OT: Does the P4P800 Deluxe play well with Geil ram?

soundOFsilence · Post by **soundOFsilence** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 3:46 pm

I read somewhere that there are conflicts between the P4P800 Deluxe and Corsair ram, I want to make sure Geil works ok. I am looking at 2 x 256mb PC3200, I dont know the specific model, but it has a heatspreader on it.

Thanks in advance!!!

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Nov 07, 2003 5:47 am

It might work fine, it might not. The 875/865 chipsets are very picky about memory anyway and Geil isn't famous for consistant RAM either so that might not be the best recipe for success. There's just no way to guarantee that a specific stick of RAM is going to work on a specific mobo. The best thing to do is to buy it from a place like Newegg that has a great return policy so you can RAM it if you're having trouble.

The best chance for 875/865 memory success seems to be to use RAM built with Winbond BH-5 ICs. These are by far the most stable, well performing chips to use. The problem is that BH-5's are out of production so they are fairly difficult to find.

Mushkin Level II and the new OCZ EL DDR PC-3500 Platinum Limited Edition are the only 2 quality brands that guarantee BH-5s. You used to be able to get BH-5s on PC3700 Buffalo but those are now gone, replaced with Micron ICs. There's a few semi-fly-by-night places that are putting BH-5s on generic PCBs but I'd definitely avoid that crap.

FJC · Post by **FJC** » Fri Nov 07, 2003 6:56 am

Asus has a chart of RAM they've tested with that motherboard, you can view it at:

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket4 ... 00_QVL.pdf

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Nov 07, 2003 7:06 am

FJC wrote:Asus has a chart of RAM they've tested with that motherboard, you can view it at:

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket4 ... 00_QVL.pdf

Unfortunately that's still no guarantee that a particular stick will work on a particular board. That's the problem with these 875/865 chipsets, it's more of a crap-shoot than any other chipset/memory combination that I've ever had experience with.

FJC · Post by **FJC** » Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:18 am

Sticking to RAM on the chart will give a good starting place, though. I've never had an issue using the brand/model that Asus lists as compatible.

Then again, I'm not a rabid overclocker, either.

soundOFsilence · Post by **soundOFsilence** » Fri Nov 07, 2003 4:13 pm

Thanks for the replies! Does anyone have positive experiences with Corsair ram? Is corsair in general better quality than Geil?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 6:12 am

soundOFsilence wrote:Thanks for the replies! Does anyone have positive experiences with Corsair ram? Is corsair in general better quality than Geil?

Yes, Corsair's quality is generally better than Geil but their RAM's not necessarily any faster, it's just that you have a better chance of getting a good stick and their Customer Serice is better too. Of course Corsair also costs more money than Geil.

The thing is, quality of the memory aside, you'll have no better chance of having the Corsair work perfect on an 875/865 board than if you tried the Geil or any other brand. I don't want to paint too dark of a picture of these 875/865 memory issues, I just want to give you a "heads up" so you aren't suprised if your shiney new RAM doesn't work right. That doesn't necessarily mean that the RAM is bad, it just means that it won't work on your particular sample of mobo. Just buy from a dealer with a good return policy.