1333 MHZ Ram for Q9650 Intel Quad Core

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choppedliver

Limp Gawd
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Jan 3, 2005
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Need some suggestions on good RAM for the Q9650 3ghz quad.

Ive heard some people say they have gotten the Q9650 to run at 4ghz pretty easily. Does this require increasing the RAM speed or just the mulitiplier? If its just the multiplier, I really dont need any ridiculously overclocking ram, just the stock speed will do. Besides that, I plan on buying 16gb, so it cant be *too * expensive
 
It is not possible to increase the multiplier of the Q9650, so you'll need to increase the FSB. Since it has a 9x multiplier, your minimum RAM speed at 4GHz would be 890MHz, so you will not need 1333MHz RAM. However, a possible issue is the fact that you want 16GB of RAM.

To have 16GB, you'll need to use four 4GB DIMMs. Newegg currently has three listings for kits that have 4GB DIMMs, two of which are identical (one is an 8GB kit of 2x4GB DIMMs and the other is a 16GB kit of 4x4GB DIMMs), and all of which are rated for 800MHz only. You may be able to overclock them to 890MHz, but since they're very large I'm not sure if they'd be able to handle that kind of an overclock. Here are the listings:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231183
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231182
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227354
 
Ok obviously Ive been out of the hardware scene for a few years, my old computer served me faithfully. Im seeing boards for this chip with ddr2 and ddr3 ram.

The ddr3 ones seem to be higher rated speed, which is what I would need to hit the mark I want to hit. But ddr3 seems to have the higher density chips? All I see is 4gig as 2x2

The ddr2 arent rated as high speed, but I can get 4gig as 4 x 1 which is what I want to use so I can get 16gigs.

Damnit! Any ideas?
 
Effective RAM speed is half the effective bus speed. What you want to do is consider the reference FSB clock. For 1333MHz bus speed CPUs, the reference FSB clock is 333MHz, which is quad-pumped to 1333MHz. To find your nominal effective RAM speed (meaning the minimum speed you can have your memory running at, which would be using your 1:1 FSB:memory ratio), you multiply your reference FSB clock by two.

With regards to CPU speed, your clock speed is equal to the reference FSB clock multiplied by the set multiplier. To grab the example from my previous post, RAM running at 890MHz would mean that the reference FSB clock is RAM/2, or 445MHz. At that FSB speed and using the default 9x multiplier of the Q9650, your CPU speed would be 445MHz*9 = 4005MHz.

As for RAM densities, based on what I found from Newegg, the only way you can get 16GB of memory is by using DDR2, because there are no 4GB DDR3 DIMMs available. I recommend you go with DDR2 anyway, because DDR3 offers no tangible performance benefits over DDR2 with Core 2-based systems.
 
Very helpful... My last system I built was about 4 years ago, so Ive been out of the loop for a bit. So Im facing the possibility of a lower overclock, but meeting my 16gb RAM target , or , lowering my amount of ram to 8gb, with the possibility of a better overclock.

Now does overclocking the system bus increase the ram speed proportionately? Or can I increase the system bus to get my 4ghz overclock and either leave the ram speed alone or increase it less than proportionately. I seem to remember my old system would let me do that

Thanks again for the help. Im getting back in the know here and things have changed quite a bit since last time I put a machine together. I tend to build one every 4 years or so and when I do i build the baddest machine my money will allow, and leave it alone till next time i build one.
 
choppedliver said:
Now does overclocking the system bus increase the ram speed proportionately? Or can I increase the system bus to get my 4ghz overclock and either leave the ram speed alone or increase it less than proportionately. I seem to remember my old system would let me do that
Click to expand...

Current Intel-based systems using Intel chipsets are limited to a minimum of a 1:1 FSB to memory ratio. This means that for every single MHz that you raise your FSB by, you raise your effective RAM speed by 2MHz (since it's DDR; effective speed is base clock*2). In other words, your memory increases at the same rate or at a higher rate than your FSB. It is not possible to raise your FSB without raising your RAM speed by at least the same amount.
 
16gb memory implies 64-bit. 4gb dimms implies ddr2 (right now anyway).

choppedliver: If you don't need 16gb don't get it. It's going to be fairly expensive and you'll lessen the chance of reaching 4ghz. Your max OC will be determined by the slowest of your dimms.
 
The more I read, the more Im considering going with 8bg instead. Still a lot of ram, and more likely to reach a successful overclock. I also didnt realize how close Nehalem is, which at the same clock speed, is going to mop the floor of the penryn q9650 at similar clock speed
 
choppedliver said:
The more I read, the more Im considering going with 8bg instead. Still a lot of ram, and more likely to reach a successful overclock. I also didnt realize how close Nehalem is, which at the same clock speed, is going to mop the floor of the penryn q9650 at similar clock speed
Click to expand...

Not really mop the floor, but there are a significant number of architectural innovations with Nehalem.
 
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