OCZ DDR 500 VX Gold 2 x 512 mb $189 + $25 rebate from Monarch

cyburzaki

Senior member
Jan 18, 2005
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this is great! I got Monarch's email this afternoon, and when I saw their final price on this gig of PC4000 Gold VX, I couln't constrain myself, and finally splurged. I've been watching Newegg's price, and it got down to around $179, but then started back up. It went up again today, and is now at $194 shipped. In fact, it appears the nine month slide in memory prices has finally hit bottom, and with demand rising and supplies tightening, a lot of resellers have started to raise prices again.

To verify this perception, I just went to DRAMeXchange (dramexchange.com) to check out price forecasts and their market summation, and found this:

  • DDR 256Mb 32Mx8 spot price continually trend up toward $3.0

    By Joyce Yang

    DRAM mainstream chip, DDR 256Mb 32Mbx8 400MHz has continually traded up 3% from $2.64 to $2.72 from July 12 to July 19. During the same period, eTT(UTT) chips have shown stronger uptrend momentum as the major eTT supplier still has not released any to its major customers and distributors in the spot market last week. 256Mb 32Mbx8 eTT chip was up 4.8% from $2.49 to $2.61. .... the pricing trend of eTT chips can be a leading indicator of DRAM spot prices.

    We forecast DDR 256Mb 32Mbx8 average spot price to go up continually and reach $2.80 soon next week or so.
Meanwhile, DDR2 prices have continued to drop. And of course, a couple of week's rise in DDR prices doesn't necessarily mean the up-trend will continue. Maybe this Fall will bring even lower prices, who knows.

But I decided to jump on this Gold VX now, as $164 shipped for a gig seems hard to beat. It wasn't that long ago that I was seriously contemplating spending $190 on the PC3200 version of this stuff--and that seemed like a terrific deal then. btw, Newegg has still got a good deal on the PC3200: $136.58 shipped after a $15 rebate (Monarch is strangely at $166 shipped for the PC3200).

Then again, probably a better deal than any of the above, in terms of bang for the buck, is OCZ Value VX (OCZ4001024WV3DC-K), which is still $109.08 delivered at Newegg. Great stuff, sometimes as good as the Gold VX, although it admits to more performance variations than the Gold VX sticks--and you don't get the ironclad OCZ high-voltage warranty.

 

ir0nw0lf

Senior member
Jul 11, 2001
409
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Might want to change title to reflect that this is not a 1x1GB but 2x512MB, else a bunch of angry AT'ers gonna chomp yer head off. :)
 

DanDaMan315

Golden Member
Oct 25, 2004
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Originally posted by: ir0nw0lf
Might want to change title to reflect that this is not a 1x1GB but 2x512MB, else a bunch of angry AT'ers gonna chomp yer head off. :)

But knowledgable ATers will know that these modules don't come in a 1x1gb variety.
 

lytalbayre

Senior member
Apr 28, 2005
842
2
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I just sold a pair for $145 shipped. Ran 2-2-2-6 1T at 250mhz at 3.2v.

Whatever this stuff is, it's spec'd to run at 2-2-2 timings at 250mhz with around 3.3v YOU CAN"T BEAT THAT!!
 

revlimit

Junior Member
Mar 31, 2005
8
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So I guess this doen't work well unless you have a board that support higher voltage. I was planning on getting this with an A8n-SLI premium.
 

chinkgai

Diamond Member
Apr 4, 2001
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Originally posted by: DLeRium
2-2-2-6 @ 250 at 3.2?? uhh I thought you needed aroudn 3.4 or 3.5 to get there

You need about 3.6 to get to 265 though.

:roll:

thats a bit general

i have a pair that will do 255 @ 3.2v on a socket 754 and 262 @ 3.4v on the same cpu/mobo. this same pair on my venice only does 260 @ 3.4v =(

i also had a pair of value vx that did 250 @ 3.4v

i also been through four sticks of mushkin with the same chips (not redline) that varied wildly since they were untested

i also tried the twinmos speed premiums that have the same chips too, i forgot what those did...i think 254 @ 3.5v

conclusion: these sticks vary pretty much like overclocking cpus, which is luck of the draw.
 

cyburzaki

Senior member
Jan 18, 2005
500
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86
Originally posted by: c-h-i-n-k-gai
no, these are not bh-5....they are the utt (ch-5)
Hey, I just discovered your user name is a "censored word"--I couldn't post without hypenating the first five letters.

But back to the topic at hand: I thought I'd read BH-5, but maybe that was for the straight Gold sticks, not the Gold VX. So if they are marketed as untested CH-5, then it is OCZ doing the one and only binning. I recall reading somewhere that the chips on their PC3200 Gold VX sticks are actually culled to do 2-2-2 at 240MHz, or at only 10MHz less than the PC4000. Anyone know anything about this?
 

chinkgai

Diamond Member
Apr 4, 2001
3,904
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71
yeah i found that out too when i tried to post a link that contained my name in it :frown:

check www.xtremesystems.org/forums

go to their xtreme bandwidth section. you'll find a ton of info there


edit: yes the gold is bh-5 while the gold vx is not
 
Feb 19, 2001
20,155
23
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Originally posted by: c-hinkgai
Originally posted by: DLeRium
2-2-2-6 @ 250 at 3.2?? uhh I thought you needed aroudn 3.4 or 3.5 to get there

You need about 3.6 to get to 265 though.

:roll:

thats a bit general

i have a pair that will do 255 @ 3.2v on a socket 754 and 262 @ 3.4v on the same cpu/mobo. this same pair on my venice only does 260 @ 3.4v =(

i also had a pair of value vx that did 250 @ 3.4v

i also been through four sticks of mushkin with the same chips (not redline) that varied wildly since they were untested

i also tried the twinmos speed premiums that have the same chips too, i forgot what those did...i think 254 @ 3.5v

conclusion: these sticks vary pretty much like overclocking cpus, which is luck of the draw.

 

cyburzaki

Senior member
Jan 18, 2005
500
0
86
did anybody who bought this memory get their rebate--or check on its status? I sent mine in on 7/28. The form said allow 10-12 weeks. But I inquired via the rebatestatus.com web input form around a week ago, and finally got a response today. It was just about the rudest blow-off from a rebate house I've ever gotten:

  • Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding the status of your rebate. Our records indicate that this promotion has expired. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to assist you further with an expired promotion.
Not a single wit of explanation, or an offer to investigate. All they did was wash their hands of the matter, and give me an email address at OCZ, just in case I wanted to pursue the matter further (as if to say, why bother?). Right. I will be bothering all three of them--Continental Promotion Group, Monarch and OCZ--mucho in the coming days....

UPDATE: just talked to Mia Song, the marketing manager at OCZ, after copying to her the idiotic responses I was getting from CPG (my second request got the same canned notice of refusal to do anything). What a blessed relief it was talking to Mia. She was very friendly and very willing to help. She assured me she would be ordering CPG to pay up on the rebate--and five minutes later I received a copy of her emailed order to that effect. :)