A8N-SLI and Kingston HyperX PC3200

[GodLovesPunk12345]

I'm mostly curious what kind of timings (using safe voltages) people with this motherboard/ram combination have achieved. I know the Kingston HyperX PC 3200 is rated at 2-3-2-6 T1, however I have been unable to reach these timings (Windows will not load, computer restarts over and over etc). The ram auto configures to 2.5-3-3-8..

Also, would I notice a considerable increase in performance if I were to upgrade to OCZ Platinum Edition Revision 2 PC-3200 memory over my current HyperX PC 3200. I'm wondering if it'd be worth it to ebay my current ram (got it for cheap, $150 for 1 gig dual channel kit) and try the OCZ (heard great things from anandtech members!)

 

[imported_2x]

I have the HyperX 2-2-2-5 rated memory and it runs as advertised @2.7 volts which is what Kingston states the voltage needs to be to run at 2-2-2-5 1T. This is the low latency HyperX which is a little different than the regular HyperX you have. If you are overclocking, the OCZ stuff is primo. If you are running stock, you will see little improvement.

 

[GodLovesPunk12345]

I have it at 2-3-3-6 T1 at stock voltage.. ran memtest all night (2,550%) and got 1 error.. thats considered stable right? When I have my timings at 2-3-2-6 T1.. its stable withing Windows etc, however memtest detects a bunch of errors, like some numbers not matching up or something.. Is this due to my RAM being matched pairs or something? I have no clue really, just taking a stab in the dark.

Edit: I'd like to overclock, however I'm using the Zalman NB heatsink, and I hear overclocking + Zalman NB heatsink is not recommended. I do have 'some' airflow going over it from a front intake fan, but not much (Centurion 5 case). I think my next upgrade is a new harddrive, since I'm currently using a 40gb ATA133 drive from a ~3 year old Dell (2mb buffer compared to the standard 8mb buffer now.. that make much of a difference..?)

 

[bob661]

Yes it makes a hell of a difference. I went from a 40GB Maxtor 2MB cache to a 74GB Raptor (before I moved it to my present system) and it was like night and day.

I'll elaborate. Game loads were MUCH quicker. The whole system felt much less latent. Copying files was ungodly.

 

[ryderOCZ]

Hi GLP12345,

Can you post some more of your system specs? I can offer some tips.

Thanks

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: GodLovesPunk12345
I have it at 2-3-3-6 T1 at stock voltage.. ran memtest all night (2,550%) and got 1 error.. thats considered stable right? When I have my timings at 2-3-2-6 T1.. its stable withing Windows etc, however memtest detects a bunch of errors, like some numbers not matching up or something.. Is this due to my RAM being matched pairs or something? I have no clue really, just taking a stab in the dark.

Edit: I'd like to overclock, however I'm using the Zalman NB heatsink, and I hear overclocking + Zalman NB heatsink is not recommended. I do have 'some' airflow going over it from a front intake fan, but not much (Centurion 5 case). I think my next upgrade is a new harddrive, since I'm currently using a 40gb ATA133 drive from a ~3 year old Dell (2mb buffer compared to the standard 8mb buffer now.. that make much of a difference..?)

I have the Zalman NB heatsink and I'm running a 3200+ at 2.6 GHz with HTT at 260MHz. My temps are quite stable at 37-40C for MB according to Asus Probe.

 

[GodLovesPunk12345]

System specs:

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe (1003 bios)
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester core (currently at stock speed, 2ghz)
1 gig (2x512) Kingston HyperX PC3200
Gigabyte GeForce 6600GT
OCZ ModStream 450w
40gig Maxtor DiamondMax Plus D470X ATA133 (according to Everest.. HDD taken from ~3 year old Dell.. plan to upgrade, maybe to a 74gig Raptor, if overall system speed/stability may be increased?)

Thanks for the help.

 

[BGuardian75]

My memory simply will not operate at rated speeds @ 2.6v ... it must have 2.7 to run 2-3-2-6 or it won't even complete 3dmark2001se. With a gig you may even need 2.8v. I miss the days when I could plug in RAM and not have to fiddle so much. But LL memory is power hungry.