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Balancing overclocks RAM vs. CPU

Z

zlojack

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Joined
Nov 16, 2007
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38
I have been back and forth with my RAM and my CPU in overclocks.

I can get my CPU to 3.6 GHz (400x9) with 4GB RAM at 1066 5-5-5-12

However, when I add the additional 4GB of RAM (which is the same RAM, just different heatspreaders) I am limited to 3.42 (380x9) and 1013 5-5-5-12. It seems that 8GB just doesn't like a FSB higher than 380.

I guess I'm wondering if the added performance of the extra 4GB is more worthwhile than the extra 180 MHz on the CPU.

I mainly use my rig for gaming and some video editing for home DVDs.
 
In my opinion, unless your running a server, you shouldn't need more than 4 gigs of ram for gaming.
 
Well, it will if he lowers the FSB. I'd suspect that the difference will be pretty small either way, but since the CPU would definitely be slightly faster but I suspect that going from 4GB->8GB will be undetectable unless you're editing extremely large videos, using 4GB at a higher speed is probably faster.
 
Unless you're editing some pretty large videos, as Mithent said, 8GB of RAM won't be needed. Though if you want to play games AND do video editing at the same time, go for the 8GB of RAM :)

Also, Core 2 Duo systems perform best when the FSB and RAM are at a 1:1 ratio. There is little, if any, benefit from running the RAM faster than the FSB with a C2D system. Sure you may get higher synthetic and benchmarking scores but in real-world gaming or work, that won't translate to much. With gaming, you're looking at a 1FPS increase at best.

So going with the 4GB of slightly faster RAM won't help either. So try keeping your RAM at a 1:1 ratio and see if you can get back to 3.6Ghz.
 
Danny Bui said:
Unless you're editing some pretty large videos, as Mithent said, 8GB of RAM won't be needed. Though if you want to play games AND do video editing at the same time, go for the 8GB of RAM :)

Also, Core 2 Duo systems perform best when the FSB and RAM are at a 1:1 ratio. There is little, if any, benefit from running the RAM faster than the FSB with a C2D system. Sure you may get higher synthetic and benchmarking scores but in real-world gaming or work, that won't translate to much. With gaming, you're looking at a 1FPS increase at best.

So going with the 4GB of slightly faster RAM won't help either. So try keeping your RAM at a 1:1 ratio and see if you can get back to 3.6Ghz.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies guys.

Well I was under the impression that memory bandwidth>tighter timings on Intel chipsets.

I imagine that what you're saying applies to both C2D and C2Q processors?

I can get it to run at 1:1 at 3.6 with the memory at 4-4-4-11 800MHz

As you said, I probably won't notice much difference either way, and the RAM is installed and running fine right now at 1013 MHz.

Do you really think that clocking the RAM down and tightening up the timings will give me better performance?

This is my first build and I probably went overboard buying this much RAM, but I figured why not since it was so cheap.

The bottom line is, I want to get the most I can out of my hardware. :D
 
Yes what I said applies to Core 2 Duo and C2Q CPus. However, tightening the timings, like with the faster memory bandwidth, will increase your synthetic and benchmark scores but in real-world gaming, you'll only see an increase of 1-3 extra FPS depending on the game. So as long as you keep the FSB and RAM at a 1:1 ratio, you're pretty much set. Though if you really want that extra 1-3 FPS, tighten up the timings.
 
If your cpu bus is 400 (1600 fsb, mem should run at 800).

You want to keep that 1:1 ratio.

CPU bus: 425 (1650 fsb, mem @ 850) And your Core speed is bus times the multiplier (which is 8 or 9, it changes depending on your chip, so if you had a x8 multiplier, your running at 3.4GHz))
CPU bus: 450 (1700 fsb, mem @ 900)
CPU bus: 500 (2000 fsb, mem @ 1000) etc etc

You can go as high as you can as long you got the cooling and the power.

3.6 or 3.8+ is kinda scary I think for air.

2x2GB DDR2 800 4-4-4-12 Ram would be the best. A good brand should be able to OC to 850, 900, 1000+.
 
Danny Bui said:
Yes what I said applies to Core 2 Duo and C2Q CPus. However, tightening the timings, like with the faster memory bandwidth, will increase your synthetic and benchmark scores but in real-world gaming, you'll only see an increase of 1-3 extra FPS depending on the game. So as long as you keep the FSB and RAM at a 1:1 ratio, you're pretty much set. Though if you really want that extra 1-3 FPS, tighten up the timings.
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying, but if you can get 1-3 extra FPS from the memory, 1-3 from the CPU overclock and 1-3 from the GPU overclock, then you're getting close to a 10 FPS improvement, which can be nice.

colinstu said:
If your cpu bus is 400 (1600 fsb, mem should run at 800).

You want to keep that 1:1 ratio.

CPU bus: 425 (1650 fsb, mem @ 850) And your Core speed is bus times the multiplier (which is 8 or 9, it changes depending on your chip, so if you had a x8 multiplier, your running at 3.4GHz))
CPU bus: 450 (1700 fsb, mem @ 900)
CPU bus: 500 (2000 fsb, mem @ 1000) etc etc

You can go as high as you can as long you got the cooling and the power.

3.6 or 3.8+ is kinda scary I think for air.

2x2GB DDR2 800 4-4-4-12 Ram would be the best. A good brand should be able to OC to 850, 900, 1000+.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. This is the first forum where people have been insistent on the 1:1 ratio. The RAM I have can OC to 1000, but not at 1:1 because I can't take the FSB up to 500. Anything over about 440 and it crashes in Windows.

The multiplier on this CPU is anything between 6 and 9. I've been running it at 9x380.
 
I actually lowered my RAM speed from 800(factory) to 712 so that I could match up my core speed (Q6600 356x9) to get the 1:1 ratio. This lower speed allowed me to lower my factory ram settings from 5-5-5-18-22 down to 4-4-4-10-22. I found that the tighter ram timings gave me faster benchmarks than faster ram. But the difference was small.

But on the flip side, the lower speed also allowed me to go with lower volts through the RAM.
 
zlojack said:
I understand what you're saying, but if you can get 1-3 extra FPS from the memory, 1-3 from the CPU overclock and 1-3 from the GPU overclock, then you're getting close to a 10 FPS improvement, which can be nice.
Click to expand...

Depending on the game. Some games don't benefit at all from having the memory or CPU OC'd or tweaked. In fact many games out there benefit better from a faster GPU than CPU or RAM.
 
Danny Bui said:
Depending on the game. Some games don't benefit at all from having the memory or CPU OC'd or tweaked. In fact many games out there benefit better from a faster GPU than CPU or RAM.
Click to expand...
True enough.

So I should concentrate on getting more out of my GPU...
 
zlojack said:
True enough.

So I should concentrate on getting more out of my GPU...
Click to expand...

Atleast get your cpu bus to 400. If you can go higher np with the 1:1 ratio, keep going, but when you find a good limit, stop and get a good video card and overclock that.
 
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