P4P800 and Memory Decsisions

[Dahak]

Well ive got a nice shinny P4P800 board sitting here, now all i need go get is the 2.4c processor and memory. I basically have 3 choices that ive narrowed down too for a total of 1GB.

From most expensive to the least

1) Corsair XMS TWINX1024-3200LL here

2) Crucial's 512MBx2 PC3200 Here
or
3) Samsung 512MBx2 PC3200 OEM

Basically, im at the very limit of my budget as it is and I am looking at getting the Samsung memory at the moment becasue it will only cost me about 220 cnd dollars (will have to double check the prices of the others, but i do know that the Corsair is significantly more, reseller pricing) from work. And from what ive been able to gather from the Offical Post for the P4P800 is that there are some issues with the Corsair memory. Not really planning any major overclocking but would like to give it a try. I will be using Asus's HyperPath option to on this board.

 

[wicktron]

Some original Samsung or Crucial would be your best bet if you are not overclocking any. The Corsair modules are built for overclocking.

 

[LastRide]

Get the OCZ PC3700 "GOLD".Right now only the 256MB dual kits are available.The dual channel 512MB kits should be not far off.If you can afford the 2.6C or 2.8C that is the better route to go.I have a 2.4C also and my P4P800 tops out at 280FSB.My ccpu will go higher but the ram or my board is holding me back.I have some OCZ 3700 Gold coming tomorrow and see if I can get higher.If not,the board is holding me back.The higher multiplier on the 2.6C and up is better and will give you a better chance of running 1:1 with MAM enabled.At 280FSB thats 560DDR and even the GOLD won't do that at 1:1.I would have to run a lower FSB.You can run 5:4 or 3:2 and under clock the memory.That is what I am doing now,but MAM is not supported for these 2 ratios.

 

[perfectofc]

I'm having the same dilemma - I don't care about not being able to overclock the board, but I do care about stability. What I want to do is grab a pair of OEM Samsung DDR400 (256mb) and run them dual-channel. Has anyone done this and had any success? I'm being told by the guys at the shop that "Dual channel is not a stable technology" and "there is no way to test out dual channel if they run stable or not". Is this true?

 

[Digitl]

Originally posted by: perfectofc
I'm having the same dilemma - I don't care about not being able to overclock the board, but I do care about stability. What I want to do is grab a pair of OEM Samsung DDR400 (256mb) and run them dual-channel. Has anyone done this and had any success? I'm being told by the guys at the shop that "Dual channel is not a stable technology" and "there is no way to test out dual channel if they run stable or not". Is this true?

That is absolutely false info the guys at the shop are feeding you. DDR is extremely stable if run in a good DDR motherboard, which the P4P800 is. To run single stage memory in a DDR board is a waste of money and resources. You'll do fine with the Kingston DDR 400 and Asus even validates certain Kingston modules on their web site. Without overclocking you will have a very stable board that will serve you well for a long time to come. Also, you can test DDR with a number of tests that are free to download and use. There is Memtest86, Goldmem, and Docmem just to name a few. And that's REAL shop talk!!

Digitl

 

[perfectofc]

DDR is extremely stable if run in a good DDR motherboard, which the P4P800 is.

Thanks digitl - I had a feeling it was a load of crap and I just wanted to hear someone else say it. I'm making sure they test that it works before it leaves the shop.

Thanks again.

 

[Digitl]

Originally posted by: Dahak
Well ive got a nice shinny P4P800 board sitting here, now all i need go get is the 2.4c processor and memory. I basically have 3 choices that ive narrowed down too for a total of 1GB.

From most expensive to the least

1) Corsair XMS TWINX1024-3200LL here

2) Crucial's 512MBx2 PC3200 Here
or
3) Samsung 512MBx2 PC3200 OEM

Basically, im at the very limit of my budget as it is and I am looking at getting the Samsung memory at the moment becasue it will only cost me about 220 cnd dollars (will have to double check the prices of the others, but i do know that the Corsair is significantly more, reseller pricing) from work. And from what ive been able to gather from the Offical Post for the P4P800 is that there are some issues with the Corsair memory. Not really planning any major overclocking but would like to give it a try. I will be using Asus's HyperPath option to on this board.

I would stay away from the Corsair 3200LL memory. Canterwood and Springdales are NOT big fans of Corsair LL or ANY Low Latency memory modules. Actually Corsair 3500XMS would be a good choice or the OCZ Gold that LastRide mentioned. That is undoubtably the best memory out there right now for these boards. I can get 500Mhz out of them. I bought two more sticks the stuff is so great. I also own the Corsair 3500 and that is no sloutch either. This is a 400Mhz board you know that 3200 is just that---400Mhz. 3500 (433Mhz) or 3700 (466Mhz) will give you plenty of room if you are going to OC the board. Your limiting yourself with 3200. The 333Mhz boards were using that! Capice`? Clock On...

Digitl

 

[Digitl]

Stay away from Geil right now. There are some real issues with it at the moment.

Digitl

 

[Digitl]

You're absolutely welcome perfectofc!

Digitl

 

[Corporate Thug]

three letters: XMS

 

[First]

If you're not overclocking I highly suggest two 256MB CAS3 DDR400 memory modules from Crucial. Getting anything else would be pointless for what you're doing with your system, which is why 1GB of combined RAM is also a waste of money.

 

[gramboh]

I am running the Corsair TwinX512 3200LL (going to exchange for a gig I think) at 2-2-2-5 @ 400 DDR right now. However I needed to bump up to 2.75v to do it (as per Corsair's tech support forums suggestion). The new 1007 bios on the P4P800 allows a bit tighter timings. I believe the TwinX 3200LL and XMS 3500 C2 are actually the same RAM chips but with their SPD programmed differently (2-3-3-7 for DDR 434 on the 3500 and 2-2-2-5 for DDR 400 on the 3200). Winbond CH5 or whatever the chip is called.

 

[First]

Originally posted by: gramboh
I am running the Corsair TwinX512 3200LL (going to exchange for a gig I think) at 2-2-2-5 @ 400 DDR right now. However I needed to bump up to 2.75v to do it (as per Corsair's tech support forums suggestion). The new 1007 bios on the P4P800 allows a bit tighter timings. I believe the TwinX 3200LL and XMS 3500 C2 are actually the same RAM chips but with their SPD programmed differently (2-3-3-7 for DDR 434 on the 3500 and 2-2-2-5 for DDR 400 on the 3200). Winbond CH5 or whatever the chip is called.

Is that 512MB or 256MB capacity?

 

[motojeff]

Originally posted by: LastRide
Get the OCZ PC3700 "GOLD".Right now only the 256MB dual kits are available.The dual channel 512MB kits should be not far off.If you can afford the 2.6C or 2.8C that is the better route to go.I have a 2.4C also and my P4P800 tops out at 280FSB.My ccpu will go higher but the ram or my board is holding me back.I have some OCZ 3700 Gold coming tomorrow and see if I can get higher.If not,the board is holding me back.The higher multiplier on the 2.6C and up is better and will give you a better chance of running 1:1 with MAM enabled.At 280FSB thats 560DDR and even the GOLD won't do that at 1:1.I would have to run a lower FSB.You can run 4:5 or 3:2 and under clock the memory.That is what I am doing now,but MAM is not supported for these 2 ratios.

Great advice LastRide. Always enjoy reading your posts. Have you ever seen a performance comparison
for an overclocked p4c running 1:1 memory vs. running it at faster at FSB 4:5? I am curious which one is better
since you get to turn MAM (another name for PAT, right?) on if you run 1:1. Wonder if Evan will be posting
that info on Friday... This will affect how much money I spend on ram, as running 4:5 I can get away with
cheaper ram probably...

I assume you put a fan on the northbridge heatsink?

Thanks!

 

[ChefJoe]

Originally posted by: Evan Lieb

Originally posted by: gramboh
I am running the Corsair TwinX512 3200LL (going to exchange for a gig I think) at 2-2-2-5 @ 400 DDR right now. However I needed to bump up to 2.75v to do it (as per Corsair's tech support forums suggestion). The new 1007 bios on the P4P800 allows a bit tighter timings. I believe the TwinX 3200LL and XMS 3500 C2 are actually the same RAM chips but with their SPD programmed differently (2-3-3-7 for DDR 434 on the 3500 and 2-2-2-5 for DDR 400 on the 3200). Winbond CH5 or whatever the chip is called.

Is that 512MB or 256MB capacity?

The TwinX512 kit is 2X256.

 

[gramboh]

Yes to clarify, it's 2 x 256 meg DIMMs. I ran memtest86 all day at 2-2-2-5 timings (DDR 400) and it received 1 error in 26 tests, going to try to repeat that tommorow. I am still planning on swapping up to a 1024 TwinX 3200LL (2 x 512) tommorow.

 

[First]

Originally posted by: gramboh
Yes to clarify, it's 2 x 256 meg DIMMs. I ran memtest86 all day at 2-2-2-5 timings (DDR 400) and it received 1 error in 26 tests, going to try to repeat that tommorow. I am still planning on swapping up to a 1024 TwinX 3200LL (2 x 512) tommorow.

Very very interesting. I guess there was something to my theory that CAS 2-2-2-5 works consistently well on 256MB capacity but is flaky/inconsistent at 512MB. Definitely going to test this scenario thoroughly, thanks for the info...

 

[LegionX]

i use samsung 333 atm on this board and it is running solid, not sure if i am running in dual channel or not though - posted a question on the asus p4p800 thread and no answers yet.

anyway if your not going to over clock and samsung is the best deal then go for it.

 

[LastRide]

motojeff,I tried to PM you 3 times but you have PM's disabled so I'll reply here.First I want to say I received my OCZ PC3700 Gold and this is kick @ss ram.I made it too 510 DDR so far on 2.75Vdimm.I later realized one stick was dead.Everything read only 256MB of ram.CPUZ shows which slots you have the ram installed in.The slot that showed empty was the culprit module that didn't work after testing it.Waiting to get the replacement stick from RMA.The OCZ Gold is meant to run "high FSB" and "not" for tight timings,though you can get some pretty good timings out of it.I was able to reach 292 FSB with this ram.I had to back it down to 285 FSB since 292 was a little high for the chipset and this is at default vcore.All along as I suspected my other 2 OCZ ram I have PC3500 and 3700 were holding me back.I bought this ram OCZ Gold because I was limited with my other stuff and this memory helped me get the most I could out of my system.The ram pushed me to the limit of my FSB range for the P4P800.This mobo is very picky with ram so do your research.Even if you only get say 250 FSB out of your CPU thats DDR 500 at 1:1 ratio and you can enable PAT or MAM cause it only works at 1:1 and the OCZ Gold will get you 500DDR.I'm sure other ram will be fine depending on your FSB range and the CPU your using.

motojeff,Here is a link to a debate about about memory ratios that might help you better understand performance differences. Memory Ratio Debate

Originally posted by: motojeff

Originally posted by: LastRide
Get the OCZ PC3700 "GOLD".Right now only the 256MB dual kits are available.The dual channel 512MB kits should be not far off.If you can afford the 2.6C or 2.8C that is the better route to go.I have a 2.4C also and my P4P800 tops out at 280FSB.My ccpu will go higher but the ram or my board is holding me back.I have some OCZ 3700 Gold coming tomorrow and see if I can get higher.If not,the board is holding me back.The higher multiplier on the 2.6C and up is better and will give you a better chance of running 1:1 with MAM enabled.At 280FSB thats 560DDR and even the GOLD won't do that at 1:1.I would have to run a lower FSB.You can run 4:5 or 3:2 and under clock the memory.That is what I am doing now,but MAM is not supported for these 2 ratios.

Great advice LastRide. Always enjoy reading your posts. Have you ever seen a performance comparison
for an overclocked p4c running 1:1 memory vs. running it at faster at FSB 4:5? I am curious which one is better
since you get to turn MAM (another name for PAT, right?) on if you run 1:1. Wonder if Evan will be posting
that info on Friday... This will affect how much money I spend on ram, as running 4:5 I can get away with
cheaper ram probably...

I assume you put a fan on the northbridge heatsink?

Thanks!

 

[motojeff]

thanks LastRide. Will remedy that problem right now. Thanks for the info!

 

[Digitl]

LastRide,
Whats up?! Didnt I just see you at ABX? Hoppin around like me?
You ain't kiddin about the OCZ GOLD. That Stuff IS Gold!!! I got me 4 sticks. I was testing the Corsair XMS3500 and it crapped out at just over 225/450 at 1:1. (Only way to fly...) So I put 2 sticks of the GOLD in and it picked up where the Corsair left off! HOWS THAT RAMGUY??!!
I'm just up to 240 right now and writing this. Stable as a a rock.
Two words for the right memory for this board........

OCZ GOLD!!

Digitl (dbacso)

 

[cmdrdredd]

i'd personally stay away from OCZ memory...Kensington HyperX seems good, and with the Corsair what Vdimm did you run? I assume 2.75

 

[Digitl]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
i'd personally stay away from OCZ memory...Kensington HyperX seems good, and with the Corsair what Vdimm did you run? I assume 2.75

Then personally stay away from it....But I own a little bit of alot of different Brands of Memory and there is NOTHING that can touch OCZ GOLD at the moment.

Digitl

 

[perfectofc]

Just to follow up from my own message - I bought the P4P800 and two OEM Samsung DDR400... they run in dual-channel like a charm. This board _flies_.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[cmdrdredd]

OCZ has had some shall we say...bad buisness practices in the past. Selling PC2100 as PC2700 if I remember correctly.

Anyway the issue seems to be with the timings. I ran 2-2-2-6 and it froze before post with my XMS3200, but 2.5-3-3-6 works fine up to 430Mhz.

Maybe OCZ has changed for the better after the problems I remember. I'd like to think that any memory you buy should be running fine at the rated speed without issue no matter the branding.