VOGONS


First post, by Nemo1985

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Hello fellow vogonians, over the internet, there is conflicting information about what the best chips are. Every experience is subjective and biased, and some are completely BS.
What I decided to do is test modules (mostly 1GB, but not only) to find out which ones are able to support the holy grail of timings!

Motherboard: DFI NF4 SLI-DR Expert (EX041106 Merlin BIOS)
Notes:
Drive Strength: Leaving DRAM/Data Drive Strength on AUTO can severely limit modules at 250MHz due to poor signal integrity. Setting these manually (8/4 is the best setting for 250 or 8/2 is the best setting for 200) is mandatory to unlock the true potential of these chips.
Modules with * are tested in dual channel configuration.
All modules are tested with 1T CPC unless stated otherwise; a 2T setting indicates that 1T was not stable.
For all the tests, voltage will be increased up to a maximum of v2.80 (which was the historical warranty limit for most high-end DDR1 modules). The only exceptions are Winbond BH5/CH5-based kits, which are excluded from this limit as they notoriously require much higher voltages (v3.20+).
A result is only validated after a complete pass of Memtest without any error.

1GB modules:
Hynix HY5DU12822DTP-D43:
750A (Year 2007 week 50):
200: 2-3-2-4 v2.70 (Drive Strength: AUTO)
250: 3-3-3-4 v2.60 (Drive Strength: AUTO)

008S (Year 2010 week 8) Corsair BP808:
200: 3-3-2-4 v2.50 (Drive Strength: AUTO)
250: 3-4-3-4 v2.52 (Drive Strength: AUTO)

Micron -5B F (MT16VDDT12864AY-40BF2) 2008 week 36:
200: 2.5-3-2-5 v2.80 (Drive Strength: AUTO)
250: 3-3-3-5 v2.80 (Drive Strength: 8/4)

Nanya/Elixir CS-5T:
200: 2-3-2-5 2T v2.52 (Drive Strength: AUTO)
250: 2.5-4-3-5 2T v2.63 (Drive Strength: 8/4)

Qimonda HYB25D512800DE-5 (0848 & 0902 datecodes)*:
200: 2-3-2-5 v2.50 (Drive Strength: 8/2)
250: 3-3-2-5 v2.50 (Drive Strength: 8/4)

Samsung TCCC BGA 746 (Year 2007 week 46) FAKE*:
200: 2-3-2-5 v2.31 (Drive Strength: AUTO)
250: 2.5-3-2-5 v2.60 (Drive Strength: 8/4)

Samsung LCCC 940 943 (Year 2009 week 40 and 43)*:
200: 2.5-3-2-5 v2.40 (Drive Strength: AUTO)
250: 3-3-3-5 2T v2.40 (Drive Strength: 8/4)

512MB modules:
Corsair Value Select (unknown chips) VS512MB400 (8 chips):
200: 2.5-2-3-3 v2.53 (Drive Strength: AUTO)
250: 3-3-3-3 v2.53 (Drive Strength: AUTO)

Infineon HYB25D512800BE-5 (8 chips) datecode 614:
200: 2-3-2-5 v2.50 (Drive Strength: 8/2)
230: 2.5-3-2-5 v2.50 (Drive Strength: 8/2)
250: CRASH

Infineon HYB25D256800CE-5 (16 chips) datecode 624:
200: 2-3-2-5 v2.50 (Drive Strength: 8/2)
250: CRASH

Last edited by Nemo1985 on 2026-05-29, 14:12. Edited 7 times in total.

Reply 1 of 11, by The Serpent Rider

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

For 1gb modules 2-2-2 is practically impossible. 2-3-2 is achievable and there was a bunch of Infineon and Micron (supposedly, never saw those irl) low latency modules. Hynix and Samsung just can't do low timings and 2-3-2 is very lucky or requires destructive voltage, but they usually can do 250+ MHz with relaxed timings.

For 512Mb find Samsung TCCD or Winbond BH5/CH5 modules. Patriot was probably one of the most famous manufacturers that made factory 2-2-2 400MHz modules with red radiators. Winbond was used on some early Kingston HyperX modules. Winbond memory was also used in generic modules which can be identified by two circles on TSOP packaging. Samsung TCCD was used only in premium modules.

Winbond specifically has an interesting quirk - it scales with voltage way beyond safe margins for other modules. 3.3v is absolutely normal operating conditions for Winbond, but only few boards can provide voltage up to 3.2v or above it.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 2 of 11, by Nemo1985

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

According to the information in a huge topic on hardwareluxx.de there are two 1gb modules capable of 2-2-2 at 200:
Hynix Revision "ETR"
ETR-E3C
ETR-FAC
From 2009\2010

Micron Revision "G" 5B G

I was able to find the latter ones but the first are very rare.

The best results I achieved are with Hynix HY5DU12822DTP-D43 with 2-3-2-4 v2.71.
BH-5 are very difficult to find, I have 2 modules of bh-6 but they are 256mb, same for tccd.

Reply 3 of 11, by The Serpent Rider

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

For 512Mb Samsung TCCC modules could also work. They don't scale the same way TCCD does, but if you're willing to run them beyond 2.9v, they can achieve 2-2-2. Fortunately, there's a ton of them sold cheap, so you can bin modules without worrying about their lifespan.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 4 of 11, by Nemo1985

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I updated the table with new tests due to the optimization of drive strenght.
What's dismantling is that the best memories are some kind of fake chinese memories.

Reply 5 of 11, by TransparentBlue

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Figured I'd contribute as I've had a similar goal in mind and I am currently deep into figuring out socket 939 overclocking (though mostly for a OC to the limit for best performance daily type build so 2-2-2-5 is not at all a priority), I am not quite ready to post results yet but here's a few things I've figured out

-DFI boards (at-least mine which is an Infinity NF4 SLI) seems to hate anything that isn't Winbond / Infineon AT-6 or 7.5, it refused to boot multiple settings that a few of my other boards (A8N32SLI, A8N-SLI Deluxe, 939A790GMH) just handle fine, your results seem to support that as well since some of those ICs should definitely go higher than that.

-BGA chips make a good deal of difference vs TSOP ones, though that is based on the assumption that internally the chips really are the same which might not be entirely true (seeing as there's also variations between late and early chips of a particular revision sometimes, though none that I know of for sure in the DDR1 space)

-PCBs make a good deal of difference too, though there it's hard to truly know for sure as some chips don't benefit as much and there's probably some unmarked / unknown PCBs that are just as good as the Brainpower ones, but if you get the choice between a nondescript PCB and one with a BP something parts number, go with the latter.

-ECC sticks clock a bit worse on average, ECC REG potentially might not (my best infineon 1GB stick is ECC REG), though that's provided you have a board that can handle them, you do also have to remember that many of the good memory ICs aren't found on ECC REG sticks (Hynix ETR, Winbond unless you have absolutely insane luck and find those mythical Corsair ECC REG Winbond sticks) though a few are exclusive to them (BGA Micron stuff there's a few revisions that are ECC REG only, nobody's tested them that I can find though), which is only Asus / Abit and maybe one other afaik (TAGG XOC has a video on 939 boards fit for OC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrIkn1tsmrE , it's not always correct but a lot of good info to be had still, you also have to remind yourself he comes from the extreme overclocking angle so anything not Winbond / TCCD he doesn't care about much, though he does have a socket 940 video where he's forced to use Qimonda CF-5 but he really doesn't go into much details)

-Hynix ETR is the best allrounder IC and it might just do 200+ 2-2-2-5 on 1GB sticks, especially if you're lucky enough to catch one with a Brainpower PCB, here is a link that has Hynix ETR guaranteed and a decent amount of stock https://www.ebay.com/itm/156833094053

-Always use extra cooling, it actually matters here since you're doing something fairly close to what would be considered the absolute limit on air cooling, you can grasp a few more Mhz or tighten timings one notch further just by pointing a fan on your sticks

-If you're really serious about 2-2-2-5, your best bet is handmade single sided sticks, check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Ou6sUxkg4 for how to bin individual chips, it takes a decent amount of soldering skills but from what I've been told the results are worth it (about 10-20 Mhz more with the same timings, maybe more if you had bad luck)

I'm waiting on a few more sticks of RAM next month before I get serious about going for the limit and post results (specifically I've found Micron revision M sticks and those I haven't found any info on)

Reply 6 of 11, by Nemo1985

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Thank you for those precious informations!
Dfi boards are fine, from what I heard the most finicky ones are the expert and venus (I'm currently using an expert and before a bios upgrade I had the same issue many stick refused to boot or gave memory undetected beeps).

I've heard about Hynix ETR, but they are hard to find, I've been in touch with that seller and he confirmed me that the pictures are placeholders he can't guarantee they will be Hynix ETR. Furthermore I live in Europe...

Crazy enough so far the best chips are bga and they probably come from server memories, unlucky they have been rebranded by chinese so it's impossible to find what's behind (I posted pictures of them in the last post).

I am also waiting for some memories but as for now I think I've tried almost every chip, I saw some uncommon Micron J but the I am unable to get in touch with the seller.

The attachment d09b9b60-3547-4567-b8cc-038b88c84b84_cr.jpg is no longer available

According to my tests more recent chips are not always better than older ones. I suppose that latest ddr1 chips were made to be cheap and not aimed to have great overclock capabilities.

Reply 7 of 11, by The Serpent Rider

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Nemo1985 wrote on 2026-05-30, 02:55:

I updated the table with new tests due to the optimization of drive strenght.
What's dismantling is that the best memories are some kind of fake chinese memories.

If that memory won't work at CL3, then it's probably Infineon.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 8 of 11, by Nemo1985

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
The Serpent Rider wrote on Yesterday, 08:26:
Nemo1985 wrote on 2026-05-30, 02:55:

I updated the table with new tests due to the optimization of drive strenght.
What's dismantling is that the best memories are some kind of fake chinese memories.

If that memory won't work at CL3, then it's probably Infineon.

Are there Infineon ddr1 bga chips don't work at cl3?
I didn't know that. I will try and report back

Reply 9 of 11, by The Serpent Rider

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Just Infineon in general.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 10 of 11, by TransparentBlue

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
Nemo1985 wrote on Yesterday, 08:03:

I've heard about Hynix ETR, but they are hard to find, I've been in touch with that seller and he confirmed me that the pictures are placeholders he can't guarantee they will be Hynix ETR. Furthermore I live in Europe...

Well for what it's worth I've bought a kit from that link and it was ETR (I'm also in the EU, the only real factor is postage being a bit more expensive than usual), some guy in the Hardwareluxx DDR1 thread did the same and also got ETR, but yeah ETR is a royal PITA to find otherwise, I've looked at thousands of listings across multiple sites and found maybe 5 with ETR, though I suspect there's a lot more than one might suspect at first it's just rebranded Kingston and Corsair most likely have it, sadly Corsair didn't do versions on Valueram (and DDR1 version are a lot less precise than latter generations anyways) but you might be able to figure out something based on production date (anything 2010 and up in TSOP package is very likely gonna be one of 3 things, Hynix ETR / Micron (they all behave fairly close to one another) / Qimonda revision D) and I do not even begin to understand how to decipher Kingston labels (besides the one trick where you can figure out the IC manufacturer with the fourth letter in hte vertical code, though on DDR1 it's not helpful as any Kingston labelled ICs result in the 4th letter being a K despite Kingston not manufacturing chip themselves) but if you can figure the date of production the same applies, now the real deal would be if someone could figure out which ICs are being used based on markings on those sticks.
Though I can share a couple more listing that have ETR, though here it's ECC, they should still work in regular mobo unlike ECC REG
https://www.ebay.com/itm/296698859054
https://www.ebay.com/itm/193350972009
https://www.ebay.com/itm/127725791482

Also to note, Crucial released sticks with non Micron memory (which they helpfully do not relabel) as can be seen here:
dqNs8m3.png

Also one thing I've failed to mention is that 1 DIMM per channel (as in motherboard with dual channel support but only two RAM slots) might also be a factor like it is with DDR3 and up, though granted finding such a motherboard is very hard for socket 939 but I think I've found one that has an Nforce 4 chipset and I might also give it a try since it's a very cheap board.

One last thing I should mention is to be very careful shopping for BGA DDR1, an unusually high amount of listings are actually DDR2 and mislabeled and obviously those will not work, it's also very often ECC REG which is not gonna work in every mobo.

Reply 11 of 11, by butjer1010

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

If i remember right, i had Super Talent memory back than with Abit NF7+XP mobile barton, and the timing was 2-2-2-5 on 200MHz and 2.5V. Will try to find this memory and sent You a picture. I think i still got it!

Edit: It's not in boxes, so probably in some case, and that would take long to find 🙁