Simviation Forum - DDR3 Ram Help

Jun 2^nd, 2008 at 7:40pm

rikm12345 Offline
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Fly Virtual
Glasgow, Scotland

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Posts: 225

Hi,

My p5kc motherboard says Dual-channel DDR2 1066/800/667 MHz or DDR3 1333/1066/800.

I was wanting to purchase some ddr3 ram. I would like to get 1600mhz ram and get my FSB to 400. Will my motherboard take this ram, or am i limited to 1333 DDR3 ram, which will probably only let me overclock to 333FSB 3.0Ghz?

Thanks

&&Q6600 (oc to 3.3ghz), P5KC, 4gb Corsair Dominator, Raptor 150gb, Seagate 500gb, XFX 8800GT

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Reply #1 - Jun 2^nd, 2008 at 9:55pm

NickN Offline
Colonel
FSX runs fine... the problem
is you or your system

Posts: 6317

You mean you have one of those hybrid boards that take both DDR2 and DDR3?

Some advice.. dont bother spending the money on DDR3 with that board. Not only will it not clock timing low enough and stable, you will pay more for the memory than its worth.

In order to beat DDR2 1000-1000 CAS 4 and 5 you have to be running DDR3 1440 CAS6 @ 1T CMD

DDR3 1333 is a marketing joke and you will pay top dollar for memory that you can buy cheaper in DDR2 and get the same performance if purchased right

In order to get over that hump you must buy DDR3 memory that will allow you to run a 450MHz FSB on the 333 (5:8) divider or about 1440, and it can not be any slower in timing than CAS6 7-6-15 1T

The only way you can do better is to go to DDR3 1600 @ CAS7 and I dont know if that board will even handle that

So my advice would be to stick with DDR2 and instead buy 2x2GB sticks @ CAS5 which will go a lot further than spending twice as much on 1x2GB DDR3 1333

I happen to know these sticks will do DDR2 1086 CAS5 and they are on sale : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197

and you can easily do 400MHz with it... heck you can do 450 with it if you have the multiplier available on the proc to change

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Reply #2 - Jun 2^nd, 2008 at 11:19pm

rikm12345 Offline
Colonel
Fly Virtual
Glasgow, Scotland

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Posts: 225

Thanks Nick,

Yeh, im thinking i've made a bad choice with that Mobo. Cheap and runs ddr2 & 3, too good to be true!. lol

I might upgrade it to something that will run DDR3 decently. I see a lot of different motherboards about, p35, p45, x35 & x45's. Which ones are best?? x45's?

I'll either take your advice about the DDR2 ram, which looks like good ram & a good price! thanks, or upgrade to a better board and DDR3 ram.

&&Q6600 (oc to 3.3ghz), P5KC, 4gb Corsair Dominator, Raptor 150gb, Seagate 500gb, XFX 8800GT

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Reply #3 - Jun 3^rd, 2008 at 4:21pm

NickN Offline
Colonel
FSX runs fine... the problem
is you or your system

Posts: 6317

Keep this in mind.. anything you upgrade to now in the way of motherboard will not work with Intel's next gen procs later this year. Although if you do upgrade to DDR3 you can use tham memory in the next motherboard purchase for Nehalem

If you wish to upgrade to DDR3 the x48 chipset boards are very nice but their BIOS can be complicated. There will be a learning curve involved in such an upgrade. The P53E Premium is a good board as well as a few others.

Right now, with DDR3 you can get good product in P35, x38 or x48. I would howver stick with Asus in that. The P5K3 Deluxe is a solid board for P35.

No matter what, the memory purchase is not going to be cheap. For even close to decent DDR3 memory you are looking at a minimum of 300. You can easily spend 550 for the better product on the memory alone. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145206

My advice is simple.. if you intend to upgrade later this year or early next year, wait and save your money and use good DDR2 right now with what you have. If you do not expect to upgrade for another year+, then DDR3 has it advantages but none the less, those advantages are expensive right now.

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Reply #4 - Jun 3^rd, 2008 at 8:50pm

rikm12345 Offline
Colonel
Fly Virtual
Glasgow, Scotland

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Posts: 225

I think i'll get the DDR2 ram you recommended for now, get my money's worth out of the kit i have.

I would love to go all out and buy a nice board & ddr3 ram, but like you say the board will end up no good for the new kit thats coming out later in the year, which i know i'll want if its good!

Hopefully decent DDR3 will be a bit cheaper by the end of the year.

Thanks Nick

&&Q6600 (oc to 3.3ghz), P5KC, 4gb Corsair Dominator, Raptor 150gb, Seagate 500gb, XFX 8800GT

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Reply #5 - Jun 10^th, 2008 at 5:14pm

rikm12345 Offline
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Fly Virtual
Glasgow, Scotland

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I bought the ram you mentioned, but im having trouble getting them to run right.

I cannot seem to get them to run at 1066mhz at anything over 3ghz 9x333 FSB.

I can run them at FSB set at 380x9, but i have to run them at 800mhz.

With the above settings i've had to raise the voltage for my CPU upto 1.5 from 1.3750.

Is my motherboard rubbish? lol

Sad

&&Q6600 (oc to 3.3ghz), P5KC, 4gb Corsair Dominator, Raptor 150gb, Seagate 500gb, XFX 8800GT

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Reply #6 - Jun 10^th, 2008 at 6:10pm

rikm12345 Offline
Colonel
Fly Virtual
Glasgow, Scotland

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Posts: 225

My Bios settings are

CPU Ratio 9
FSB Strap 333
FSB Frequency 333
PCIE Frequency 100
Dram Frequency 1066
Dram timings 5 5 5 15

CPU Voltage 1.50
Dram Voltage 2.10

I cannot reduce the dram timings, or raise the FSB frequency without reducing the Dram frequency to 800mhz.

My old 800mhz DDr2, as cheap as it was, would let me overclock well.
I kind of understand how to overclock & how different setting affect each other, but i feel like im just confusing myself now. Lol.

Is there something i'm missing, or does my motherboard not like the ram going above 800mhz.

Feeling fed up as just spent a lot of money on this ram.

Anybody out there running 4GB 2x2gb 1066mhx DDR2 Corsair Dominator Ram??? If so, what motherboard are you running it on, as i now think it might be that, as all the rest of my kit is good now.

Thanks!!

&&Q6600 (oc to 3.3ghz), P5KC, 4gb Corsair Dominator, Raptor 150gb, Seagate 500gb, XFX 8800GT

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Reply #7 - Jun 11^th, 2008 at 9:50am

NickN Offline
Colonel
FSX runs fine... the problem
is you or your system

Posts: 6317

Yes, it sounds like a board issue because I have seen nothing but good reports about that memory and it doing exactly what I posted

Some boards have slots that are designated high and low speed.. I dont know about yours. Make sure you are in the right slots.

If your CPU is locked and you can not use higher FSB because the multiplier will not allow it there will be limits to what you can do but none the less, you should be able to run the sticks at their rated speed.

What I suggest is you go to the Corsair support forums and post the problem.. http://www.houseofhelp.com/v3/index.php

Post in the "Warranty Questions" forum. The Ram Guy should be able to help you. Make sure to post all the info about your system so he can make suggestions.

You may have defective parts and they can issue a replacement for you too, or, they may tell you there is a problem with the board and those sticks.

Go there because the sticks are new and they will warranty them

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Reply #8 - Jun 11^th, 2008 at 11:36am

rikm12345 Offline
Colonel
Fly Virtual
Glasgow, Scotland

Gender:
Posts: 225

Thanks Nick,

I'll try and figure out whats wrong from the RamGuy. I think it might just be my board, but will wait to see what he says before buying a better board.

&&Q6600 (oc to 3.3ghz), P5KC, 4gb Corsair Dominator, Raptor 150gb, Seagate 500gb, XFX 8800GT

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Reply #9 - Jun 11^th, 2008 at 12:10pm

rikm12345 Offline
Colonel
Fly Virtual
Glasgow, Scotland

Gender:
Posts: 225

It is the board that's giving me the problems, seems like it doesnt like memory over 800mhz, even though stated to work with 1066.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&id=20070910190845281&board_i...

I'll try changing some settings in the Bios, if it doesnt work i might buy a better motherboard.

Can anyone recommend a good Asus board that overclocks well?

Thanks

&&Q6600 (oc to 3.3ghz), P5KC, 4gb Corsair Dominator, Raptor 150gb, Seagate 500gb, XFX 8800GT

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Reply #10 - Jun 12^th, 2008 at 11:19am

NickN Offline
Colonel
FSX runs fine... the problem
is you or your system

Posts: 6317

The P5E is a good board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131219

and I know a few people using the memory I posted @ 450FSB and 1086 on that board

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Reply #11 - Jun 12^th, 2008 at 8:56pm

rikm12345 Offline
Colonel
Fly Virtual
Glasgow, Scotland

Gender:
Posts: 225

Thanks Nick!

It looks like a good board and has good reviews!

Just need to wait for payday now.

&&Q6600 (oc to 3.3ghz), P5KC, 4gb Corsair Dominator, Raptor 150gb, Seagate 500gb, XFX 8800GT

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Reply #12 - Jun 23^rd, 2008 at 2:01am

Plugpennyshadow Offline
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Hello!

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Nick,

Will the RAM you recommended work with an ASUS P5K-E mobo?

I seem to be in the same boat just using a different paddle than the person who asked original question.

Seems like good deal to me on this mem kit.

Da Bad Penny

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Reply #13 - Jun 23^rd, 2008 at 2:12am

Plugpennyshadow Offline
Colonel
Hello!

Gender:
Posts: 276

Nick,

As matter of fact, think I'm just gonna get one of the P5E boards and some of your recommended ram for it from this thread. I beleive I am gonna tipy-toe into overclocking with this new system.

Intend to run FSX across two systems using WideFS. My current system along with one you recommended here will complement one another quite nicely for a decent price.

I am a beleiver in ASUS boards. Owned a half dozen over the years along with build more than a few from-scratch systems for friends, relatives, beggers on the street...You can imagine.

Da Bad Penny Strikes yet again!

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