Overclocking memory...

After reading what eclipse had written about "Memory overclocking", I have a few questions that people smarter than me can clue me into. I am pending arrival of my 680i board, and have a few questions about memory overclocking. I have always kept my memory timed at 1:1, 1t and everything else at stock. With my transition to DDR2 I understand that the increased latency is made up for given the increased data throughput.

I am looking at purchasing a 4gb kit from Gskil, 5-5-5-15 and have read that you can increase the timing a little bit with a dash of increased voltage. I would like to get the most from my CPU overclock without limiting it. If I can bring my conroe 6600 to say approx. 3.4, 3.5gz will I have to overclock my ram to make up for the increased data?

If so, will the timings of the current 4gb kits limit this, or do I have to loosen up the timings in order to keep a stable maxium overclock (air).

Does anybody know of pending kits from Corsair (hint redbeard, hint... ) or OCZ that have improved timings that would be better off waiting for, or will the current timings make minimal difference and just make the transition now? (currently on DDR platform, see sig for details)

Any data, suggestions are more than welcome... thanks

This memory ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231110

Its DDR2 667 (PC2-5300) for a double x 333 FSB soooo.....

If I can bring my conroe 6600 to say approx. 3.4, 3.5gz will I have to overclock my ram

Click to expand...

yes, see blah blah below

for DDR2 800 (PC2-6400) ram you could get to 9x 400 = 3.6GHz and your ram would be running at specification and not need "tweaks".

If so, will the timings of the current 4gb kits limit this, or do I have to loosen up the timings in order to keep a stable maxium overclock (air).

Click to expand...

Its the rated speed, not the timings so much, With the PC2-5200 you will certainly have to loosen the timings and bump the voltage to get anywhere near the targeted OC, if you can reach it at all.


If you really plan to try to max OC that CPU get PC6400 speed memory, it will make it so easy a caveman could do it,


------------ reference blah blah -----------------
It all depends on what speed (FSB x 2 for DDR2 runing 1:1) those memory timings are rated for. Here is example of what overclock you can expect based on rated ram speed. (How much you MIGHT could overclock the processor without stressing the ram or running it out of spec)

cpu speed = cpu mulitplier x FSB ------------- ram speed = FSB x 2


E6600 mulit 9 x 333 fsb = 3.0 GHz cpu -- memory running PC5300 (667MHz) in spec
E6600 multi 9 x 400 fsb = 3.6 GHz cpu -- memory running PC6400 (800MHz) in spec



So with your 6600 and PC5300 (667MHZ DDR) you could get to 3.0 GHz and not even overclock your memory or require relaxed timings. And thats only a fair OC and per typical overclocks per http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1138241
it seems you should be able to do 3.0GHz on an E6600 without even breaking a sweat.

If everything boots ok and windows loads at stock settings, bios defaults, download and install coretemp and Orthos for temp monitoring and testing. Set your FSB to 1/2 of your memorys rated speed (i.e 333 if memory is PC5300/667MHz), set the memory voltage to what the manufacturer recommends and I bet it will boot right up with a nice OC and you can play from there.

After that starting point you slowly raise the FSB and run memtest86+ to see when you need to give the ram more voltage (try 2.0V first) or loosen timings (try after voltage increase) as errors start to appear.

I've read that for any overclocking at all, one should go with the PC6400..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231122 is the memory that I am eyeballing pretty hard, and I have read that with a bumb in the voltage, that you can tighten up the timings a wee bit.

Opinions? Does it continue with DDR2 chipssets that if you fill all 4 of the memory slots, you loose a degree of "overclockability"? (Is that a word? If not, it should be...)

Also, I googled that setup, and at this point, I am unable to find out what chip that stick is set up with. Anybody have any idea? Micron, promo, other?

With the 680i, don't worry about it, you can run the memory completely separate from the FSB, it's called "unlinked" in the BIOS. Then you can run the FSB up as far as it will go, then run the memory up as far as it will go.

I would get 2 kits of these, 4-4-4-12 ddr2 800

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146565

Those can be easily overclocked to 1000mhz with 5-5-5-12 timings too. In fact I think the 1000mhz version

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146563

is the same thing, just set to 1000mhz and 5-5-5-12 timing.

Check out what this guys doing.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1146085

Mine are in the mail =D

edit: better deal

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820150054

dude those use the same micron d9's and it's $55 cheaper.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1141535

Thanks for the input. The only issue that I could have is that with my current setup, if you fill all 4 slots, you loose a level of stability with regards to your overclock. I'm not sure if this hold true for 680i boards, and If anybody has information on that, please share.

I'm holding out for OCZ and Corsair to release a 4GB kit, and see how those compare to the Gskill kit. Either way, time will tell.

sadly, i haven't gotten a chance to play with a 2x2gb kit yet.. that may change soon, but until then, i don't have much to offer on the kits themselves...

however, keep in mind that typically, 2x2gb won't oc as well as 2x1gb does. with that in mind, it might be wise to go for the pc6400.. i mean hell, you're already paying a stupidly large sum of money for some memory, why not spend a bit more?

(cf)Eclipse said:

sadly, i haven't gotten a chance to play with a 2x2gb kit yet.. that may change soon, but until then, i don't have much to offer on the kits themselves...

however, keep in mind that typically, 2x2gb won't oc as well as 2x1gb does. with that in mind, it might be wise to go for the pc6400.. i mean hell, you're already paying a stupidly large sum of money for some memory, why not spend a bit more?

Click to expand...

My logic exactly