Best 2GB Overclocking RAM For £180 mark

DarkShadow

DarkShadow

DarkShadow

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I did want to spend a lot less on ram but seems the prices won't go down any further, for a while.

So I want you guys suggest me the best clocking ram (DDR2) I can get for £180. I'll be clocking an E6600 or possibly an E6300 :)

Here's my shortlist I've been looking at:

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit

Also would it really be worth an extra £25 or so to look at Corsair's 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-6400C4 TwinX?

Also whilst avoiding that price range, would OCZ's Titanium edition and ATI edition be worth looking into?
 
I'd go personally fork out the extra £25 for the Crucial 10th stuff. If you want to stick to your budget the Geil is the way to go although a small minority have had problems with it.
 
I really rate G.Skill RAM. I'm on my 2nd set of their DDR stuff and it's rock solid and overclocks well. I used to have 1Gb of the 4400LE RAM and now I have the 2Gb of HZ RAM.

These and Corsair are the only ones I know which I have had no problems with. I'm not a fan of Crucial RAM with my Ballistix fiasco, and I have no idea on the OCZ range. GeIL are supposed to be good though. :)
 
nightic said:
Shouldn't really apply, given that the problem (although major) was with a single product in the DDR(1) lineup.
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True, but when ever anyone has a bad experience with anything in life, it's hard to go back to it (i.e. re-build that trust).
 
Firegod said:
True, but when ever anyone has a bad experience with anything in life, it's hard to go back to it (i.e. re-build that trust).
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i had a bad experience with a girl once, didnt turn me gay ;)

just go for it :p the crucial stuff kicks ass!
 
Firegod said:
True, but when ever anyone has a bad experience with anything in life, it's hard to go back to it (i.e. re-build that trust).
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I had a bad set of ballistix but I'd still go for this stuff. I'd seriously advise you get the Crucial or Geil if you want a decent overclock.
 
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trojan698 said:
I'd go personally fork out the extra £25 for the Crucial 10th stuff. If you want to stick to your budget the Geil is the way to go although a small minority have had problems with it.
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More information on this please.

I know these are 'selected' chip, hence they are bound to overclock well. But at PC5400 it begs the question how well? is it enough to justify £35 extra over the geil ramm which has similar timings?

I've totally been out of the whole DDR2 game so some sort of explanation/clarification would be mucho appreciated :)
 
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Got the crucial 10th aniversary myself its great ram, don't be fooled by the pc5300 rating that is with timings of 3-3-3. Main thread about it here . Lower the timings to 4-4-4 and you should see around 480-520+mhz from this kit :)
 
You can look at this 2 ways.
First pick mobo + cpu then choose ram to suit, or first pick ram the choose mobo and CPU to suit.
If you shoot for the Crucial Anniversary, then your best bet is to get the 6300 and DS3/P5B. You'll hit your 3.6ghz target at ~ 515 FSB which should be achievable from all the kit listed (assuming the CPU/cooler are up to it :))
It's probably not worth spending the extra to get the crucial then pairing it with a 6600 for example. Timings wise the Crucial will run ~ 400 on 4,3,3,x timings which probably won't be much quicker than a Cas4 rated 6400 kit, and chances are you'll be able to drop timings with that kit anyway.

If you go for cheaper 6400 then go the 6600/975 or 6400/965 route as the ram probably won't clock quite as well.

What I'm trying to say, is don't bother with UBER clocking ram then get a mobo/cpu combo which won't make much more than 400 FSB. It's a wasted expense.
 
Thanks OC_64, you've been very informative :)

CPU I think I'm set for a E6600 and for motherboard near undecided but the Asus P5B Deluxe looks damned good.

Based upon those two and say an arctic cooler which ram at my budget would set me in a good stance for 3.5ghz area?

Cheers once again, everyone.
 
dark_shadow said:
Thanks OC_64, you've been very informative :)

CPU I think I'm set for a E6600 and for motherboard near undecided but the Asus P5B Deluxe looks damned good.

Based upon those two and say an arctic cooler which ram at my budget would set me in a good stance for 3.5ghz area?

Cheers once again, everyone.
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Any old 6400 should do you fine. If you can afford 4,4,4,x rated then go for it, otherwise 5,5,5,x will be ok as you won't be running much above 400 FSB.
Just a quick word on the P5B, you might find you need to increase vMCH in the 375-400 fsb range (should be ok dropped again from ~ 402 onwards) due to the chipset being run on the ragged edge. May even find you can't get boots/the board stable in this range too. For you this falls bang into the 3.4-3.6ghz range. *Shouldn't* be a problem as long as your CPU does 3.6ghz however if it doesnt you maybe stuck at ~ 3.35.
Not trying to dis your decisions mate, just making sure your aware of the facts before buying :) Can't say if this is the same for the 975 boards as I've only really dabbled with them before, and run over 3.6ghz. Could work around it by dropping the multi however that kinda defeats the point of the 6600!

<edit> Just checked with a few people you *should* be good for that range on a 975 board. Maybe the DFI you were looking at would be a better option perhaps? Should be quicker in the 400+ range too which gives some headroom for clocks if you so desired </edit>
 
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trojan698 said:
I'd go personally fork out the extra £25 for the Crucial 10th stuff. If you want to stick to your budget the Geil is the way to go although a small minority have had problems with it.
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but thats pc5300 so not as good for overclocking ?
 
eracer2006 said:
but thats pc5300 so not as good for overclocking ?
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Yep, everyone is recommending it because we get paid a referral fee from OcUK every time they make a sale. ;)

Or rather, it's rated at PC5300 with 3-3-3 timings but is capable of much more as well as scaling extremely well when timings are loosened to i.e 4-4-4.
 
Right i've ordered my CPU and picking up my motherboard on Monday. I went for the E6300 and Asus P5B Deluxe.

I refuse to pay £221 delivered for the crucial anns :o

The Ballistix (exactly same spec and possibly same chips) are avail for £191 delivered. Are there any beaters at this price?
 
dark_shadow said:
Right i've ordered my CPU and picking up my motherboard on Monday. I went for the E6300 and Asus P5B Deluxe.

I refuse to pay £221 delivered for the crucial anns :o

The Ballistix (exactly same spec and possibly same chips) are avail for £191 delivered. Are there any beaters at this price?
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well, when you get them start clocking and we'll see what happens :p
 
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