While my PRIME95 Blend continues to stew -- Lazy and looking for experiences with Corsair DHX

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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Yo!!

I was looking for latency "elasticity," and I've got these Corsair, 2x2GB DDR2-800 [4,4,4,12] modules installed. All my embarrassing panic of last week, well known now on these forums and which I may not be able to live down before I stroke out with an embolism, is behind us . . . behind me, that is.

The voltage spec on these is 2.1V. I told the RAMGuy that I had them set at 2.075V and the sensor was reading 2.09V. I asked if 2.1V was the warranty-maximum, and that's confirmed. He said "JUST set 'em to 2.1V, and don't worry, be happy . . . fahget-about-it!"

Now I'm stress-testing with the 2.1V setting, because bumping up the VCORE had no appreciable effect: PRIME95 errored out on me after 2 hrs, 49 min, when the previous run at the lower VCORE errored out after 2 hrs, 42 min.

I don't want to loosen the timings on these (from 4,4,4,12), and in fact, I want to try tightening them down to 4,4,4,10. I don't want to move the RAM voltage up above 2.1V, either. If this is the limit, and I can't get beyond DDR = 810 Mhz (it's now at 820) without over-volting or loosening the timings . . . . then . . . that's it.

I may have mentioned here earlier -- in some thread -- about some DDR-400 OCZ Platinums I had in an older system, where you could keep the voltage below the warranty spec, while boosting the DDR speed from 400 to 452 with the same timings of 2,3,2,5.

Does anyone have any experience with these, while I look for a review where they put them through their paces?

EDIT: I found some good reviews for this TWINX CAS4 DDR2-800 DHX 4GB kit -- at OverClock3d and Guru3D. In order to put these bad boys through their paces, they twist up the voltage from the spec 2.1V to 2.3V, and these suckers push past 1000 Mhz.

But I'm a Crucial Ballistix victim -- of trying to keep the Crucials just 0.025V below their warranty maximum. The reviews don't offer any warning about their test voltages, yet they both tout Corsair's lifetime warranty. Figure I'm just being cautious because I "wasn't supposed to buy these things" when I got panicky about BSODs and my G.SKILL DDR2-1000 4GB kit, which G.SKILL is sending back to me at my request (now that I see that my problem was an undervolted CPU_VTT, and I'd not got used to BSODs with this motherboard running PRIME95 -- got through some respectable over-clocks on it last year that weren't into the 400 Mhz range.

Maybe I should just twist 'em up to 2.15V and see what I can squeeze out that way. But you'd think the reviewers would stick to the safe voltages, when other memory reviews I've encountered are very sensitive to it.

Any ideas before I step across the line into the realm of uncertain risk?
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,619
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OK -- no comments yet from my compadres here.

I just find this very curious, in the way Corsair states the spec for these, possibly other RAM kits. They say "tested at X.Y volts and a,b,c,d timings." They don't say "maximum recommended voltage, or describe a range of voltage options.

My puzzlement grows, however. As I said, I wanted to find reviews at benchtest web-sites. I quickly found two: One at OverClock3D, and the other at Guru3D.

Both of the reviewers casually and quickly stated that they were going to raise the voltage on the modules to 2.3V, which they did, and they put the modules through their paces with "thumbs up" results. But further, they had included hype about Corsair's wonderful warranty program in the review text.

At least, in the earlier DDR generation of modules, I could find a review that would first warn about going beyond the warranty voltage, and then show how flexible were the modules with tight latencies and higher speeds within that voltage spec.

Over all this, RAMGuy says "It's the warranty maximum," but also tells me "JUST set it to 2.1V!" -- the warranty maximum.
 

Yellowbeard

Golden Member
Sep 9, 2003
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In a nutshell, what our specifications indicate is that these modules are tested and verified to run at those latencies at that voltage. Any voltage above that is not needed for operation at those specifications and is a violation of the warranty terms. If you want to run tighter latencies, faster frequencies, or a higher voltage you are moving into an area we don't test and therefore cannot support. RAM GUY is certainly not going to tell you how to violate the warranty.

Outside that I am not really clear on what you are asking. FWIW, we do allow a tolerance of 5% on the voltage due to MOBO fluctuations or incorrect bios readings. So, don't worry about going a little bit over 2.1v is that's what it takes to get stable. If you have a meter, you can verify your actual Vdimm and compare it to the bios amount.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,619
2,024
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Thanks. I have a set of Crucial Tracer 800's in another system, and am obviously exceeding warranty on those except for the voltage, which is 0.075V under their maximum. I'm pretty comfortable with the way those are working, but you . . . never can tell, can you ?

On these, I've tweaked them up one notch from 2.1 to 2.125V. If you say "5%" I guess there's room to spare on those, since by my reckoning, the 0.025V increase is a little more than 1%. [Coming back to this para before I click reply, I see that 5% is hardly a smidgeon over 2.2V. But -- hey -- if I can "trust" the BIOS monitor reported values, the 2.125V setting gives back a 2.16V reading . . . . so . . . . ]

I like these Corsair DHX'ers so far, and the G.SKILLs that I thought I "GEE--KILLED" for never having a BSOD on this motherboard (a twin of this one, anyway) over a year's use and three months of tweaking, are coming back to me. Either set gives me more options: I can run these Corsair at their "Tracer-like" latencies at 800; I can get adventurous and push them higher; Or I can take the G.SKILLs which are DDR2-1000 modules and run them between 850 and 950 with slightly looser latencies than the Corsairs.

And -- I guess -- if something "goes over the top" and "goes south," I'll have a spare set to "be more careful with . .. " :laugh:

AGain, thanks for your insight, Yellowbeard-Corsair-guy.

Which reminds me -- I better send in my rebate request . . . It's only been about a week, but better to be prompt and beat the deadline than lose the ducats.