tebor0]

Originally posted by: Googer

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: EODetroit
Nice troll post though, wonder how many of your 5710 are similarly valuable contributions to these forums.

wouldn't mind knowing that either lol

That was a long time ago, I now have 5713.

Bows before e-peen.. err.. post count.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: Tebor0

Originally posted by: Googer

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: EODetroit
Nice troll post though, wonder how many of your 5710 are similarly valuable contributions to these forums.

wouldn't mind knowing that either lol

That was a long time ago, I now have 5713.

Bows before e-peen.. err.. post count.

o my...i'm not sure but i think the sarcasm was overlooked

 

[GrammatonJP]

new relinked pics
IRam RAID
IRam RAID
IRam RAID
IRam RAID





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Old pics below

Since we're all having fun..

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram01.jpg - got 5, i got a few more on the way
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram02.jpg - raided & can't use that slot by sata connectors..
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram03.jpg - drive 1
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram04.jpg - drive 2
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram06.jpg - hd tach
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram07.jpg - 2 512 = 1gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram08.jpg - 2 1024 = 2 gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram09.jpg - 4 1024 = 4 gb - checking if memory size makes difference

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r01.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r02.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r03.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb

I ran it 3 times.. to me, its a toy.. a little boost for my video editing.. (porn) hahah

I might have some problem using it with my onboard sata (port blocking).. but i can switch out to my 3dware 8port sata...

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: GrammatonJP
Since we're all having fun..

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram01.jpg - got 5, i got a few more on the way
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram02.jpg - raided & can't use that slot by sata connectors..
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram03.jpg - drive 1
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram04.jpg - drive 2
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram06.jpg - hd tach
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram07.jpg - 2 512 = 1gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram08.jpg - 2 1024 = 2 gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram09.jpg - 4 1024 = 4 gb - checking if memory size makes difference

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r01.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r02.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r03.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb

haha awesome :thumbsup:

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: GrammatonJP
Since we're all having fun..

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram01.jpg - got 5, i got a few more on the way
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram02.jpg - raided & can't use that slot by sata connectors..
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram03.jpg - drive 1
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram04.jpg - drive 2
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram06.jpg - hd tach
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram07.jpg - 2 512 = 1gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram08.jpg - 2 1024 = 2 gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram09.jpg - 4 1024 = 4 gb - checking if memory size makes difference

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r01.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r02.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r03.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb

I ran it 3 times.. to me, its a toy.. a little boost for my video editing.. (porn) hahah

I might have some problem using it with my onboard sata (port blocking).. but i can switch out to my 3dware 8port sata...

I'd love to see it benchmarkd one a SAS or SATA controller with a nice I/O processor and see if the cards cache size makes a differance.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: Tebor0

Originally posted by: Googer

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: EODetroit
Nice troll post though, wonder how many of your 5710 are similarly valuable contributions to these forums.

wouldn't mind knowing that either lol

That was a long time ago, I now have 5713.

Bows before e-peen.. err.. post count.

o my...i'm not sure but i think the sarcasm was overlooked

I am being a smart alleck.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Googer

Originally posted by: GrammatonJP
Since we're all having fun..

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram01.jpg - got 5, i got a few more on the way
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram02.jpg - raided & can't use that slot by sata connectors..
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram03.jpg - drive 1
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram04.jpg - drive 2
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram06.jpg - hd tach
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram07.jpg - 2 512 = 1gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram08.jpg - 2 1024 = 2 gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram09.jpg - 4 1024 = 4 gb - checking if memory size makes difference

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r01.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r02.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r03.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb

I ran it 3 times.. to me, its a toy.. a little boost for my video editing.. (porn) hahah

I might have some problem using it with my onboard sata (port blocking).. but i can switch out to my 3dware 8port sata...

I'd love to see it benchmarkd one a SAS or SATA controller with a nice I/O processor and see if the cards cache size makes a differance.

Imagine how fast Photoshop CS or Half-Life 2 would run on that thing...

 

[Trevelyan]

Can't wait for some enthusiast site to put a real useful analysis of this thing and its practical uses...

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: GrammatonJP
Since we're all having fun..

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram01.jpg - got 5, i got a few more on the way
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram02.jpg - raided & can't use that slot by sata connectors..
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram03.jpg - drive 1
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram04.jpg - drive 2
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram06.jpg - hd tach
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram07.jpg - 2 512 = 1gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram08.jpg - 2 1024 = 2 gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram09.jpg - 4 1024 = 4 gb - checking if memory size makes difference

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r01.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r02.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r03.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb

I ran it 3 times.. to me, its a toy.. a little boost for my video editing.. (porn) hahah

I might have some problem using it with my onboard sata (port blocking).. but i can switch out to my 3dware 8port sata...

you have too much money.... send me some of those cards

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Trevelyan
Can't wait for some enthusiast site to put a real useful analysis of this thing and its practical uses...

Actually, I just found an article on Anandtech about it. I knew I had seen it before...

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2480&p=1

This would be a cool setup -

4gb i-ram for Windows boot disk
8gb (raid) i-ram for applications
4gb i-ram for paging file/scratch disk (like for Photoshop)
4gb/8gb i-ram for current files
Raptor 150 for other files/large files
Athlon X2/4gb ram/7800gtx or whatever gpu

Fast boot, fast application loading, fast file loading/saving in a fast system...sounds pretty nice, just need the cash almost makes me wish I didn't use a laptop as my main system. What happens when the i-ram's rechargable battery dies in a few years though?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: GrammatonJP
Since we're all having fun..

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram01.jpg - got 5, i got a few more on the way
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram02.jpg - raided & can't use that slot by sata connectors..
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram03.jpg - drive 1
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram04.jpg - drive 2
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram06.jpg - hd tach
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram07.jpg - 2 512 = 1gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram08.jpg - 2 1024 = 2 gb - checking if memory size makes difference
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram09.jpg - 4 1024 = 4 gb - checking if memory size makes difference

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r01.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r02.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/iram-r03.jpg - raid 0 of 1gb + 1gb

I ran it 3 times.. to me, its a toy.. a little boost for my video editing.. (porn) hahah

I might have some problem using it with my onboard sata (port blocking).. but i can switch out to my 3dware 8port sata...

you have too much money.... send me some of those cards

I think you mean "had"

 

[ProviaFan]

I think we need an updated model that takes 2GB DIMMs (not to mention also affordable 2GB DIMMs). Oh, screw it, let's just have affordable 32GB SSDs. I want something that I can install Windows plus applications on, darnit!

Still, it would be cool to see how Windows plus a few basic apps would run on an 8GB i-RAM RAID. :[/b]drool;

 

[greenmaji]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Trevelyan
Can't wait for some enthusiast site to put a real useful analysis of this thing and its practical uses...

Actually, I just found an article on Anandtech about it. I knew I had seen it before...

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2480&p=1

This would be a cool setup -

4gb i-ram for Windows boot disk
8gb (raid) i-ram for applications
4gb i-ram for paging file/scratch disk (like for Photoshop)
4gb/8gb i-ram for current files
Raptor 150 for other files/large files
Athlon X2/4gb ram/7800gtx or whatever gpu

Fast boot, fast application loading, fast file loading/saving in a fast system...sounds pretty nice, just need the cash almost makes me wish I didn't use a laptop as my main system. What happens when the i-ram's rechargable battery dies in a few years though?

the battery isnt going to be used unless the computer is unpluged, the 5V rail has idle power when your computer is powered down, thats why they put these things on the PCI bus its powered by the 5V rail.