Good Overclocking Memory

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Flanker

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Maybe this shouldn't be in the Hardware Forum...but since its memory...

How do you know what kind of memory is good at overclocking and what isn't? I've heard that Value Memory isn't good for overclocking, but also, that non-ECC memory is good for overclocking. But I've found non-ECC Value memory, so I'm not clear on that.

So basically, my question is, what features does RAM have to have to be good at overclocking?
 
I'm sending this back to overclocking since that forum is for these types of questions

To clarify, ECC memory is used in servers such as Opteron or Xeon based configurations because it includes error checking, which is important for servers that undergo heavy load or traffic. If you have been looking at ECC in the past, ignore it from now on.

That being said, the big thing you want when buying RAM is the type of chips the manufacturer uses. Generally, the highest reputable RAM chips you'll find will be Samsung TCCD chips, found in the following modules:

G.Skill LAs
Patriot XBLs
PQI Turbos
OCZ PE Rev2s (note: these use the newer TCC5 chips but from my experience yield about the same results)

Another good chip that's a cheaper alternative is Winbond BH-5 chips. These chips can generally do 270MHz 2-2-2-5 1T but they need a lot of vDIMM. I'm talking like 3.5v or higher. You'll need a DFI Lanparty board or OCZ DDR booster in order to feed your modules that type of juice though, and you'll also need active cooling because they will get hot

To summarize, TCCDs are the best but the most expensive, and BH-5s are good if you can give them the volts they need and can keep them cool, plus they're cheaper.

If I must stress one thing, avoid Corsair, specifically Corsair XMS. Most review sites and other sources will praise these chips, but I gurantee you G.Skills or equivelent RAM will run circles around them
 
how to tell if it'll overclock well:
read reviews on the RAM (if there are any)
overclock it yourself

like garaa said, Samsung TCCD's are currently the best chips.
G.Skill uses them, with really good PCB's (the curcuit board the chips sit on) to get really high speeds.

if you can, get G.Skill RAM.
if not, OCZ or PQI would be next IMO - PQI and OCZ both use the same PCB's and chips, just slightly different heatspreaders. and I do mean slightly, just what it says on the side.

and yes, definately avoid Corsair.
it is remarkable that Corsair can actually convince people that their memory is somehow really fast. it's not.
 
So, basically, there isn't a lot of memory that overclockers use?
What do you mean? There's basically two chips found on a variety of modules that are ideal for achieving high speeds. If you have no budget, the LAs will probably do DDR600 easily enough
 
lol they are some sweet chips those g.skill

if u have a dfi ultra d nf4 mobo then the twinmos speed premium will do almost as well and their heaps cheaper
but if u have another mobo then they won't do that well i've heard and they need heaps on voltage
 
gaara said:
What do you mean? There's basically two chips found on a variety of modules that are ideal for achieving high speeds. If you have no budget, the LAs will probably do DDR600 easily enough

I mean that I've been looking on Newegg for memory with TCCD and TCC5 ICs but I've only found a handful of them. Also, most of them are priced $200+ for 1 Gig, but thats to be expected.
 
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