Overclocking CPU and RAM settings

[HORNO]

I am thinking about overclocking my i7 920. I've never overclocked... I've read a bunch of online beginning guides, but am still a little unsure in some areas. I would be happy with a 3.6 or 3.8Ghz overclock. 4.0Ghz would be nice, but if that's too difficult for a beginner to get to... I would be fine with 3.6 or 3.8.

That being said, I wanted to know about how an overclock affects RAM. I just want to overclock the CPU. I'm not interested in doing the RAM. When I built my computer, the Mushkin RAM that I bought ran at 1600Mhz, but when i fired up the computer for the first time it was only running at 1066Mhz. I know this is common and a Mushkin rep helped me get the timings to their proper specs.

My question is... If I do a CPU overclock will I need to change anything in the RAM or can I keep those RAM settings where they are? I really... really don't want to mess with any RAM settings if I don't have to for a 3.6 or 3.8 overclock. Also, my motherboard has a CPU Level Up setting which gives the CPU a slight boost to 3.2. If I did a CPU Level Up, would this affect the RAM settings?

Any advice on this would be massively appreciated. I'm a little worried about jumping into overclocking. I am not trying to push the computer to it's limits... just trying to get a little more power out of the CPU.

Thanks!

 

[thesecond]

I am thinking about overclocking my i7 920. I've never overclocked... I've read a bunch of online beginning guides, but am still a little unsure in some areas. I would be happy with a 3.6 or 3.8Ghz overclock. 4.0Ghz would be nice, but if that's too difficult for a beginner to get to... I would be fine with 3.6 or 3.8.

That being said, I wanted to know about how an overclock affects RAM. I just want to overclock the CPU. I'm not interested in doing the RAM. When I built my computer, the Mushkin RAM that I bought ran at 1600Mhz, but when i fired up the computer for the first time it was only running at 1066Mhz. I know this is common and a Mushkin rep helped me get the timings to their proper specs.

My question is... If I do a CPU overclock will I need to change anything in the RAM or can I keep those RAM settings where they are? I really... really don't want to mess with any RAM settings if I don't have to for a 3.6 or 3.8 overclock. Also, my motherboard has a CPU Level Up setting which gives the CPU a slight boost to 3.2. If I did a CPU Level Up, would this affect the RAM settings?

Any advice on this would be massively appreciated. I'm a little worried about jumping into overclocking. I am not trying to push the computer to it's limits... just trying to get a little more power out of the CPU.

Thanks!

First things first, if you want to overclock your CPU without an unlocked multiplier, you MUST overclock the ram.

Second thing. Default ram speeds on an i7 are 1066mhz. Your mushkin ram is rated to run up to 1600mhz overclocked.

Now, since you have a 920 (which is not unlocked), you will have to overclock by modifying the base clock (BCLK), which will resultantly overclock the ram.
Basically, CPU clock = BCLK * CPU Multiplier, and RAM Clock = BCLK * RAM multiplier.

The way you prevent yourself from going over your ram's rated limit is to change the memory multiplier which is available to you in your bios .

CPU level up WILL affect the ram timings. But as i said, it will be fine, and if it goes over 1600mhz, just knock down the ram multiplier.

Now, with your ram, make sure the timings and frequencies match the specs. Default ram timings in an i7 run 1066mhz at 8-8-8-24 timings. I'm just guessing your ram is rated at 1600mhz with 9-9-9-24 timings, so make sure you make that adjustment in the bios.

 

[Tsumi]

You do NOT HAVE to overclock your RAM to overclock your processor. You just make sure that the memory multiplier has the RAM frequency below its rated frequency, and you should be fine.

The easiest thing to do I think would be to set the BCLK to 200, and change the RAM multiplier to 4. That would give you a simple 1600 mhz setting on your RAM. Change the CPU multiplier to 17 (3.4 ghz), and disable every special technology (CPU level up, C1E, etc). Change the vcore to 1.3, CPU PLL voltage to 1.9, and QPI voltage to 1.3. Test for stability, and then increase the CPU multiplier one at a time until you get instability. If you have a D0 processor, I think you should be able to hit 3.8 ghz, if not 4 ghz. C0, you might be stopped at 3.6 ghz.