Need advice choosing Memory for ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 10:14 pm

I want to buy two sticks of 1GB memory for the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium and would like to know what you guys think is my best choice?

davidstone28 · Post by **davidstone28** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:07 am

The world's your oyster.

OCZ PC4000 dual channel Gold is highly rated.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:26 am

davidstone28 wrote:The world's your oyster.

OCZ PC4000 dual channel Gold is highly rated.

I shoulod have mentioned in my first post the Manual only lists these 1 GB versions as being compatible:

Corsair
Kingston
Transcend

There are other brands suggested but all are less than 1 gig. OCZ is not listed at all.

openwheelformula1 · Post by **openwheelformula1** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:52 am

Forget about the recommended list of modules in the manual. I've had so many Asus boards and I never bother checking their recommended list. If the modules you buy happens to be on the list then excellent, otherwise just buy the best for your money. Mushkin has a set (DDR500) w/ good price, and the OCZ in the above post is good too. Corsair makes very good modules and I always recommend XMS series if I see a good deal.

spolitta · Post by **spolitta** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:53 am

do you OC?

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 10:46 am

spolitta wrote:do you OC?

No.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 10:50 am

openwheelformula1 wrote:Forget about the recommended list of modules in the manual. I've had so many Asus boards and I never bother checking their recommended list. If the modules you buy happens to be on the list then excellent, otherwise just buy the best for your money. Mushkin has a set (DDR500) w/ good price, and the OCZ in the above post is good too. Corsair makes very good modules and I always recommend XMS series if I see a good deal.

Newegg has some deals going on now with Corsair XMS:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... R8=&ATTR9=

AZBrandon · Post by **AZBrandon** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:27 am

I have the ASUS A8N SLI Premium as well and am using a pair of OCZ 1gb 2-3-2-5 modules at 1T at the stock DDR400 speed. They are plenty fast and have gone 30+ hours in Prime95 without error on that board.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 1:45 pm

AZBrandon wrote:I have the ASUS A8N SLI Premium as well and am using a pair of OCZ 1gb 2-3-2-5 modules at 1T at the stock DDR400 speed. They are plenty fast and have gone 30+ hours in Prime95 without error on that board.

Which version of this RAM did you get? Platinum?

NoizEnvader · Post by **NoizEnvader** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 3:03 pm

Asus A8N-SLI Premium & OCZ RAM Tested

Currently running a matched pair of OCZ Platinum 3200 (2GB) at those timings in my A8N SLi Premium.

omgy · Post by **omgy** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 4:35 pm

The OCZ 2GB Platinum is currently $185 AR + Shipping @ Newegg.com - Link
The OCZ runs slightly tighter timings than the Corsair for the same price.
However, I'd guess you wouldn't be able to notice a difference between the two.
I just picked up a pair for the Asus A8N Premium!

AZBrandon · Post by **AZBrandon** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:43 pm

JVM wrote:Which version of this RAM did you get? Platinum?

Yep, the platinum's are the ones with the tight 2-3-2-5 timings. As mentioned, they'll do that at 1T CMD rate, at least on mine, and at up to 430mhz @ 2.85v, again, at least on mine. Seems like very good memory.

scorp · Post by **scorp** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:19 am

How about G.Skill 2GB ZX : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231032. It's quite unexpensive and it does 2-3-2-5-1T at 400MHz.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 6:23 am

I don't trust cheap RAM. If it ain't expensive, I ain't gonna buy it

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 6:25 am

Is there any reason I should choose CAS 2 over CAS 3?

omgy · Post by **omgy** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 7:09 am

2-3% Performance Gain.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 7:18 am

Doesn't sound like much of a difference for me. CAS 3 may be more stable as I searched Crucial just to see what they would come up with and the recommendation was a CAS 3 card for the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium. I don't plan on buying Crucial, not that it's bad; I was using them to get an idea of what was recommended regarding CAS.

I don't doubt CAS 2 may work, but since I'm not a heavy gamer, and I don't plan to OC, perhaps sticking with CAS 2.5 or CAS 3 would be a better choice?

AZBrandon · Post by **AZBrandon** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 11:31 am

Well you can always buy memory that's rated CAS 2 and run it at CAS 3 if you'd like. In theory, the memory should be more than rock solid since you're running it on looser timings than it's rated for as opposed to if you bought CAS 3 rated memory and ran it at CAS 3; thus running the memory at it's fastest rated speed.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 11:58 am

That is a very interesting thought, but what about timings and voltage?

AZBrandon · Post by **AZBrandon** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:52 pm

Well, I run stock everything on mine for day-to-day use. As an enthusiast, I couldn't resist seeing what mine could be clocked up to. I wasn't able to get 2-2-2-5 1T stable at even DDR400, but 2-3-2-5 1T would go up to DDR442 and at least be stable enough to run benchmarks (6350mb/sec Sandra bandwidth, IIRC) and DDR430 would run Prime95 for at least 90 minutes w/o error. All overclocking was at 2.80v versus the stock 2.60, but I never actually tried overclocking at stock voltage, so I don't know that the added voltage really helped.

To me, seeing how far I could overclock was more about knowing how much margin of safety I have in day to day use. Running the timings above at DDR400, I know that for everyday use I'm only pushing the RAM to about 93% of what it's peak speed was in my testing. To me, that's good enough. I ran Prime95 for 40 hours w/o error in this configuration, so I'm pleased with it.

scorp · Post by **scorp** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:59 pm

JVM wrote:I don't trust cheap RAM. If it ain't expensive, I ain't gonna buy it

G.Skill is not cheap RAM. Some of the best TCCD based memories where made by G.Skill. They were the first to actually have DDR600 rated RAM at 1T. Definitely one of the best manufacturers around. Corsair or OCZ have nothing over them and (IMO at least) Mushkin and Kingston have inferior products.

davidstone28 · Post by **davidstone28** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:39 pm

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory ... undup.html

aqm consultant · Post by **aqm consultant** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:28 pm

I'm now up and running an x2 4800+, ASUS A8N-SLI Premium with 2x1Gb OCZ DDR3200 Dual Channel Titanium memory. According to OCZ, these should run at 2-3-2-5 timings. Leaving timing in BIOS on auto, CPU-Z says the timings are 2.5-3-3-5. If I change BIOS to manual and set CAS to 2, the system starts booting but hangs on the Windows screen with the scrolling bar. Anybody know what I'm doing wrong? I'm running Q-fan (which shouldn't make any difference) and Cool'N'Quite (which might). Otherwise, pretty much default BIOS settings.

Help?

hravn · Post by **hravn** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:39 pm

Probably memory errors. Run memtest86 and test if you get any errors. Not that uncommon, my CAS 2 Corsair XMS must be run on CAS 2.5 to work in the premium, otherwise I get a ton of errors. YMMV.

I guess I could return them, but I just don't have the energy

Need advice choosing Memory for ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

Need advice choosing Memory for ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

Won't boot at CAS 2