Ballistix or Standard?

[Stewart]

I'll go for the Ballistix I reckon. Be good to see what they can do, and they'll give me pretty much the same performance as the Corsair XMS Super Ninja CL2 OMFG LOL WTF CAS2 Pro Alpha, or whatever they are calling their RAM these days.

And £173 isn't an amazing amount for a gig of proper high performance RAM. Also, its Crucial, so you know its free delivery, life time warrenty, and the best RMA service in the universe, end of story. Well, in my experiance anyway.

Lets 'ave it!

EDIT - Also, if I don't get it, Knoxy will have to remake my sig, and that will get on his tits.

[drunkenmaster]

tbh, as with all review sites that get stuff sent to them, they can't really specify they send the worst possible sticks to them and then get bad reviews overclocking wise.

My 2x256crucial pc3200 do cas 2.5,2,3,8 up to 248Mhz on my lan party nf2. My OCZ pc3700 EB did up to 268Mhz on the same platform, and went a little further than the crucial would at cas 2.5,2,2,8 . About 255Mhz. So infact my crucial wile not 100% as good as anandtech's, did very well for pc3200 ram. jsut sub 250Mhz, and on an ath XP platform is pretty decent. Low voltage too. THe OCZ EB did better, but was rated at 233mhz not 200Mhz. Obivously the testing will let through a lot of chips at PC3200 that wouldn't be sold in PC3700 chips. Its highly likely the PC3500 and 3200EB are ever so slightly worse than the PC3700 so its not quite comparing like for like.

SOmething I might do is grab 2x512MB sticks of the PC4000, same chips, these micron chips just WON'T run cas 2 beyond around 205-210Mhz, but give them cas 2.5 and suddenly most will get rated for the PC4000 modules. I'll let you know how i get on with PC4000 modules.

SOmething else to be point out is, stateside this Crucial is still working out at about £180 per gig once you add OUR VAT to the prices, as if you imported it. But OCZ PC3700EB per gig is ALSO about £190 inc 17.5VAT from the states. THis is not OCZ charging a huge premium, but the UK getting charged.

[drunkenmaster]

oh, and re the post before mine, OCZ is reputed to have the VERY best rma service about. I hear lots of stories about people with problems contacting one of the various ocz guys on various forums and getting very very very good service. Plus lifetime warranty, plus on various sticks warranty still intact even if over volting.

People talking bout lower end ram and lack of heatspreaders causing memory life issues. Its been proven again and again, and again, and again that all the top end benchers take the heatspreaders off, most people see increased overclocks and lower temps when taking the heatspreaders OFF. COs they are completely useless, a heatSINK has fins to increase surface area. heatSPREADERS were used on rdram as it was designed to use one chip at a time so SPREAD the heat amongst the chips to even out the temperatures. A small silent fan ontop of your ram, when overclocking is the best thing you can do.

Check you heatspreader using ram, have a look at the thermal tape inbetween the ram and the spreader, its thick and useless and insulates more than it should.

[DR]

We have just got some in - guys, wait and see

[Agent]

If your overclocking (added with it being a A64 and not SocA ), then its probably going to be more suited.
However, ive been reading the same things about "hand picked" sticks for reviews...humm....

You looked at any others yet ?

[Stewart]

No, not looked at any others.

Anything you'd suggest? Need a gig, and my budget is £175 max.

[Stewart]

http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...roducts_id=132

What about a gig of that stuff?

[Apex]

mm pritty cheap for corsair stuff

Done a google on it at all ?

[Agent]

http://www.pc-memory-upgrade.co.uk/n...200-level1.asp

Looks fairly good for the price from http://www.pc-memory-upgrade.co.uk/m...ram-pc3200.asp

€259 = ~£174

Or they have some 'Patriot' branded for less, at better timings at around £160.

Ive used this company a few times, recomend them
They seem in line, if not cheaper than most places at the moment.

[Agent]

http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...roducts_id=132

What about a gig of that stuff?

Rated at 2-3-3-7-T1 according to this

Seems a good buy

[Apex]

Whoo nice

[Stewart]

Right, lets decide; a gig of the Crucial Ballistix or a gig of the Corsair XMS.

What would you get for the rig in my sig, you dig?

[Stewart]

I could also get a gig of Corsair TwinX 1Gb XMS3200C2PT (2x512Mb) for £154.

I'm leaning towords that at the moment.

So come on lads, opinions please.

1) A gig of Crucial Ballistix PC3200 for £175.

2) A gig of Corsair TwinX 1Gb XMS3200C2PT for £154.

or

3) A suggestion of your own, needs to be a gig, no more expensive than the Ballisitx.

I want to order tomorrow, so give me opinions please lads.

[BUFF]

Ask David to do a "real life" extended test on the Ballistix he's just got in

Failing that I would lean towards 2) A gig of Corsair TwinX 1Gb XMS3200C2PT for £154.
You don't know which Revision the sticks are do you?

[Firelord]

Corsair easy i think if it says i uses same as XMS3500 which used bh-5 which is just like the god of memory!

[Stewart]

I've ordered the Corsair. Its a bit cheaper (although I've seen it at more than the Ballistix, so I got a decent price).

Thanks all for your posts.