Ah, OK, what Voltage was going through them? RAM really shouldn't be that hot...

Never known a module to fry unless it is self inflicted. RAM is pretty hardy, so even if it is hot, should not have much problems with heat. Besides the RAM heatsinks don't do much other than look pretty. Other components in the system are more likely to cause heat probs imo.

I personally think that heatsinks do serve a purpose, they look good and they do provide a bit of protection. Don't really think heatsinks should be necessary unless overvolting and overclocking, though.

They were running at 2.1V. They are rated at 2.1V and can support 2.5V. Remember I was using heavily overclocked 800MHz modules. When I put them in the system, they are recognised as the JEDEC standard: 800MHz at 5-5-5-18. EPP is just fancy wording for an overclocking profile (Enhanced Performance Profile), this basically just overclocks the nuts out of the modules, increasing frequency to 1066MHz, but instead of the expected loosening of timings, they are actually tightened to 5-5-5-15... you see where the heat comes from? They come with massive heatsinks and a cooling fan for a reason

I think 2.1V is quite a high voltage for RAM when you compare it to others. Those might just be hot running naturally, then.

2.1V/2.2V seems to be about standard for 1066MHz DDR2 modules. They are auto up-volted to this if the voltage control is left on automatic, otherwise they stay fixed at 1.9V. 1066MHz modules run hot

Oh, true, I've only been looking at 800MHz modules, really.

How stable are these DDR2 1333Mhz modules. I'm guessing these will be slightly hotter?

DDR2 1333MHz? I haven't seen any of those, the fastest I can find are these incredibly expensive modules, and they're only 1250MHz.

I'm guessing you mean 1066MHz or DDR3?

DDR3 1333MHz aren't too bad. DDR2 1333MHz are made of fire.

I have never seen a DDR2 1333MHz, can someone link me some?

Got two links that get close. They are out there, but i will try to find the exact answer to your question.

The Kingston on offer would be fairly good for a new budget build..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productli ... &subid=817

The Team modules i assume are new, being on a P35 Chipset?

http://www.memoryc.com/computermemory/d ... =PC2+10400

Getting closer..

On the OCUK page, the OCR deal at the bottom would probably be best for a budget build. 4GB of high speed at that price, it's a bit slower than others, but a lot cheaper. Crazy heatsinks, though.

Yeah man. Don't know how, i missed that!. Agree they would be good.

If only I was building a system right now I'd snap those up in a sec. Can get chepear, but not as fast (800MHz modules).

Yeah, me too. I was thinking of getting some bog standard (as it were) PC3200, but 2 gigs worth, if cheap enough.

PC3200 is only bog standard for DDR spec. PC4200 is the lowest for DDR2, and some processors' "bog standard" will be higher than that, due to the ever increasing FSBs.

I'm staying away from PC2-8500. Nasty stuff.

Next build I'm doing in a weeks time will be PC2-6400 at about 4-4-4-12. Not as extreme but it'll be more reliable, and chances are that it will actually work at that speed. I've heard lots of crap about PC2-8500 not working at their rated speed, and I am now a witness to that. PC2-8500 is simply PC2-6400 with an overclocking profile. They are not produced as 1066MHz parts, merely overclocked to it. If I were to go for a 1066MHz module again, I would go for DDR3 as they can do it at a lower voltage and produce less heat. 1066MHz modules are really hot.

In my AMD Socket 939 system, I had 2GB of Corsair XMS, it was extremely fast with super-low-latency. It was 400MHz at 2-2-2-5.

From what I've seen of benchmarks, latencies are becoming less important now, especially with Intel processors.

I can understand avoiding PC2-8500, but PC3 is too expensive in both the RAM and the motherboard. I would have thought it would be "expensive but affordable" by now, not ridiculously overpriced.

I thought latency would be even more crucial now, what with AMD's memory bandwidth still being higher than Intel's at least until Intel bring out their CSI architecture.

Vista notices the difference, though. Simply changing an 800MHz 5-5-5-18 module to 5-5-5-15 increases the memory performance rating from 5.8 to 5.9.

I think in real world benchmarks the latencies don't really have that much affect. Vista performance ratings are based on arbitrary logic, so aren't much to go by.

I could be wrong, though, I am going off memory for this.

Mid 2007 saw the death of Athlon 64 and X2 and nothing else happened. Shame, really.

Heh, yeah, I don;t think I've seen many promises delivered for a long time.

Meant bog standard as in non high end Matched Pair. OC Value Select is what i want.

Yeah, you're just confusing me with the PC numbers as PC3200 is only DDR, unless that's what you want?