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A-51 ALX lvl3 Overclock fail - low quality ram?
So i've been having long running problems with A-51 ALX and the command center/ IO board fan speed as detailed in another epic thread. The new replacement PC has now arrived.
However I noted that the replacement was fitted with Samsung DD3 1330MHz ram chips with no heatsinks (overclock lvl3 to 1550MHz). Immediately on boot up the overclock lvl3 settings (as shipped from factory) failed and reset themselves to no overclock.
Original ALX = 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator
Replacement ALX = 12GB DDR3 1330MHz Samsung
I was told the factory was out of stock of the 1600MHz chips and it was no longer possible to spec them on ALX machines. Both US and EU Dell websites have removed them from the options list. However the spec of the machines on the website still says 1600MHz ram. I spoke to Corsair directly and they say they have ample supply of DDR3 1600MHz. I agreed with Dell that they could ship me the replacement machine with lower speed ram so long as they made the value equivalent to the 1600MHz. So they gave me an upgrade to 12GB instead and charged me a futher small sum of money because apparently 12GB of 1330MHz is more expensive than 6GB of 1600MHz..
To my disapointment the Samsung rams are of a much lower quality of specification and dont appear to be safe or stable to overclock. I might have more ram... but really the monetary value of them isnt anywhere near what I paid for the original Corsairs. I'd also note that Dell motherboards have only 3 dimm slots and not 6, which means to upgrade you are always forced to use high capacity memory stick combinations (ie. 12GB = 3x4GB and not 6x2GB).
Bottom line is I dont think Dell have made a fair and equivalent trade here for the original paid for deffective machine. I'd have expected the components of the new machine to be at least of equal specification and not lesser. I'd also expect a machine which is sold as lvl3 overclock capable to have components which are suited and stable to that rating.
Anyone else been able to get a DDR3 1600MHz specified recently? and if you've been sold 1330MHz did you get Corsairs or Samsung memory?
Is your overclock lvl1-3 settings from BIOS holding at all?
The fact that 1333MHz RAM wont work at 1550Mhz isnt really a suprise. It doesnt mean they are bad quality just a lower spec.
You obviously agreed to have the lower spec RAM in your negotiations with DELL so dont see much of a case against them there. However if you paid for a factory O/C to L3 and it physically wont work now then I think you should get some sort of recompense. Best would be to return the RAM for a refund and buy your own 1600MHz RAM from Corsair or whoever your self.
I agreed for them to provide more ram at 1330 in lieu of 1600. What I didnt expect was that they would pop in any old ram chip off Dell stock into a top of the line A-51. I'd have expected some equivalent Corsairs at 1330 which were lvl3 overclock ready.
Sadly I am told by Dell customer services that they dont do refunds. Otherwise I would just buy another set of Corsairs since they are about half the price direct than buying them through Dell.
I just tried that out. Swapped the 1600MHz Corsairs over.
The BIOS is now showing 6144GB of RAM at 1066MHz (133x8). So something isnt right. The overclock settings from BIOS dont seem to be doing anything.
I tried manually changing the DDR memory voltage and timings to match the stated info on the dimms instead of auto settings. But it's not recognizing it as 1600MHz.
9-9-9-24 timing, 1.65V
Any ideas?
djkizzle
24 Posts
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Posted March 20th, 2010 09:00
I know this is slightly off topic but why is it that the Aurora have 6 slots and the larger Area 51 only has 3 slots?