DDR2 1066 Memory Overclocking Question Please Help A Noob!

[Thorn2008]

I am about to upgrade to a Intel E8500 on Monday having already upgraded my Video card to a 512 8800GTS so I will be getting a Motherboard, CPU and Ram. Now the Motherboard I am getting is a Gigabyte X48-DQ6 motherboard shown here:

http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2763

According to the Motherboards Specs it supports up to DDR2 1200 Ram (I am guessing looking at the chipset that it will support DDRIII with a bios update but not out of the box?)

Here is the Supported Memory list for the GA-X48-DQ6 :

http://www.giga-byte.com/FileList/MemorySupport/motherboard_memory_ga-x48-dq6.pdf

The problem is my local store only sells Selected Memory i.e DDR2 800, DDR2 1066 and DDR3 1333 since this is the case my best bet is to go with DDR2 1066? On the Supported Memory Page it says it supports 1066 ram and then it says in brackets 'Overclock to DDR2 1200'. Now what does this exactly mean? Does it mean I have to Overclock it to DDR2 1200 speeds or is it done automatically by the motherboard? Does this mean it won't boot with DDR2 1066 Ram installed at stock speeds?

If so how do I overclock the Memory out of the box using the Bios? I have overclocked and upgraded a few times but I have never touched the memory speeds before so sorry if I sould a bit noob !

I am really looking forward to getting my new upgrade up and running, after a windows reinstall of course! I can go and get DDR2 1200 memory if it is too much of a pain in the butt but that will involve a bit of a drive and I am getting the Motherboard and CPU at a store nearby!

Please help!

Thanks !

 

[Forceman]

Your best bet with that processor is to get some DDR2-1066 (or -1000). At this point DDR2-1200 is a marketing tool (600 FSB? really?) The easiest way to run is to link the memory at 1:1 to the FSB and then overclock the FSB as high as you can go with your processor. The E8500 should be good for 400+, which is why you'll probably want something better than DDR2-800. Curious why you decided to go with the X48 over the P35 or X38? And that motherboard looks to be DDR2 only, no sockets for DDR3.

 

[Thorn2008]

Your best bet with that processor is to get some DDR2-1066 (or -1000). At this point DDR2-1200 is a marketing tool (600 FSB? really?) The easiest way to run is to link the memory at 1:1 to the FSB and then overclock the FSB as high as you can go with your processor. The E8500 should be good for 400+, which is why you'll probably want something better than DDR2-800. Curious why you decided to go with the X48 over the P35 or X38? And that motherboard looks to be DDR2 only, no sockets for DDR3.

So it supports 1066 memory at stock speeds I am just better off pushing the FSB up to increase perfromance? Yeah I definately didn't go as low as DDR800 because like you said its stock speed is too low which is why I was leaning towards DDR2 1066!

I saw a review recently where they pushed the E8500 from 3.16 to 4.0 gighz on stock cooling! They even ran it overnight using testing software they said it ran stable! I guess the new 45nm Processors are quite efficient and run cool?

I chose this motherboard firstly because the X48 is the latest revision of the X38 motherboard and if you compare the 2 the X48 has some nice cooling features and saves alot more power and is generally more efficient than the X38, plus it has a newer bios etc. The reason I was interested in the X-- range is firstly apparently they run quite well and you see where the SATA ports are? On the side of the motherboard, well on the P35 they are below one of the PCI-E slots, so what you may ask? Have you seen how big the 512 8800 GTS is? My current K8N-SLI has the SATA ports in a similar spot to the P35, guess what? 2 of my 4 SATA ports are unusable because the Video Card literally sits mm's above 2 of my ports! the X48 and X38 has them over on the side for this reason!

Feature wise the X48 is great and while it doesn't support DDR3 I dont really need it as I will be pushing my DDR2 1066 memory up to similar speeds anyhow!

Understanding what you are saying if I up the FSB it will automatically increase the memory speed?

Thanks!