# buying ram.. which of these three is better?



## simaomacaco (Apr 10, 2008)

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB22GB6400C4DC) 800MHz RAM Speed, CAS 4-4-4-12 Timings, 1.9-2.0v VDIMM, Lifetime Warranty with GeIL.

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC)  800MHz RAM Speed, CAS 5-5-5-15 Timings, 1.8-1.9v VDIMM, Lifetime Warranty with GeIL.

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz ReaperX HPC Enhanced Bandwidth Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPX800EB4GK) 800MHz RAM Speed, CAS 4-4-3-15 Timings, 2.1-2.2v VDIMM, Lifetime Warranty with OCZ.

Which of these is better for overclocking and 2.4Duo2 with an old intel XBX board?


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## calvary1980 (Apr 10, 2008)

I would say Geil Black Dragons, flagship.

- Christine


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## tzitzibp (Apr 10, 2008)

calvary1980 said:


> I would say Geil Black Dragons, flagship.
> 
> - Christine



I agree...geil have produced some really great mem sticks and the new dragons are no exception....


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## ntdouglas (Apr 10, 2008)

If your going for higher ram clocks 2 gig will overclock better than 4 gig. But what I have found is that more bandwith beats faster bandwith. So I would go with 4 gig and not run them as fast as 2 gig.


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## tzitzibp (Apr 10, 2008)

ntdouglas said:


> If your going for higher ram clocks 2 gig will overclock better than 4 gig. But what I have found is that more bandwith beats faster bandwith. So I would go with 4 gig and not run them as fast as 2 gig.



why don't go buy transend axe modules (2x1 gb, 1066mhz) X2 = 4x1gb 

still....great memory amongst others....
If they were available, where I live, when I was building my rig, I would surely get them....


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## WarEagleAU (Apr 10, 2008)

Thats a good suggestion with the axe ram. For awhile, Geil was putting out crappy ram. They seemed to have redeemed themselves with their Esoteras and other lines.


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## ntdouglas (Apr 10, 2008)

tzitzibp said:


> why don't go buy transend axe modules (2x1 gb, 1066mhz) X2 = 4x1gb
> 
> still....great memory amongst others....
> If they were available, where I live, when I was building my rig, I would surely get them....



I will sell you my 1200 kit.


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## tzitzibp (Apr 10, 2008)

ntdouglas said:


> I will sell you my 1200 kit.



in the last 6 months i spent about 3000$ to build my rig and my media center....and in about 1 month our baby is due. So I won't be spending a cent on pcs, until next September...

 how much for it? 

lol... lasted 5 seconds...


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## ntdouglas (Apr 10, 2008)

tzitzibp said:


> in the last 6 months i spent about 3000$ to build my rig and my media center....and in about 1 month our baby is due. So I won't be spending a cent on pcs, until next September...
> 
> how much for it?
> 
> lol... lasted 5 seconds...



How about $150. Supply and demand you know.


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## Nitro-Max (Apr 10, 2008)

4 gig is useless unless u want to run a 64bit os which are normally a pain in the ass anyway especially vista if you plan on getting most preformance out of your rig stick with xp 32bit and get 2gig.

I have 4 gig of ocz reaper and i wish i had got 2gb now cos ive had all i can take from vista why slow up a good machine on a operating system that requires 1gig for its self.

XP RULES!!


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## ntdouglas (Apr 11, 2008)

Nitro-Max said:


> 4 gig is useless unless u want to run a 64bit os which are normally a pain in the ass anyway especially vista if you plan on getting most preformance out of your rig stick with xp 32bit and get 2gig.
> 
> I have 4 gig of ocz reaper and i wish i had got 2gb now cos ive had all i can take from vista why slow up a good machine on a operating system that requires 1gig for its self.
> 
> XP RULES!!




Thats a good, valid point nitro.


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## Smartbomb (Apr 11, 2008)

I run that same OCZ kit on XP64 and it KIKs AZZ, originally I ran it on Vista64 (for about 3 hours) before going back to XP, this kit overclocks awesome for a 4 gig kit, mine is running 1066mhz without breaking a sweat 5-5-4-18 on stock voltage 2.1. At 2.2V at the same timings you can easily stroke 1150mhz outta these puppies  BTW, I haven't had one issue whatsoever with 64bit XP, everything I toss at it works.


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## theonetruewill (Apr 11, 2008)

I have the Black Dragon kit- nice stuff. Hasn't let me down yet. I have them at 1033- not taken them higher. 

EDIT: Right now testing them @ 1100MHz  5-5-5-15 (2.2v) for you 

EDIT2: Seem to be stable on orthos for a decent while- sorry, I won't check if they can go higher as I will not put any higher than 2.2v through them.


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## Smartbomb (Apr 12, 2008)

Man theonetruewill's post got me playing, here are some references on OCZ ReaperX PC6400
@800mhz 4-4-3-10 1T (2.1v) @1066 5-5-4-15 2T (2.1v) @1100mhz 5-5-4-15 2T (2.2v) not gonna push any further but there are people on the net (especially OCZ forum) that will back this kit hitting 1150mhz
BTW I am more than happy that I got a 4 gig kit stable at 1T. Also I used TRFC 32 on all.
 Will add to this post again later, going to tweak my timings even further and see how many rabbits I can pull outta the hat.


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## theonetruewill (Apr 12, 2008)

This is the best that I can do on 2.2v


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## Smartbomb (Apr 12, 2008)

theonetruewill that is a very good overclock, very worthy  BTW my tweakings are done, anymore I push I am locking my system up. Forget about prime95, I kick in Everest Ultimate and freeze my puter out. My whole body hurts from cringing so hard doing hard reset after hard reset. 
 The best benchmarks with SuperPI I got of running at 1066.
Edit: After further playing around I got this kit running 1120mhz 5-5-4-15 with my SuperPI 1M dropped 1 second. Kept my voltage at 2.2V. I was able to get into windows with it running as high as 1133mhz but wasn't very stable (Love BSOD's) 1120mhz stabablized. Ran Prime95 X64 for 4 hours. Numerous runs with SuperPI and benched a few times with 3DMark06.


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## theonetruewill (Apr 12, 2008)

Smartbomb said:


> theonetruewill that is a very good overclock, very worthy  BTW my tweakings are done, anymore I push I am locking my system up. Forget about prime95, I kick in Everest Ultimate and freeze my puter out. My whole body hurts from cringing so hard doing hard reset after hard reset.
> The best benchmarks with SuperPI I got of running at 1066.



Well we both seem to have pushed our RAM to the limit. I hope this helps the OP. Personally I suspect the OCZ kit is slightly better - but I have no idea of the pricing difference between them in your location. If it is much more expensive then I do not think it is worth it. However, if this is not true- go with the OCZ kit. Always get the best you can afford.


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## Smartbomb (Apr 12, 2008)

theonetruewill has a very good point, the OCZ kit isn't the cheapest, roughly $150-$160 not to mention I have seen guys get way lower SuperPI than my 16.125s at 1 meg with 2 gig kits, hope this doesn't furthur confuse things. There is a guy Mr. Natural on evga forum (we don't see eye to eye) who is a memory master, he pulls 12.79s  4,3,3,9,2T,3,15 with crucial ddr2 1000 kit running at 950mhz. I also realize this kit isn't on your hit list but I hope this info helps anyways


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## theonetruewill (Apr 12, 2008)

Smartbomb said:


> theonetruewill has a very good point, the OCZ kit isn't the cheapest, roughly $150-$160



On a side note- the Black Dragons have no Heatspreader on their kit as standard. I thought this odd at first as only very cheap brands normally fall foul of this. However, I have noticed that the kit simply does not get hot (also the Dragon-eye LED's are thus visible). I keep considering and reconsidering getting a RAM cooler- but even with 2.2v and under heavy load the kit does not get more than slightly warm. It does beg the question as to if basic heatspreaders actually do help or hinder heat transfer. With kits like the Corsair Dominator series I think that the Heatsinks do actually work. But I remeber my old XMS2 kit with basic heatspreaders were as hot as hell even at only about 2v.  Personally I don't want to state anything as fact but I am wondering of the merit of basic Heatspreaders- but I still notice the cooling performance gain in the more expensive cooling methods.


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## Wile E (Apr 12, 2008)

None of the above. I say get these: http://ec.transcendusa.com/product/ItemDetail.asp?ItemID=TX1200QLJ-2GK


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## Cold Storm (Apr 12, 2008)

I'd pick those too. I would say my Ballastix but they aren't Micron's anymore...  The transends can oc like a beast. 
Wile E knows a little to much about this set of ram! lol


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## theonetruewill (Apr 12, 2008)

I just don't think those transcends are going to be worth it in his system. they are for severely hardcore overclockers.


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## tzitzibp (Apr 12, 2008)

theonetruewill said:


> I just don't think those transcends are going to be worth it in his system. they are for severely hardcore overclockers.



maybe, but they are also for those who are just want to try something new and learn from it.... OC wise. What i mean is that these sticks are forgiving....


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## miniquake32 (Apr 13, 2008)

*me*

i would choose OCZ


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## Wile E (Apr 13, 2008)

tzitzibp said:


> maybe, but they are also for those who are just want to try something new and learn from it.... OC wise. What i mean is that these sticks are forgiving....



Yes they are. Very forgiving. I have a set of D9 Ballistix, and they won't post on my board from a default CMOS, even with just one stick. These Transcend fire right up. I've had them up to 1400Mhz on 2.34V, and 1290 on default voltage (2.2V). The best ram I have ever owned, ever.


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## Cold Storm (Apr 13, 2008)

Thats something else right there! You would think that it would need more volts to the ram to hit 1400mhz! I got the bad end of the straw with my Tracers... I bought a new kit with the guy saying Microns... nope.... So I got one set that is and one that isn't... Darn it! lol.
The reasoning I say go Transends, is that you never know what your going to do. Geil Dragon is a great kit to get, but you might want to look at the fact that if you do oc then Transends are going to be a kit that will be forgiving and heatful to you.


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## simaomacaco (Apr 15, 2008)

This might seem a bit silly but...

i was thinking of opting for 8gb as i run some rather large database applications as part of my part-time poker career.

i was thinking of the 8gb as 4*2gb OCZ reaperX would be a good choice?

running vista 64 by the way


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## ntdouglas (Apr 15, 2008)

simaomacaco said:


> This might seem a bit silly but...
> 
> i was thinking of opting for 8gb as i run some rather large database applications as part of my part-time poker career.
> 
> ...



I'd say go for it. I did and everything just seems to run "crisper" Plus ram is so godawful cheap right now.


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## Smartbomb (Apr 17, 2008)

Good choice, just make sure that you can fit 8 gigs of ReaperX on your MB. BTW mine took a bit further overclcok at 2.2V 5-5-4-15 it is at 1120mhz and stable and delivers a SuperPI @ 1 Meg of 14.438 sec.


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## Smartbomb (Apr 17, 2008)

Here is my validation
man won't upload my pic, gonna srink it


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## Smartbomb (Apr 17, 2008)

Try this


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## Smartbomb (Apr 17, 2008)

Here is SuperPI validation


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## theonetruewill (Apr 17, 2008)

Bloody hell - could not get a 4 in my timings but got to 1140MHz Stable @ 2.2v .... no more overclocking - it just ain't gonna happen...... - Nice one Smartbomb


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## Smartbomb (Apr 17, 2008)

1140mhz is freakin awesome theonetruewill!!!! I tried to hit that but I wouldn't boot and couldn't get back into cmos for a bit LOL. When I did 1st couple of times it was unusable bios screen, everything was screwed. Almost thought I was pulling battery and seeting my jumper to clear cmos.


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## theonetruewill (Apr 17, 2008)

Smartbomb said:


> 1140mhz is freakin awesome theonetruewill!!!! I tried to hit that but I wouldn't boot and couldn't get back into cmos for a bit LOL. When I did 1st couple of times it was unusable bios screen, everything was screwed. Almost thought I was pulling battery and seeting my jumper to clear cmos.



Whatever the RAM - I think only through this thread have we both really found the limits of our RAM. I'm superbly pleased with my results - and I'm sure you are with yours too. Both are excellent speeds for DDR2 800 with both kits around a *40%* overclock!


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## Smartbomb (Apr 17, 2008)

Theonetruewill, you are absolutley right. Got to thank the OP on this one. This thread did give the lazy a little shake and got me pushing my kit. I really do hope this helped the OP. Man, still wish I could hit 1140mhz though 
 Again to simaomacaco, if you really are looking for 8 gigs of ReaperX you might have to consider 4Gigs of ReaperX and 4Gigs of Reaper HPC Cas4 Ed. This is what just about everybody else I have seen with 8 gigs and ReaperX has had to do. These things are huge and take up enough room that you can't fit 4 sticks in. Check this pic, look how close this fits together in my case. They aren't side by side either they are a slot apart.
EDIT: really thinking about it, If you can't fit 2 kits of ReaperX I would pair it with the Reaper HPC 1066, this way you won't have the ReaperHPC holding back your ReaperX. They'll both sync up nicley at 1066.


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## Smartbomb (Apr 21, 2008)

Just another little update as my kit has been tuned a little further. 1066mhz seems to be the sweetspot and I have gotten my latencies down further at this speed. This is also reflected in my SuperPI which has dropped again.


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## theonetruewill (Apr 21, 2008)

Smartbomb said:


> Just another little update as my kit has been tuned a little further. 1066mhz seems to be the sweetspot and I have gotten my latencies down further at this speed. This is also reflected in my SuperPI which has dropped again.



Nicely done!


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## Smartbomb (Apr 21, 2008)

Thank-You


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## theonetruewill (Apr 21, 2008)

Smartbomb said:


> Thank-You



Perhaps we should start a RAM tweaking thread... look at how effective this has been for us.


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## Smartbomb (Apr 21, 2008)

Good call, start that thread up. I am still a short timer on this forum. I think you should own this


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Apr 21, 2008)

either black dragon or evo ... i have the red geils .. fantastic ...


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## theonetruewill (Apr 21, 2008)

Smartbomb said:


> Good call, start that thread up. I am still a short timer on this forum. I think you should own this


Thread started


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## p_o_s_pc (Apr 21, 2008)

the Geil dragon or the OCZ


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