Corsair XMS=Value Select?

[dimitrik]

I have had 1GB (2x512) of Corsair XMS320C2PT for 2 years in my system.
I run it at 2.5/3/3/5. I believe the spec says it can run at 2/3/3/6.

This week I got 1GB of Corsair Value Select c2.5 for a light system I'm building. I tested it in my PC to see if it works, and found that it not only works, but works at the same timings! I'm testing c2 now to see how stable it will be but I'm suprised it even runs at 2.5/3/3/5. I don't do any overclocking, so I haven't changed the stock voltage.

I was impressed by the change the extra Gig made in performance and was thinking of adding another 1GB of XMS but given this, I'm wondering if the only difference is the heatsinks.

The price is not hugely different either (about $10 in UK money, so I'm wondering if corsair just makes one kind of DDR 400 these days (with the focus being on DDR2) and just adds the heatsink to the XMS, while lowering the SPD on the ValueSelect.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

[dimitrik]

ok, the ValueSelect was not at all stable at C2 - it would constantly re-boot and then freeze, but even at c2.5, its a pretty sweet deal.

 

[IcY18]

its at the higher ddr2 speeds that the xms will make a bigger difference, but nowadays value select is a great deal and not just cheap ram, in an article written at Anandtech they said they reached XMS speeds with low timings on Valueselect ram at half the price

 

[MrPhysics]

I believe I have the same XMS in my system, 3200c2 ddr400, 2x512. The timings are 2-2-2-5 (1T) on an ASUS a8n sli deluxe.

I agree though, that is great timing for the value select.

 

[MrPhysics]

I believe I have the same XMS in my system, 3200c2 ddr400, 2x512. The timings are 2-2-2-5 (1T) on an ASUS a8n sli deluxe.

I agree though, that is great timing for the value select.

 

[dimitrik]

Wow, those are really tight timings! Did you have to play about with the voltage to get them that low?

I'd like to try that in my system....

 

[rwpritchett]

I have the 2x512 Corsair ValueSelect DDR400 installed in my computer. Just for kicks I went into the BIOS and manually changed the timings to 2-2-2-6 and its been working fine for a month now. I even checked it out in CPUZ to see if there was a mistake, but sure enough it was there.

I was wondering if its easier to get tighter timings when you run the RAM at a slower frequency. This is DDR400 RAM but my MoBo runs it at DDR266. Would that explain it?

 

[dimitrik]

I was wondering if its easier to get tighter timings when you run the RAM at a slower frequency. This is DDR400 RAM but my MoBo runs it at DDR266. Would that explain it?

Absolutely, that would explain it. However you always get bigger boost from higher bandwdth than lower latency so if you can run your memory at 400mhz, you'd get a better result. There may be an option in your bios to set this.

 

[rwpritchett]

Absolutely, that would explain it. However you always get bigger boost from higher bandwdth than lower latency so if you can run your memory at 400mhz, you'd get a better result. There may be an option in your bios to set this.

This is an old MoBo and its FSB is 266MHz, unfortunately. Plus, the BIOS does not allow stepping up the memory frequency independent from the processor FSB. Actually, it doesn’t let you step up the FSB at all. Oh well, this RAM is still much better than the PC133 CL3 SDRAM the Mobo came with (it’s a hand-me-down). I’m especially glad that I bought it when it was around $72… it’s about $100 on newegg now. What’s up with that?