best DIMM module for Phenom II architecture

[pam]

As of late gskill has come out with outstanding ram modules at ridiculous rates.
other brand ram modules are equally good in quality are an insignificant amount costlier than gskill. But then again every cent counts.

Gskill sniper kit DDR3(1.5 volts) modules @1600mhz stock and 1866mhz stock are available at this point of time. Sure in the near future 2133mhz and 2400mhz shall be available --but beyond 2133 is the realm of ddr4. What is astounding about the sniper series is that they operate at 1.2 volts which belongs to ddr4(1.2 volts) domain. Surely you wont be over-clock these kits but can play with the timings and get very good stable results.

Another major factor is the TDP( thermal design power) of the Phenom II is relatively higher than intel chips, which translates to-- that if you upgrade to full ram capacity of your mobo the TDP further increases for the following reasons:
1> Tremendous stress on the processor's IMC(integrated memory controllers) further increasing TDP .
2> Higher voltage causes more heat and increases the ambient temperature. The RAM heat-sinks thereon radiate more heat.
3> Increasing the clock speed of your processor hilariously increases the temperature even more so a heavy duty after- market air cooler will suffice OR you will have to buy the corsair H80 liquid cooler.

I have both the ripjaws X (1.5 volts) and the sniper(1.2volts). The sniper kit shines. My cpu temp is a few centigrades lower and im saving on electricity costs.

ripjaws X 1.5 volts @1600 mhz 4gbx4 ---> 6volts + 5 degrees @44 C
Sniper 1.2 volts @1600 mhz 4gbx4 ---> 4.8 volts @39C
room temp--35- 36 C

Increasing the clock speeds on your ram @1600 mhz stock is pretty pointless and a profound performance can only be observed when DDR4 @ 2400 mhz 1.2 volts modules comeout.

With PCie 2.0's life coming to an end with MSI's PCie 3.0 z68 mobo, there is absolute no benefits to overclocking ram at this point of time so gskill sniper wins.

[pclinuxguru]

very nice write up.

Well done.

[pam]

hi
i just want to share some of my tinkering with my phenom II chip.
There are days when i run my system 24/7 with my electric bills showing the same.

my basic specs:
x6 1090t with thermalright ifx- 14 inferno cpu cooler with dual CM 1900 rpm fans in push pull & CM thermal paste.
880g usb3
16gb gskill sniper(1600 default) 1333Mhz @7-7-7-21 ---->1.600 volts (hardinfo) {my mobo wont run this ram at 1600Mhz but the 990 chipsets were the solution to that}

So i thought of disabling my turbo core which is a power guzzler @ 1.475 volts, further as i didn't use extra cores while the system was busy with tasks..... i disabled the extra via the bios.
here are my stable findings:

x2 (2 cores) @ 3.6 ghz ---> 1.175 volts(undervolted) idling @0.976volts MAX TEMP= 26 degree celsius-- currently using with the above ram config... i dont see any difference in my day to day work with this setup unless i start a virtual machine or need extra threads during work.

x4 -4 cores @ 4.0ghz ----> 1.35 volts( again undervolted) max temp= 30 degree celsius---- for running virtual machines for thin clients throughout the house, playing COD mw3, BF3, dirt3, Black ops ............

X6 all cores @ 3.6ghz --->1.35 volts-- MAX temp= 38-39

the default voltage with turbo core disabled--1.4000volts @3.2ghz
the dafault voltage with turbo core enabled--1.475volts. @3.2 ghz

considering room temp fluctuates between 20 - 31 degree Celsius (its still winter --summer temps scoot upto 40+ celsius- with my shirt drenching in sweat after a few minutes of shower) the above temps were noted from the gnome panel sensors applet (lm_sensors).

For comparison i exchanged this processor against a 955 months ago which consumed more power and ran extremely hot( probably because it was the intial production chips).

hope this helps other phenom II users (to save power) without any loss at performance whatsoever.

[synrgy87]

i've tried out OCZ Reaper, OCZ platinum and Kingston HyperX in my current rig, ended up sticking with the kingston, i normally use corsair in my builds but decided to try something different this time.

still nice write up