Buffalo FireStix: Red Hot Name for a New High-End Memory
by Wesley Fink on July 22, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Buffalo FireStix PC4000
While FireStix are available in both DDR433 and DDR500 speeds, we decided to look at the DDR500 FireStix.
Test DIMMs were a matched pair of 512MB double-sided DDR DIMMs with bright red aluminum heatspreaders.
Buffalo made no bones about the fact that these chips were based on Hynix B revision memory chips, which are selected for best performance. We have seen Hynix B memory chips used in some of the fastest DDR500 and 533 memory that we have tested from Corsair, OCZ, Mushkin, and others.
Buffalo FireStix PC4000 Specifications
| Buffalo FireStix PC4000 Memory Specifications | |
| Number of DIMMs & Banks | 2 DS |
| DIMM Size Total Memory |
512 MB 1 GB |
| Rated Timings | 3-4-4 at DDR500 |
| Rated Voltage | 2.75V |
While Buffalo rates their DDR500 FireStix at 3-4-4 timings, we have seen other memory based on Hynix B chips perform at some of the better DDR500 timings of 2.5-3-4. In addition, Hynix B memory normally will perform at 2-3-3 timings at DDR400 - much faster than we normally see with higher speed memory at DDR400.
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rahzim - Sunday, July 25, 2004 - link
Hi,Just had a few questions about overclocked/high performance ddr ram in general. Im about to build a computer waiting for the msi neo2 mb and want fast memory for it. Only thing is i read that most of the memory im looking at namely DDR550 is overclocked and wont actually run at that speed unless you overclock the fsb.
Is it just a matter of setting the timings and voltages in the mb bios to get the ram to perform at ddr550 speeds, or do i also need to adjust the fsb? Will I have any trouble getting speeds around pc4400 with a nforce3 250 chipset / athlon fx 53?
IkeEisenhower - Saturday, July 24, 2004 - link
I dunno about awful names, there seems to be a sub-trend of names that seem to denote product suitability for the "just okay" mediocre PC you get tricked into building for your cousin or some distant friend... e.g.:Foxconn Athlon motherboards,
Albatron's "Proll" (Prole?) mobos,
Powmax PSUs,
XFX video cards,
Firestix memory,
so on and so forth, they just SOUND right...
BlackMamba - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
I love these awful names for memory products. :)Bozo Galora - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Off topic, but the blue/grey before white page load is still happening (Firefox .0.9.2)Man, these timely reviews are coming like a
waterfall.(Wesly is the best)
Are we spiffing up the site for a possible sale??
johnsonx - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Isn't Jolly Rancher going to be upset about Buffalo using their name? I don't see them much anymore, but I'm pretty sure Firestix is what Jolly Rancher called their firey-hot cinnamon candy sticks. I mostly see the small bite-size ones now, but the sticks still exist as far as I know.Zebo - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Excellent article thanks:)Little secret for my anandtech friends..Go the Circut City and they have the same ram labled as kingston value ram PC3200 for $68-$99 for 512 depending on the day..
You mustlook through the boxes which are clear plastic until you find one with "Hynix BT-D43" chips labeled as such... Just awesome and found on expensive PC4200 modules...as you see.
Calin - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
I love the colored bar for the memory in discussion. It makes reading the article much more enjoyableAnand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Fixed :)TrogdorJW - Thursday, July 22, 2004 - link
Hey, the new graphs are great. One small problem, though. All the graph images are 450x450, but the HTML is specifying a 450x337 size, so they're getting a little squished vertically.