Is there a difference between memory manufacturers?

[NXIL]

Dear Ninja,

no worries--sorry, thought I had done a decent job of finding what he was looking for, and giving reasonable options that should work out well for him.

I think we are lucky RAM is so inexpensive now--as you no doubt recall, it used to be ridiculous....

NXIL

 

[DarkRogue]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread (even though it's my own lol) but all the links were already here.
I just noticed Newegg had a kit of Corsair TWIN2X4069-6400C5DHX for only $10 more than the non-DHX version.
Is the DHX all that great? (Although if I up my spending on the memory it seems I might as well go for the Mushkin ones that supposedly use Micron ICs.)

I finally got around to trying to look up some info on the Micron stuff and boy did I get lost. But that's for another day lol, right now I want to see if DHX is worth anything.

 

[lopri]

I've got the G.Skill PC8000 set against my better judgment (too many DDR2 sticks..) but I am impressed by its characteristics as others say. In a brief testing on P5E-VM HDMI it was able to run 1000MHz/5-5-5-13 with just 1.8V. So satisfied that I didn't even bother overclocking it yet.

 

[robertk2012]

I have the same G.skill set and Im completely satisfied with my purchase.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: DarkRogue
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread (even though it's my own lol) but all the links were already here.
I just noticed Newegg had a kit of Corsair TWIN2X4069-6400C5DHX for only $10 more than the non-DHX version.
Is the DHX all that great? (Although if I up my spending on the memory it seems I might as well go for the Mushkin ones that supposedly use Micron ICs.)

I finally got around to trying to look up some info on the Micron stuff and boy did I get lost. But that's for another day lol, right now I want to see if DHX is worth anything.

DHX Technology Overview:
http://www.corsairmemory.com/products/xms2_dhx.aspx

At this point and since you are looking for 2gb modules/4gb kits I would not get too hung up on Micron. They make fantastic ICs in general and are the king of OCing in the 1gb module arena. However, this does not mean other ICs are bad. And, there are other 128mb ICs that are clocking MUCH better than anything Micron offers currently.

As L7 noted, if you are not planning on OCing well past PC6400 speeds, then a good solid PC6400 kit will do. If you do want to be guaranteed of performance and stability above that, I'd suggest something in a PC8500 speed grade.

 

[Yellowbeard]

As L7 noted, if you are not planning on OCing well past PC6400 speeds, then a good solid PC6400 kit will do. If you do want to be guaranteed of performance and stability above that, I'd suggest something in a PC8500 speed grade.

Ooops....my apologies. L7 is a rock n roll band. n7 is an Anandtech member that posts a lot of helpful info in the memory section.

 

[DarkRogue]

Yeah, some people on the Corsair forums said 2gb Micron modules didn't exist or something, so a 2x2GB Micron-based kit similarly doesn't exist.. which confuses me because some people here claimed the 2x2GB Mushkin kits were Micron.

In any case, I'm not incredibly hung up about Micron, it's just that for the past 8-9 years I've used Crucial/Micron memory and were familiar with them.

At this point I'm really just trying to find out of DHX is even worth it over the regular XMS2 heatsink AS WELL AS what voltages these two kits run at. The latter seems to be impossible to find a straight answer to as no one seems to want to answer or knows about it. I made another post asking about it here but it went ignored..

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: DarkRogue
Yeah, some people on the Corsair forums said 2gb Micron modules didn't exist or something, so a 2x2GB Micron-based kit similarly doesn't exist.. which confuses me because some people here claimed the 2x2GB Mushkin kits were Micron.

In any case, I'm not incredibly hung up about Micron, it's just that for the past 8-9 years I've used Crucial/Micron memory and were familiar with them.

At this point I'm really just trying to find out of DHX is even worth it over the regular XMS2 heatsink AS WELL AS what voltages these two kits run at. The latter seems to be impossible to find a straight answer to as no one seems to want to answer or knows about it. I made another post asking about it here but it went ignored..

Well there is light at the end of the tunnel...

But it comes at a premium price.

4GB kit (2GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 memory module


Crucial finally woke-up !!

Not sure what IC's they are Fabbing.

 

[DarkRogue]

I'm not sure what ICs that uses either, but they (Corsair forum people) say that Crucial probably uses other IC's for their 2x2GB kits.
They claim that while Crucial is a Micron subsidiary, they're not bound to using only Micron IC's, which sort of makes sense.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: DarkRogue
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread (even though it's my own lol) but all the links were already here.
I just noticed Newegg had a kit of Corsair TWIN2X4069-6400C5DHX for only $10 more than the non-DHX version.
Is the DHX all that great? (Although if I up my spending on the memory it seems I might as well go for the Mushkin ones that supposedly use Micron ICs.)

I finally got around to trying to look up some info on the Micron stuff and boy did I get lost. But that's for another day lol, right now I want to see if DHX is worth anything.

Here is the link to our website that will give you the voltages, timings, etc from any kit we make under the PRODUCTS tab:

http://www.corsairmemory.com/

The 4096 kit of C5 DHX runs at 1.8v.

 

[Yellowbeard]

[

4GB kit (2GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 memory module


Crucial finally woke-up !!

Not sure what IC's they are Fabbing.

Hmmmm....me neither. The info on the link indicates a 256mb IC which I am not familiar with. This means a single sided module for whatever that is worth. It's also a bit odd that it is rated at 2.2v at 400mhz. I have not seen an IC yet with these characteristics but, I don't get to play with our raw ICs anyway.

 

[DarkRogue]

Thanks, that was one of the first places I checked, which brought up a discrepancy.

The TWIN2X4096-6400 C5 (non DHX) 2x2GB kit's Corsair spec sheet states it runs at 1.9v.
However, Newegg's stats as well as many users say it's 1.8v with some saying a slight voltage bump is recommended, and this confuses me. Which is it?

I was thinking of getting the DHX if it truly ran at 1.8v if the non-DHX did not, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. It's more expensive, and I have no experience in messing with memory voltages so I don't know if it's better to leave memory running at 1.8v or if upping it to 1.9v is fine or not.

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard

[

4GB kit (2GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 memory module


Crucial finally woke-up !!

Not sure what IC's they are Fabbing.

Hmmmm....me neither. The info on the link indicates a 256mb IC which I am not familiar with. This means a single sided module for whatever that is worth. It's also a bit odd that it is rated at 2.2v at 400mhz. I have not seen an IC yet with these characteristics but, I don't get to play with our raw ICs anyway.

I'll try to ask a friend of mine what they are Fabbing...... Should know tommorow.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Mr. Fox, I'm very curious about that info and/or the IC. I suspect a typo but, you never know. Please let me know what you find out.

DarkRogue, our specifications at the Corsair site are the tested settings, 1.9v.

http://www.corsair.com/_datash.../TWIN2X4096-6400C5.pdf

It is entirely possible that some users are able to run these modules at 1.8v. However, 1.9v is a tiny adjustment and is not dangerous to the memory or your system. But, I personally like the DHX better and I believe it is worth $10 difference. But, it's up to you.

 

[DarkRogue]

Thanks for finally clearing that up Yellowbeard. All I've done previously was plug the memory into my mobo and let it run, I assume it either autoassigned 1.8v to it, or it auto-detected what voltage it required. I was just unsure if 1.9v would be bad or not. Why would you recommend the DHX though? All I can tell is that it has a bigger/more efficient heatsink, but does ram produce that much heat to begin with?

I'm also concerned about it not fitting with a Scythe Ninja CPU heatsink with the fan mounted on the memory side.

 

[gingerstewart55]

Just my opinion here......having had most of the RAM already mentioned in this thread.

My machine had the DHX 2 x 1GB kit, CAS 4. It was quite nice memory and OC'd well......but the upgrade bug bit once again and I was offered enough for the DHX set to make selling them attractive. While I had them, I did push them quite hard.....and they never let me down. Had an Antec Spot Cool fan blowing across them.

I moved to the 2 x 2GB G. Skill kit that's been linked earlier in the thread. It was alright but unimpressive in its OC'ing ability. Maybe I got a poor set. Then 3 weeks into ownership one stick died. Returned that set and bought this set:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146755

That Mushkin OC's like a champ, very nice RAM. But I got mine when the price hit what is showing plus was had a $30 rebate. OC'ing it right now at 1.94V.

My "small" machine has 4 x 1GB Ballistix DDR2-800 RAM in it. OC's well....runs nicely with no huge increases in voltages.

I have used Kingston in years past......HyperX mostly. But, in all the RAM I've owned over the many years I've built and UG'd computers, Kingston is the only brand that I had consistent failures with....invariably one stick of a set would puke and die in a few months. Maybe it was just a bad 6-8 month stretch for Kingston at the time, but I'll never use that brand ever again. Just a personal thing......cannot speak for everyone, just my own personal experience. But with four sets dying on two different motherboard/cpu setups in less than a year, and never overvolted much at all, I'll stick with brands I trust.

Brands like Corsair, Mushkin, Crucial......although some stories lately about Crucial's Ballistix failures are becoming too frequent......and makes me wary about the sets I have in my little rig.

Someone mentioned the fast RMA from Mushkin and their nice CSR's, etc. I cannot speak about Mushkin and their returns, but I can about Corsair. I haven't had to RMA any Corsair RAM, but did have an issue with Corsair's Nautilus watercooling system. CSR for Corsair was very helpful and I got the replacement part in just a few days.....with a nice note inside. Cannot ask for any better customer service than that.......and they didn't want the old, messed up part back first. Puts Corsair up there in my book.

 

[nerp]

2x2GB G.Skill DDR2-800 here and they've been flawless. Very happy. 1.8v.