UPDATE - Just ordered 2x 256MB Mushkin PC3500 Level II BH-5 sticks...

[Richdog]

I'm in the market for some new memory and have been for the last month, but I just can't seem to decide what to get. I know Corsair, Mushkin and OCZ all produce top-quality, superfast RAM but even numerous Google searches have failed to give me a clear indication of which is best.

What I want to know is, which brand and model of memory will give me the highest FSB with the tightest timings on my ABIT NF7-S 2.0. As all of the aforementioned memory makers are top quality, i'm not interested in where your loyalties lie I just want the hard facts. Which are the best of the best? I'm talking a RELIABLE 220Mhz FSB @ tight-ass timings.

I have a 1800+ DLT3C and seem to have hit a wall at 11*200 and as the multiplier won't increase even a notch above that no matter what voltage I stick into it i'm looking to get some headway using the FSB. My current RAM in sig only manages 200Mhz @ 7-3-3-CL2.5 and my Mushkin is the biggest handicap, as my Corsair PC3200 is rated at CL2. However I want to get rid of both. SUGGESTIONS PLEASE !!!!

Thanks.

Richdog :beer:

 

[boyRacer]

Mushkin

2-2-2-6 on nForce2

 

[Richdog]

Hmm thanks that looks tasty, reckon it will get to 220-225Mhz+ @ CL2?

Any other suggestions? User experience appreciated!

 

[boyRacer]

Thats a bit too much for me... ...$200 for one stick is too rich for my blood. Well its rated at tight timings for 433... so i don't know if it'll do the same at 220... but hey BH5s chips love voltage.

My brother just got 2 512MB HyperX PC4000 from Frys for $109 AR each... not bad eh?

 

[Richdog]

Right I managed to find a UK retailer and have just ordered 2x 256MB Mushkin PC3500 Level II BH-5, YAY!

Anyone had any user-experience with these chips and how they perform? :beer:

 

[joe2004]

I have a matched pair of 512 sticks. This is a great memory though it is not any better than say Buffalo 3700, in fact Buffalo gives me about 4 MHz more in Intel board. I payed for this one gigabyte of Mushkin about $50 more than for Buffalo+Kingston that are not "matched" but run exactly as they are.
So my opinion is ... don't waste money on Mushkin if you can get Kingston or Buffalo with BH-5.

And don't believe evaluations on the sites like this one since these people are getting the sticks directly from the dealer and these sticks are chosen, not the sticks you would get when you buy.

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: joe2004
And don't believe evaluations on the sites like this one since these people are getting the sticks directly from the dealer and these sticks are chosen, not the sticks you would get when you buy.

HUH?

 

[BaboonGuy]

Originally posted by: Jumpem

Originally posted by: joe2004
And don't believe evaluations on the sites like this one since these people are getting the sticks directly from the dealer and these sticks are chosen, not the sticks you would get when you buy.

HUH?

companies send reviewers the top notch, cream of the crop of a certain product. some companies do this and then their average retail version does not hold up nearly as well as the test sample.

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: BaboonGuy

Originally posted by: Jumpem

Originally posted by: joe2004
And don't believe evaluations on the sites like this one since these people are getting the sticks directly from the dealer and these sticks are chosen, not the sticks you would get when you buy.

HUH?

companies send reviewers the top notch, cream of the crop of a certain product. some companies do this and then their average retail version does not hold up nearly as well as the test sample.

Yeah, for some reason I thought he was refering to the average AT user.

 

[joe2004]

Yeah, for some reason I thought he was refering to the average AT user.

Nope, I was refering to AT reviews. Mushkin, OCZ, and Corsair are known for sending chosen sticks for reviews. The best memory I have is by Geil, Kingston Value Ram, and by Buffalo. I have Corsair and Mushkin with BH-5 as well but I don't see it any better than Kingston or Buffalo with BH-5. Geil is something special but only for Intel boards.

 

[chizow]

Just tested 2 x 512MB Buffalo "PC3700" BH-5 sticks for my bro and I gotta say, I was unimpressed. Actually, the stuff he got was flat out junk. It ended up killing his old A7N8X-DLX rev 1.4, so he brought his sticks over to my place to test on my rev 2.0. In any case, it didn't want to do 200MHz FSB, much less its advertised 233MHz FSB. The funniest thing is that the SPD settings at 200MHz defaulted to something ridiculous like cas 3-4-4-9. Popped my TwinX PC3200LL just to make sure it wasn't the 1007 BIOS I just installed and np, cas 2-2-2-6 at 200MHz. I haven't had to clear my CMOS so many times since I was trying to get 200MHz with some Sammy PC2700. Anyways, he's getting a new mobo, probably the GA-400N so I told him to hang onto it and see if his Buffalo does any better. He's also got 2 x 512MB sticks of Muskin PC3500 L2 coming in, so the Buffalo are probably going back no matter what. Really frustrating RAM....made me appreciate my TwinX that much more.

Chiz

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: chizow
Just tested 2 x 512MB Buffalo "PC3700" BH-5 sticks for my bro and I gotta say, I was unimpressed. Actually, the stuff he got was flat out junk. It ended up killing his old A7N8X-DLX rev 1.4, so he brought his sticks over to my place to test on my rev 2.0. In any case, it didn't want to do 200MHz FSB, much less its advertised 233MHz FSB. The funniest thing is that the SPD settings at 200MHz defaulted to something ridiculous like cas 3-4-4-9. Popped my TwinX PC3200LL just to make sure it wasn't the 1007 BIOS I just installed and np, cas 2-2-2-6 at 200MHz. I haven't had to clear my CMOS so many times since I was trying to get 200MHz with some Sammy PC2700. Anyways, he's getting a new mobo, probably the GA-400N so I told him to hang onto it and see if his Buffalo does any better. He's also got 2 x 512MB sticks of Muskin PC3500 L2 coming in, so the Buffalo are probably going back no matter what. Really frustrating RAM....made me appreciate my TwinX that much more.

Chiz

lol... whered you get it? funny enough... i got two of the same sticks that would not do 200. it would do 166 just fine with tight timings but anything else above that was just bad. i RMAd mine.

 

[chizow]

He got 'em from Newegg about a week ago. Oddly enough, the only time it posted at 200MHz FSB was when the mem ratio defaulted to 166MHz. Set mem ratio to 100% and sure enough, time to reset the CMOS again. Might be a bad batch, but he's got a legitimate reason to RMA (since they won't do anywhere close to their rated speed/timings) and Newegg is great with RMAs. That whole experience just reinforced my opinion that you shouldn't skimp on RAM...just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Chiz

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: chizow
He got 'em from Newegg about a week ago. Oddly enough, the only time it posted at 200MHz FSB was when the mem ratio defaulted to 166MHz. Set mem ratio to 100% and sure enough, time to reset the CMOS again. Might be a bad batch, but he's got a legitimate reason to RMA (since they won't do anywhere close to their rated speed/timings) and Newegg is great with RMAs. That whole experience just reinforced my opinion that you shouldn't skimp on RAM...just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Chiz

Yeah I got mine from newegg too... i think it was a bad batch as well. Too many success stories out there with this ram... Newegg fixed my order though... :beer:

 

[joe2004]

IMO 90% of the time the problem with BH-5 chips is in a setup, not in sticks. You need to know the tricks with timings. I have not seen BH-5 yet that would not run at least 430 MHz with tight timings. Perhaps I am lucky. I am talking about Kingston Value Ram, HyperX, Corsair LL, Mushkin Level 2, Buffalo, I have them all and they all do at least 215 FSB.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i own 2x 512mb level II and am very happy with them
i've run them up to 230 @ 2-2-2-6 no problem (higher voltages)
neither of the two systems i've had it in have been able to max it out yet (edit till now)


good stuff

 

[Richdog]

I've heard plenty of good feedback about the Mushkin BH-5's, people with user-experience and not just reviews obviously. I guess as someone said, people get the odd bad stick, or experience a conflicting hardware config, Fits the old adage that people with problems talk louder than those with none.:beer:

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: joe2004
IMO 90% of the time the problem with BH-5 chips is in a setup, not in sticks. You need to know the tricks with timings. I have not seen BH-5 yet that would not run at least 430 MHz with tight timings. Perhaps I am lucky. I am talking about Kingston Value Ram, HyperX, Corsair LL, Mushkin Level 2, Buffalo, I have them all and they all do at least 215 FSB.

I don't think timing was the problem with mine... the PC3700 would not run at 400 with 2.5-3-3-7... let alone 3-4-4-8 even at 2.9v-3.0v... it would do 333 at 2-2-2-5 just fine though. if you read threads @ overclockers.com and the reviews at newegg.com about the buffalo pc3700s BH5s... theres also people that got bad batches... because their replacement sticks work just fine 220 and beyond with tight timings.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I read a review where they discovered Buffalo PC3700 was crap. They ran it on an IC7-G (my board) and they couldn't get it to run at anything above like 210 or 220 FSB 1:1 at ANY timings (and they tried a bunch of settings).

 

[joe2004]

I read a review where they discovered Buffalo PC3700 was crap. They ran it on an IC7-G (my board) and they couldn't get it to run at anything above like 210 or 220 FSB 1:1 at ANY timings (and they tried a bunch of settings).

I have it running at 275:220 using IS7 with Turbo and 2-3-2-6. The funny thing I have only one 512 MB stick so I use Kingston to pair it with, both Winbond BH-5. They get to close to 6,000 on Sandra. I got Mushkin L2 3500 on the same board to 273 at 5:4. So Mushkin is worse in my case though that is awesome memory as well.

This is all passing Prime95, Memtest86, and runs all the benches flawlessly.

There is a little trick to know about that. Apparently there are some reviewers that should not be doing the reviews. I'll buy Buffalo memory whoever wants to sell for discount price. I think PC3700 by Buffalo is the best memory on market for tight timings or at least not any worse than Mushkin L2 or Corsair LL.

 

[PCboy]

^

 

[Soulkeeper]

ok i'm at 225 with 2-2-3-6 timings with 2.78v (the 2.8v setting in the bios)

i just don't wanna boost my voltage any higher cause the 2.9 setting fluctuates between 2.95 and 3.05v with this bios for some reason and there is no 2.85

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: joe2004

I read a review where they discovered Buffalo PC3700 was crap. They ran it on an IC7-G (my board) and they couldn't get it to run at anything above like 210 or 220 FSB 1:1 at ANY timings (and they tried a bunch of settings).

I have it running at 275:220 using IS7 with Turbo and 2-3-2-6. The funny thing I have only one 512 MB stick so I use Kingston to pair it with, both Winbond BH-5. They get to close to 6,000 on Sandra. I got Mushkin L2 3500 on the same board to 273 at 5:4. So Mushkin is worse in my case though that is awesome memory as well.

This is all passing Prime95, Memtest86, and runs all the benches flawlessly.

There is a little trick to know about that. Apparently there are some reviewers that should not be doing the reviews. I'll buy Buffalo memory whoever wants to sell for discount price. I think PC3700 by Buffalo is the best memory on market for tight timings or at least not any worse than Mushkin L2 or Corsair LL.

Wow. That is impressive. I heard that the Buffalo not only didn't run well on tight Timings, but did the usual crap on my board. Apparently they were wrong, and 275:220 is exactly the kind of results I was looking for on my board also. I just ordered a stick of Corsair PC3200 (which is, apparently, hand picked BH6 chips) so I probalby won't get more than 205-215 out of that mixed with my TwinMos BH5. I may have to look into some Buffalo BH5 PC3700 down the road then. I figured the price was too good to be true, but apparently it isn't!

 

[FPSguy]

Buffalo PC3700 RAM uses Winbond B chips with CAS 3. Link.

 

[joe2004]

and 275:220 is exactly the kind of results I was looking for on my board also. I just ordered a stick of Corsair PC3200 (which is, apparently, hand picked BH6 chips) so I probalby won't get more than 205-215 out of that mixed with my TwinMos BH5. I may have to look into some Buffalo BH5 PC3700 down the road then. I figured the price was too good to be true, but apparently it isn't!

It is a luck of draw, I just got Kingston HyperX non-A PC 3200, also BH-5. This one does 276:221, just a notch more. Awesome memory. The same setup on IS7, I will start to test individual sticks to find the fastest pair, they all work in pairs, it really doesn't matter whether Buffalo, Mushkin, Kingston or any other. You might even be lucky to pair together BH-6 and BH-5 as long as BH-6 is a fast one.