Ballistix PC3200 Overclocking! (PC4400).

Big.Wayne · 1 Feb 2006 at 02:45

Hi all,

I have just been testing my new/replacement Ballistix PC3200 1GB kit (2x512) and am fairly suprised at how much they overclock?

I wonder what these chips are? It should say *Crucial* in the manufacturer tab but instead says 7F7F7F7F7F9BFFFF (?)

I only found this out because I am trying to overclock my new Opteron and for some reason these sticks don't let me use dividers. My normal practice when I test a new CPU is to lower the frequency of the memory with a 5:4 divider and start whacking up the FSB/HTT, but for some reason these sticks were not letting my PC boots properly while doing this. At first I thought my CPU was a dog but after some headscratching I thought sod it, just put the memory back to 1:1 ratio and overclock it all at the same time.

As my old sticks of Ballistix PC3200 were able to run @250MHz with loose timings I thought that would be a good place to start, so I went into BIOS and slackened the memory, put the vDimm to 2.8v and started.

To my delight it booted fine and passed many hours of memtest and prime95, so then I did the same @260MHz no problems, 270MHz fine, but when I tried 280MHz I started getting the odd error in memtest. I tried adding more voltage to the Memory, CPU, Chipset and HTT but no joy.

There are a few more memory timings that I can change in BIOS but I am new to the A64 platform so I am not sure whats what?

Here is a screeny from A64 tweaker, which I dont know how to use but it lets me show you memory gurus my settings:

I want to try and *loosen* the memory but I am not sure what to change, maybe Trcd from 4 to 5 and Trrd from 4 to 5.

What sort of overclocks have you guys been getting from your PC3200 (and PC4000).

Big.Wayne · 2 Feb 2006 at 00:40

What no Ballistix love going on here?

Is it common now for memory to run at 275MHz 1:1 sync? or is everyone just interested in 2GB sets?

Passed overnight memtests and the whole day Prime95 blend @ PC4400 (DDR550) 3-4-4-8 (2.8v)

Now testing @ DDR550 3-3-3-8 (2.8v)

Failed Memtest @ DDR550 2.5-3-3-8 (2.8v)

As soon as I finish testing the tighter settings I will loosen again and try and push up the fsb (maybe 3-5-5-8 etc), of yeah and I must try changing this 2T to 1T, so much to do so little time

Big.Wayne · 2 Feb 2006 at 13:54

Big.Wayne said:
Now testing @ DDR550 3-3-3-8 (2.8v)

10 passes of Memtest Standard, 50 passes of Memtest #5 and Prime95 Blend overnight!

Now testing @ DDR550 3-3-3-8 *1T* (2.8v)

Dutch Guy · 2 Feb 2006 at 15:46

Seems like Ballistix is a bit annoying lately, they either run bad or not at all or run very well like yours.

I received my RMA'd 512mb PC3200 sticks today but have no CPU to test them yet

Big.Wayne · 3 Feb 2006 at 21:29

Big.Wayne said:
Now testing @ DDR550 3-3-3-8 *1T* (2.8v)

Including 10 passes of Memtest Standard, 100 passes of Memtest #5

ukdave · 3 Feb 2006 at 22:41

Ballistix is known to be the best, so prob why peeps aren't too excited (although it's also known to die very easily). Have you tried keeping the timings loose and bumping the Mhz up, say to 300 area (if possible)?

Cyber-Mav · 3 Feb 2006 at 22:49

i would back off on that voltage, i know they are rated for 2.8v but reliability shows thatyour safer to run them at something like 2.7v or less otherwise they will die out eventually.

Big.Wayne · 4 Feb 2006 at 04:49

ukdave said:
Have you tried keeping the timings loose and bumping the Mhz up, say to 300 area (if possible)?

Hi,

what 300MHz (DDR600)!! :eek:

I'm not sure if that is possible, but I have had a bit of a bash at it, really doesn't wanna go much higher, was playing with it at 280MHz but memtest is giving errors. .

Cyber-Mav said:
i would back off on that voltage, i know they are rated for 2.8v but reliability shows thatyour safer to run them at something like 2.7v or less otherwise they will die out eventually.

Sure,

but the stick are running very cool so I thought that wasn't a problem (it's the heat that harms them yeah?). This is my *replacement* set of PC3200, the original set I bought in approx Aug 2004 had some faults appear just recently (xmas). Those had been running pretty much 24/7 using 2.7vDimm (and running cool).

Hehe I wasn't expecting anyone to get excited over the results above, just that I figured they may prove useful to some people

One thing I will say is that I have been having an *issue* running my two 1GB sets of Ballsitix (PC3200 & PC4000) on an ASUS A8N-Premium when using *Dividers*. . .

Dutch Guy · 5 Feb 2006 at 13:11

Big.Wayne said:
what 300MHz (DDR600)!! I'm not sure if that is possible, but I have had a bit of a bash at it, really doesn't wanna go much higher, was playing with it at 280MHz but memtest is giving errors.

It's possible to run at 305Mhz 3-4-4-8-1T-2.8V if you are lucky

Big.Wayne · 5 Feb 2006 at 13:56

Hmmmm, I guess there may be some differences between that PC4000 and my *PC3200* but I will have to tweak

ukdave · 5 Feb 2006 at 15:19

Dutch Guy said:
It's possible to run at 305Mhz 3-4-4-8-1T-2.8V if you are lucky

aii my RAM did 300, here's hoping the RMA'd stuff will be good too.

Dutch Guy · 6 Feb 2006 at 08:18

Big.Wayne said:
Hmmmm, I guess there may be some differences between that PC4000 and my *PC3200* but I will have to tweak

The memorychips will be the same but there might be some tweaking for high speed with relaxed timings or slower speed with tight timings but I have seen cases where PC3200 ran at 300Mhz or higher.

Big.Wayne · 6 Feb 2006 at 23:56

Dutch Guy said:
The memorychips will be the same but there might be some tweaking for high speed with relaxed timings or slower speed with tight timings but I have seen cases where PC3200 ran at 300Mhz or higher.

Hehe thanks Dutchguy,

now I better get going because there is a mob of people ranting about how much they hate this stuff lol!

All I can say is the main problem I have with any Ballistix on my A64 system is that its not good with using memory dividers, seems all good on a P4 platform but somehow the A64 memory controller and Ballistix don't get along so well :confused:

Loving this PC3200 stuff though, if only I could wiggle something to get it running 280MHz! :eek:

Overlag · 7 Feb 2006 at 01:06

hmmm at least it isnt just me that has the "problem" of the date and manufacture part being odd numbers like week 255 and year 255

i thought it was something to do with them failing again

my best set run up to 295mhz 3-4-4-8 2.8volts

however it died after 2 weeks of constant 250 3-3-3-8 useage.

Big.Wayne · 7 Feb 2006 at 01:17

Overlag said:
my best set run up to 295mhz 3-4-4-8 2.8volts

however it died after 2 weeks of constant 250 3-3-3-8 useage.

Hi Overlag,

was that PC3200 or PC4000? Been running this replacement PC3200 for two weeks now at the speeds above? (runs off to check other PC is still running :eek:

)

Overlag · 7 Feb 2006 at 01:26

Big.Wayne said:
Hi Overlag,

was that PC3200 or PC4000? Been running this replacement PC3200 for two weeks now at the speeds above? (runs off to check other PC is still running )

it was PC3200 (2x512mb)..... a quick check of my notepad** and ive noticed it was infact 278mhz for one chip, and 275mhz for the other chip, not the 295mhz i posted earlier! sorry! However it was only 270 with both of them plugged in. 3-4-4-8, 2.85volts. They was double sided ram chips so that would account of the loss of speed when plugging more than one in. I dare say your latest ones are single sided?

** i write all my settings down, and have a few pages of ballistix, corsair and adata testing, including mhz and latency settings ive tested at and "certified" myself

JudgeC · 7 Feb 2006 at 15:05

Seems that the reliability is a bit of an issue with the Ballistix PC3200. I am waiting for an RMA number from Crucial after my 2x512Mb Kit started playing up the other day. I only had the stuff for 4 months and never ran it higher than 210FSB (Max my PM will allow) at 2.75v.

Dutch Guy · 7 Feb 2006 at 15:14

JudgeC said:
Seems that the reliability is a bit of an issue with the Ballistix PC3200. I am waiting for an RMA number from Crucial after my 2x512Mb Kit started playing up the other day. I only had the stuff for 4 months and never ran it higher than 210FSB (Max my PM will allow) at 2.75v.

I sent 3 e-mails that remained unanswered, after calling them I got a RMA number after 3 minutes waiting.

JudgeC · 7 Feb 2006 at 15:59

Dutch Guy said:
I sent 3 e-mails that remained unanswered, after calling them I got a RMA number after 3 minutes waiting.

Same here, I was waiting since yesterday to get a reply to my email, so thought I would give them a ring. Answered the phone after 2 or 3 rings and I was asctually talking to a human. Took only a couple of mins to get my RMA number and check that my replacement part is in stock.

I certainly have to commend Crucial's UK customer service, its in a league of its own.

tbz_ck · 21 Feb 2006 at 15:19

Overlag said:
** i write all my settings down, and have a few pages of ballistix, corsair and adata testing, including mhz and latency settings ive tested at and "certified" myself

I would appreciate it if you did that for the Ballistix PC3200. Specially the timings you were able to achieve at 1:1 between 220 and 250 FSB

My newcastle 3500+ probably won't do more than 2600Mhz (my first go at 2500 failed but that was at default volts....)