Athlon 64 Memory: Rewriting the Rules
by Wesley Fink on October 1, 2004 12:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
OCZ 3700 Gold Rev 3
The 3700 Gold Rev. 3, based on Hynix DT-D5 chips, was recently reviewed in OCZ 3700 Gold Rev. 3: DDR500 Value for Athlon 64 & Intel 478. Gold Rev. 3 is the representative for the latest Hynix memory chips, which carry higher speed ratings than Samsung TCCD, but with slower timings in the DDR400 to DDR450 range. Gold Rev. 3 is being marketed as a value RAM by OCZ with very high speed capabilities.3700 Gold has been a very well-known memory product for OCZ, as you can see in our earlier reviews of the original 3700 Gold and 3700 Gold Rev 2. The first two generations of 3700 Gold earned quite a reputation for outstanding overclocked performance, but they were also premium-priced DIMMs. This latest Revision 3 is the first 3700 Gold to be marketed by OCZ as a value DIMM.
Test DIMMs were a pair of PC3700 Gold Rev. 3 in a 1GB kit (2x512MB modules). PC3700 Gold Rev.3 is available as a 512MB kit (2x256MB DIMMs), a 1GB kit (2x512MB), and as individual 256MB and 512MB DIMMs. The 3700 Gold Rev 3 is shipped in the new Orange OCZ package.
OCZ 3700 Gold Rev 3 Specifications
OCZ 3700 Gold Rev 3 Memory Specifications | |
Number of DIMMs & Banks | 2 DS |
DIMM Size Total Memory |
512 MB 1 GB |
Rated Timings | 2.5-3-3-8 at DDR466 |
SPD (Auto) Timings | 2.5-3-3-8 |
Rated Voltage | 2.8V (3.15V Maximum) |
Voltage is specified as 2.8V at the rated DDR466. We found lower voltages worked fine at lower memory speeds. OCZ specifies the highest recommended voltage as 3.15V, which certainly allows for even higher overclocking on the few boards that support this memory voltage. This also provides some headroom if you choose to use the OCZ DDR Booster.
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xeoph - Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - link
I also wanted to mention it in this artical if it hasnt been already.The pricing above the ultra X is for Ultra Platinum. The www.memory-up.com link is a little misleading because it doesnt give the exact tech specs.
simply a mistype. m-400-512x2glx1gb3200dc is what your looking for, little X between gl and 1gb.
mervine - Sunday, October 10, 2004 - link
hi WesleyYou mention the newer Samsung TCCD chips overclock better on AMD64 than the older ones, How long have these new chips been avaliable?
The reason I ask is I live in europe and stocks over here might not be as new as in the states. I'm looking to buy some ocz rev2 but is there any way to tell if its using old or new revision TCCD?
PrinceXizor - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
Wesley:I appreciate your point. I suppose I would have been vaguer in my statements than you were, that is my only point (probably a matter of subjective opinion of course). Something like...
"In the course of testing, it was discovered that we were being adversely limited by the power supply used in our testing rig. Switching to a higher wattage power supply unlocked the potential of many of these DIMMS. While the actual problem with the original PSU requires more analysis time than we had for this review (lower wattage? lower rail amperage? lower rail tolernaces?), hard-core overclockers should carefully inspect the specifications on their PSU's if they plan on maxing out the OC on their memory modules. Switching power supplies, as we did, may help you to reach the overclocks attained in this review."
Something like that is all I would have liked to see, instead of a blanket recommendation for a higher wattage PSU. That was my point.
All this being said, I still enjoyed the review! I look forward to more memory module reviews in the future.
P-X
jynxycat - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link
good review, i was on the edge between the PQI and Crucial sticks, not really knowing what to expect from the PQI on an AMD setup.finally a full review of what the respective sticks will achieve on the AMD platform, very much appreciated.
Blappo - Sunday, October 3, 2004 - link
42:That is true. It might be interesting to see a comparison of PSUs to see which one would give the highest overclock. I would guess that the PSUs with high ratings would perform well, but there might be some lower power PSUs delivering good quality power that perform well, or some high output PSUs that perform poorly because of low quality power.
darkwaffle - Sunday, October 3, 2004 - link
41:I'm not sure how much of a direct comparison you could make between the 3 PowerStream models, because according to http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/PSUSpec.pdf the +5 rail differs on the 420 and 470, and the +12 rail is different on all of them.
Blappo - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
I would be curious if using either the 420W or 470W OCZ PowerStream models would change the amount the memory could be overclocked? Since they are in the same model line then any differences when OC would be attributed to the amount of power available, and not the quality of power available.LocutusX - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
I've got the one Wesley mentioned. It's the Enermax EG465P-VE - the *Q4 2001* model. That same model which is *currently* available in stores has slightly different specs. Anyways, I think I'll keep in mind a possible upgrade to the Powerstream since that would probably help my OC situation as well.KingofFah - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
#14,15,20,24(This is more directed to #20)
As Wesley said:
+3.3V - 38A
+5V - 44A
+12V - 20A
-5V - 2A
-12V - 1A
+5Vsb - 2.2A
are the specs of the 465 they used.
Considering they switched to 520W OCZ Powerstream:
+3.3V - 28A
+5V - 40A
+12V - 33A
-5V - .5A
-12V - .5A
+5Vsb - 2.0A
Even though there is a drop in amperage on the 3.3 and 5v rails, there is a great increase in the 12v. CPU, GPU, HDDs, Optical drives, fans all get there power off of the 12v line.
Since w = v x a, if you want a good power supply, it almost certainly will have a lot of watts on it, but you only find good amperage on high quality models... So maybe you can see why they said +500 quality PSU??
My question is: Which rail does the memory draw from? Is it still the 5v?
Marlin1975 - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link
Wesley Fink, since it has been shown many times that more and more current systems need better power. Why not do a review of power supplys. Everything form top dollar name brand ones to cheaper high "watt" ones to see if they put out what they say at each rail and if they help or hurt a system when doing normal work to over clocking?I know power supplys are one of the most over looked items and I am building a HIGH power system right now and can not find any real reviews other then other people saying use or don;t use brand X
Thanks