Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB PC4000 kit gone bad (merged)

[sniggle]

i fail to see the logic where people don't cool their ram when it gets hot, but spend upwards of $50-75 on cpu cooling :confused:

 

i bet more than half of these ballistix deaths would stop if everyone put a fan blowing over the ram, and a lot of you would see improved oc's

 

the logic is that if ram is known to fail fairly rapidly at recommended voltage without active cooling, crucial had better put a warning somewhere that this is the case. ram is NOT expected to require active cooling (unless running sticks that are rated for 3+ volts).

 

when i was on the phone with the customer service guy from crucial today, i brought this up to him. he tried to give me an analogy that it's like buying a hot rod, and you have to expect that parts will probably wear out quicker when they're not run at "spec", which supposedly would happen with a hot rod. having ram die after a month of ownership is ludicrous, and it's a lot like having a tricked out hot rid engine die after one race.

[deathman20]

i fail to see the logic where people don't cool their ram when it gets hot, but spend upwards of $50-75 on cpu cooling :confused:

 

i bet more than half of these ballistix deaths would stop if everyone put a fan blowing over the ram, and a lot of you would see improved oc's

 

Now this is where I get into this discusion.

 

CPU's come with Heatsinks

Video Cards come with Heatsinks

 

Ram comes either bare or ram sinks. All these run at what they come with and run at rated speeds. Yet if the ram can't run at rated speeds without extra cooling, then it should come with fans.

[Squid1]

Well, one set of settings for one mainboard cannot really solve it all. On AMD64 there is too much direct interaction between CPU and memory without the mainboard getting in between. The memory controller on each CPU certainly has a personality of its own, and then you have the different cores (120nm, E3s, E6s, 1 MB cache etc).

[lowboy]

iFOUND IT BUT HE HAD TO OF MEANT 8 HAVE YOU EVER SEEN MEMORY WITH A TRAS OF 3 AND WITH THE SPEC MEMORY OF 3-3-3-8 THE 8 IS TRAS. iF WHAT YOUR TRYING IS NOT WORKING TRY THESE TIMINGS:

Tcl:3

Trcd:03

Tras:08

Trp:03

Trc:11

Trfc:14

Trrd:02

Twr:02

Twtr:02

Trwt:02

Tref:3120 or 4708

Twcl:01

 

I HOPE THIS HELPS

[Yankee]

I just wanted to toss my opinion in here....

If anyone is going to buy a 'high end' product, I would assume you would take care of it. So if this RAM costs $300, then why not spend a few more bucks for a fan to cool it. It's not rocket science. I understand that they should include a disclaimer if it's needed, but if you guys are finding that it runs hot and needs active cooling.... GIVE IT ACTIVE COOLING.

 

If you have money to drop on high end products, you have money to take care of it and keep it running.

[Squid1]

I dunno, as long as other RAM doesn't require active cooling why should Crucial? And if they are more heat-sensitive then why don't they remove the stupid heat"spreaders", ship with a fan or place a warning sticker on the box?

 

I run my TCCD at 342 MHz with no cooling and sure as hell I do that for some time now. And most of the time I run stuff that would blow up on memory errors (compilation).

[stealth17]

I just wanted to toss my opinion in here....

If anyone is going to buy a 'high end' product, I would assume you would take care of it. So if this RAM costs $300, then why not spend a few more bucks for a fan to cool it. It's not rocket science. I understand that they should include a disclaimer if it's needed, but if you guys are finding that it runs hot and needs active cooling.... GIVE IT ACTIVE COOLING.

 

If you have money to drop on high end products, you have money to take care of it and keep it running.

 

Uhh, I DID!!! 2x80mm since day one and mine died in 4 weeks. Thats bull crap man.

[Yankee]

Uhh, I DID!!! 2x80mm since day one and mine died in 4 weeks. Thats bull crap man.

LOL Well that is truly unfortunate. I hate to say it, but buying any computer component is the luck of the draw. There is always a possibility you will get a crap product. I have yet to have ANY problems w/ mine, so I really can't relate to other's problems in this thread.

 

BTW, you have TWO 80mm fans dedicated to cooling your RAM? What case do you have?

[stealth17]

LOL Well that is truly unfortunate. I hate to say it, but buying any computer component is the luck of the draw. There is always a possibility you will get a crap product. I have yet to have ANY problems w/ mine, so I really can't relate to other's problems in this thread.

 

BTW, you have TWO 80mm fans dedicated to cooling your RAM? What case do you have?

 

No case

 

The two 80mm fans are zip tied together and sit ontop of the ram just fine :nod:

 

I ran running 2x120mm 130cfm each Delta fans on my BH-5 and it did help me gain stability with higher voltages!

[deathman20]

My rams definatly going now. Went from 270 stable just stable at 250Mhz with only 2.6V anything higher it craps out.

 

Looks like my rams loosing it. 3-4-4-10 settings now.

[Sharp]

If anyone wants to try this? (at 200Mhz)

 

GENIE BIOS Setting

>DRAM Configuration..................Press Enter = New Menu

FSB BUS Frequency....................200

DRAM Voltage Control.................2.7V

 

GENIE BIOS Setting >DRAM Configuration

DRAM Frequency Set (MHZ).............200 (DRAM/FSB:1/01)

Command per clock (CPC)..............Disabled

Cas latency (tCL)....................2.5

RAS to CAS delay (tRCD)..............3

Min RAS active time (tRAS)...........7

Row precharge time (tRP).............3

Row cycle time (tRC).................11

Row refresh cycle time(tRFC).........14

Row to Row delay (tRRD)..............3

Write recovery time (tWR)............3

Write to read delay (tWTR)...........2

Read to write delay (tRWT)...........2

Refresh period (tREF)................AUTO

Write CAS latency (tWCL).............1

DRAM Bank Interleave.................Enabled

 

DQS Skew Control.....................Decrease Skew

DQS Skew Value.......................0

DRAM Drive Strength..................AUTO

DRAM Data Drive Strength.............AUTO

Max Async Latency....................6ns

Dram Response........................Normal

Read Preamble Time...................5ns

Idle Cycle Limit.....................AUTO

Dynamic Counter......................Disabled

R/W Queue Bypass.....................AUTO

Bypass Max...........................AUTO

32 Byte Granularity..................Disable (4 Bursts)

[corgi1]

After reading all the posts, I think I am getting similar random BSOD and reboots.

 

p.s. Hey OP, did you end up RAMing your ram? or did you find a way around this random reboot and BSOD problem? Please let me know.

Yes, I sent it back to Newegg the day after I posted. I recieved a new 2GB kit and am currently using them. They are working fine with the exception that I can now only get a stable overclock up to 245 FSB. THe previous sticks that went bad had oc'd stable at 265 FSB.