I have a Guillemot Prophet II MX Using 7ns memory - How can this be?

[RonL]

Does anyone know if there is a difference between white box and the retail versions? The Guillemot Prophet II MX I have (white box) is using 7ns memory made by Hyundai. I thought they all were using 5.5ns memory. So instead of the memory clock running at 183MHz it's running at 166MHz. I got this card from Micro-Pro Inc. I asked for a replacement as their web site states that the one they offer has a memory clock of 183MHz. They said that they didn't know of any memory diference and questioned the accuracy of the Hercules software at reporting the speed correctly. I refered them to the Hercules web site where it even states that the memory is 5.5ns. They have offered to refund my money (less shipping), but they say that they have no Guillemot Prophet II MXs with 5.5ns memory. I am waiting to contact Guillemot directly Monday or Tuesday to see what's up. Thanks

 

[Puffen]

Hi!

I've just ordered one of those here in Sweden...so it will be interesting to see what I get...

 

[RonL]

Their office must be closed for the Holiday. I'll check again tomorrow (Tuesday).

 

[Rankor]

OEM versions of the Prophet II MX board have the slower memory.

If you want the faster 5.5ns version, you got to go Retail Box.

 

[Subversal]

Oh man I ordered one from them as well. I have a retail version, but bought this one as a gift. This sucks now I have to return it. CRAP! That is BS. Where exactly does it say OEM's have the slower memory? Yeah their site states 183Mhz. The 7ns memory is at 143Mhz. That is total crap. A crippled card that had its other leg blown off.

 

[BlvdKing]

I just got a Prophet II MX with 7ns memory also. I was disappointed at first, but the card still overclocks really well with a fan. I have it at 205 core 200 memory right now and it can still be pushed further, since I haven't seen any sign of artifacts. If I would have known that OEM's ship with 7ns memory, I probably wouldn't have ordered it, but shipping it back just because the default memory speed is slower didn't make much since since it overclocks well.

 

[Subversal]

Well I will get it today but hastily send it back... I'll get the $128 back for it though. Still I am upset that the site lists it at 183 when the default speed for 7ns RAM is 143, not even 166. Hercules should have stated this fact to their distributors. I wanted 183 not 166. My retail version can hit 230 without artifacts or any extra cooling. I have bought OEM's before and all of them had the same exact hardware as the retail version, less the sofware frills, package, and warranty.

 

[koltzy]

I've been cussin on the Hercules forum for a while about this 7ns memory stuff on my prophet 2 mx. I just oc'd the card to 175/175, then 183/183, then 183/195, then 183/200 and played Unreal Tournament deathmatch with bots for 30 minutes. No fan either. Either the drivers are broke (for memory clock) or this thing overclocks suspiciously. Maybe Hyundai makes only one speed of memory and remarks lower yields to lesser speeds to satisfy low end customers without beating up their premium top end prices (if you know what I mean)...Anyone got any ideas? I doubt very much 7ns can do 200 mhz...
That is a 57 mhz increase and no artifacts....I'm going to run some timedemos to make sure the memory clock slider isn't broke....(I didn't oc the core much because it would not help much, and it would heat up the die-(no fan), the memory is nearly the exclusive performance bottleneck)

 

[RonL]

I confirmed with Hercules tech support today that the OEM version of the Prophet II MX uses 7ns memory and has a default memory clock speed of 166MHz. The retail version uses 5.5ns memory and has a default memory clock speed of 183MHz. In my case, If I bump the memory clock to 183MHz, the computer locks up on the screen saver after several hours. And this is with a small CPU fan pointed at, but not attached to, the heatsink (I didn't want to screw it on as I plan to return it.) No where on their site does MicroPro indicate that this is an OEM or White Box or Brown Box version.

 

[judgebao]

Mine is 7ns. Plan to refund it but it will cost me another shipping cost. Buy a new one, another shipping cost. So it will cost an extra $25-30 to replace my hercules. Now, I got mine 180/210. Hey.. is 210 is the max? What do people get with their retail one?

 

[dugr]

Great....I was hesitant in ordering this card cuz i didnt see any reviews on it.....Micro Pro already screwed me once....dam....I gonna bitch if I dont get by end of week....ruined my anticipation!!

 

[koltzy]

Guys..I've got the 7ns prophet 2 from Micro Pro. I think my speculation that the marked memory speed may not be accurate may be correct (ie..maybe Hyundai makes 1 chip, speedbins it, and marks the chips according to orders)....I thought my driver's memclock slider was non-functional, so I downloaded powerstrip....same results.. ridiculous amount of overclocking. I even maxed out the drivers sliders to see if I could quick choke it to confirm whether is was working or not. (210 memory, 220 core) worked fine for a while until I exited Q3, then a bit of a lightshow followed by lockup. I decided to bench it using Q3 timedemo002. Default 175/166 then to 200/200. 1280 res, 32 bit everything, lightmap, maxed text, bilinear, high detail. Over 7 fps improvement showed on 10 trials of each speed. Uh...you might want to check out the card before you return it hastily. Mine is oc'able to a staggering clockrate. NO artifacts on any gameplay. It would seem 200/200 was easy with no added cooling (I never have my case side on though....I'm in it too much).....and I was just about to hate Hercules...you shold see my displeasured postings in their forum....

 

[Cornballis]

Hi,

I also just recieved said Hercules Prophet MX from MicroPro w/7ns mem .. the static bag was opened, so it was likely one of you guys' returns :0
I am able to overclock it to 190/200 stable .. I benched with 3Dmark 2000 with the following results:
(Celeron 300A @450MHz)
RES CLOCKS SCORE
1024x768x16 - 190/166 - 2477
1024x768x16 - 190/200 - 2879
1024x768x16 - 190/210 - 2898

At 210 mem clock the memory is almost hot enough to make pancakes and after a while shows slight visual issues, so I'm leaving it at 200

Now I have to decide whether to return the card and buy the retail .. I'm hesitant as the Firing Sqad reviewer couldn't get the 5.5ns memory up to 222...
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/prophetmx/
If you own a retail phophet please post your OC results... thanks.

 

[todays]

Me too. I ordered one from Bay Area Micro - OEM - Got the 7ns memory. I really only ordered this card over the Asus or another brand, because it was suposed to have the 5.5ns memory. On their website it says 183 Mhz memory. On the CD that came with that adaptor it says 175 Mhz Core, 166 Mhz memory. Mine is sitting at 190 Mhz right now. It will probably do 200 Mhz easy. I'm happy enough with it, but like I said, if I knew, I would have bought the Asus with 6ns memory. Oh well, if it clocks to 200 it's not worth the hastle to send it back.

 

[Plester]

most of you have been able to hit 200 with the 7ns samsung. if you look around, you will see that lots of boards with 6ns aren't getting that high. i would be hesitant to ditch a card that can handle 200+ on the memory.

 

[BlvdKing]

Update: I am running the 7ns memory on my Prophet 2 MX at 210mhz - the highest the slider will go. When I was benchmarking Q3A timedemo 1 (1024*768 32bit color/textures, full texture detail with *no texture compression on* and all the goodies on I get 55.9 fps. The core was running at 200mhz - but I saw very little difference when running the core within the range of 190mhz - 210mhz. I always got 55.x fps. I am pleased with this card even though it has 7 ns memory - although I am going to buy a gamma fan from Radio Shack (any other recommendations for a fan?) to blow on the ram since it does get hot - not enough to burn me, but enough to get some extra cooling. I estimate that it is 115f - 120f.
BTW, I have a TBird 700mhz @ 800mhz (114*7) on a K7 Pro.

 

[Plester]

for less money you can buy 4 radio shack heatsinks that fit your ram chips perfectly.