Discussion Thread for Ballistix vs. Firestix review

[Babrbarossa]

Got questions, comments, or your own overclocking results with either of these products that you'd like to share?

This is the discussion thread for this memory review.

[Wankerfx]

Very nice review. It looks like I'll have to start incorporating Sandra/Cinebench/SuperPI into my reviews.

I was hoping one of these kits would break the DDR2-1200 barrier.

Great stuff!

[Scratch]

great review I'd like to thank both you guys actually as memory is one thing I still find somewhat disconcerting.
I also discovered that the OCZ Titanium runs better at lower voltages than its recommended 2.3v

[Babrbarossa]

Those results seem fairly standard for the Ballistix 8000 from what I've seen around the web (although people usually get 1100). However, Some people are having some great luck with the 8500s. SKYMTL pointed out a thread over at XS where people were showing off their 650MHz and up frequencies with those kits. Still luck of the draw though- it just takes one weak component in the whole kit to spoil your overclock.

Well done Babrbarossa!

Somewhat of a surprise that the Ballistix didn't want to get above 1066. I had to RMA 4 stix of Ballistix Tracer PC4000 and rather than replacement I got Crucial store credit against a purchase and I plan to get 2x1Gb of Ballistix Tracer PC2-8500. When I get them in a few months I'll try to so some testing to add here as the Tracer is the cream of the Ballistix lineup (I hope)

[Babrbarossa]

Thanks! TechGage reviewed a set of Tracer 8000s and was a little underwhelmed at the results as well- I guess it's no secret that the best chips are erserved for the 8500 series' so I'm looking forward to see how you do with those.

[Patriote]

Nice review there Babr! Im kinda starting to really like your job

[Babrbarossa]

Bjorn #D just did a review of the Ballistix 8500, and couldn't get them over DDR2 1100- The only way they were able to get that high was by UNDERVOLTING! I'm not sure what's resopnsible for this trend (if it can be called a trend) but I wonder if it's the Levin PCBs or overvolting from the motherboards, or the chips.

Here's the Bjorn3D review:
Bjorn3d.com -Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC2-8500, Satisfying Your Daily Tech Cravings Since 1996

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by Babrbarossa

Bjorn #D just did a review of the Ballistix 8500, and couldn't get them over DDR2 1100- The only way they were able to get that high was by UNDERVOLTING! I'm not sure what's resopnsible for this trend (if it can be called a trend) but I wonder if it's the Levin PCBs or overvolting from the motherboards, or the chips.

Here's the Bjorn3D review:
Bjorn3d.com -Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC2-8500, Satisfying Your Daily Tech Cravings Since 1996

Mobo maybe.....

I came across some grumblings about this while doing some research on the best settings for the DFI board I'm running.

Some have suggested that their boards are running close to 2.3V when set to 2.2.

Makes me wonder if it's a conscious effort on the part of manufacturers to make their boards more stable at higher clocks while giving the appearance of safe(r) DRAM voltage settings in bios.

There do seem to have been an awful lot of dead ram complaints lately...

[3.0charlie]

The last OCZ Gold sticks that I installed in a eVga 680i had to have 1.9V to be stable - no boot at any voltage over. Ram spec. is 2.1V - go figure. Running BIOS P28 BTW.

John