Faster mem or faster CPU?

[HighwayAssassins]

I just bought a water cooling kit and some kingston hyperx PC4000 mem to go into the system in my sig. since i can get 3.71GHz on air, i figgure i can at least hit 4.0GHz, probably more. My question is this: At 4.0GHz, my FSB will be exactly 250, (my multiplier is 16.) So, in other words, i can hit 4.0 GHz and have my memory 1:1.

Would it be better to leave the FSB at 250 and run the mem 1:1, or up the FSB (if i can) and use a divider 5:4 for the memory?

So my timings would be:

4.2GHz, mem 210
4.4GHz, mem 220

So basically, is it better to have slightly faster mem or faster CPU? Thanks and sorry for the long winded quesion

 

[xonik]

Faster CPU. Fast memory rarely causes tangible performance benefits in real-world applications.

 

[fore1337]

I just bought a water cooling kit and some kingston hyperx PC4000 mem to go into the system in my sig. since i can get 3.71GHz on air, i figgure i can at least hit 4.0GHz, probably more. My question is this: At 4.0GHz, my FSB will be exactly 250, (my multiplier is 16.) So, in other words, i can hit 4.0 GHz and have my memory 1:1.

Would it be better to leave the FSB at 250 and run the mem 1:1, or up the FSB (if i can) and use a divider 5:4 for the memory?

So my timings would be:

4.2GHz, mem 210
4.4GHz, mem 220

So basically, is it better to have slightly faster mem or faster CPU? Thanks and sorry for the long winded quesion

We have very similar rigs.
P4 3.2E D0, IC7-G, HyperX PC4000 3-4-4-8, custom water cooled system.
Using all DangerDen ½” dia fittings etc.

People have gotten HyperX PC4000 (Hynx chips) RAM to 260mhz @ stock voltage. That’s a potential of 4160mhz core. ..at 1:1 ratio. If you can get good cooling across that memory and a slight over-volt… who knows?


I’ve been having some stability issues around 4ghz… even after cranking the Vcore up to 1.61v
I’m goona hook up a water-block to the chipset and try again. …I didn’t realize how freaking hot that thing gets.

I’ll PM ya on any progress.

-Fore

 

[HighwayAssassins]

We have very similar rigs.
P4 3.2E D0, IC7-G, HyperX PC4000 3-4-4-8, custom water cooled system.
Using all DangerDen ½” dia fittings etc.

People have gotten HyperX PC4000 (Hynx chips) RAM to 260mhz @ stock voltage. That’s a potential of 4160mhz core. ..at 1:1 ratio. If you can get good cooling across that memory and a slight over-volt… who knows?


I’ve been having some stability issues around 4ghz… even after cranking the Vcore up to 1.61v
I’m goona hook up a water-block to the chipset and try again. …I didn’t realize how freaking hot that thing gets.

I’ll PM ya on any progress.

-Fore

Damn thats nuts, our systems are virtually identical! be careful with your volts...1.55 is teh max from what i hear. So you are saying that the nb might be the reason teh system is unstable?

 

[Sideroxylon]

For whatever reason it's tough to hit the 4g mark with the 478's. I have a Koolance Exos setup and can't get mine stable at 3.9g. I can get it to boot into XP and get all startup progs to run but as soon as I get into anything intensive it reboots. I too had my cpu voltage at 1.61 and still not stable. So, I took it up to 1.65 and it wouldn't boot at all. I think that after a certain voltage it just wont post at all. So, I think I reached the limit of my chip.

As for the Northbridge, it does have a lot to do with how stable yor system runs. Mine actually gets hotter than my cpu under load. It's still using the stock hsf so that's understandable. I'm planning on building a custom WC setup soon and the northbridge will be in the loop this time. Maybe that will get me stable at 3.9g.

Good luck on your OC and I hope you break the 4g mark!!!

 

[SocketA]

Faster CPU.

 

[fore1337]

I totally believe that it's my Northbridge chipset Temperatures.

I can get through 7/8 of the 3Dmark05 bench... the computer finally reboots during the 2nd of 3 CPU only tests.

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contrast n compare
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I started thinking about this problem after throwing a new DFI LanParty 875P-B rev.B board in the water rig. Strange, this is the first 875P board I’ve seen without a chipset fan cooling system. …well at stock frequencies, that HSK is hot as hell! I tried doing a light OC on the LanParty… nope no way… I couldn’t even get into windows.

I am convinced that the NorthBridge Temps were holding me back.

Luckily I have 2 different Maze-4 DDen NB blocks here that I can try out on this board. …I never ran one because the DDen Chipset block interferes with my NV80 water-block kit.

Well.. I need to find some 4-40 x 1.5” screws to replace the spring loaded all-thread contraptions on the GPU HSK.

 

[fore1337]

Damn thats nuts, our systems are virtually identical! be careful with your volts...1.55 is teh max from what i hear. So you are saying that the nb might be the reason teh system is unstable?

These are the voltages which I was able to run the FSB stable.
I ran 3DMark05, FarCry rev 1.2 ~30minutes, Doom3 ~ 30minutes.

All are stable as per above tests:
FSB 225 stock voltage.
FSB 230 stock voltage.
FSB 235 1.41v modified CPU Throttling option in BIOS 50%->75%.
FSB 240 1.4625V Tmax 46C

unstable w/o water nb cooler: Tmax 50C
FSB 250 1.5625v, 1.5875v, 1.6125v (very briefly)
@ all of these voltage settings I could get through 3DMark05, until the CPU only tests came on, then smells started coming off the board. My X-Connect started smelling like hot glue. …and the system would reboot.

I believe my NB couldn’t handle the temps…

 

[DR_K13]

oi! get another cpu. I am a Big AMD fan ( no flames please ) But I am very impressed my the new P 4 hyper theading chips, I just Borged one at work for Folding@home and man does that thing fly!!!!-

 

[Furystrike]

DEFINATELY go the cpu route, memory just wont help you that much more