Up the fsb or multiplier?

[AuroraProject]

What's the best way to a stable overclock? Increasing the fsb, or bumping the multiplier up? I'm using an X6800 so the multi is unlocked, I'm going for a stable 4ghz.

Is one better than the other, or is it just finding the right combination?

 

[sabregen]

if it's unlocked, it's all about the right combination. Unfortunately, finding the right combination on an unlocked multiplier chip does mean more work. if your board sensor can be read successfully, I'd recommend using Systool. Set your RAM low, and multiplier low, and tell it to find max FSB at each multiplier available to you. write it down...then do the math. Higher FSB is generally better, but also, highest FSB with RAM at 1:1 on good timings, with a good multiplier...is best. Find your max OC at each multiplier, and run some benches for your favorite games/programs. write it all down, and compare at the end. The highest of one, or the other, may yeild better results for applications that you use from day to day. I'd suspect you'll find a mixed bag of results. Certain program will do better on higher final OC, with lower timings, and some will do better on good timings, and faster FSB over highest OC. Sounds like you have some legwork to do....time to get your OC sleeves rolled up!

 

[ziddey]

It all depends on your components. You could settle for 400fsb at the 1066 strap and tight ram timings and just ramp it up. Or you could go up to 466fsb where the strap differences even out, and you come out benefiting from more memory bandwidth, but then when you've come this far, you might as well see how far you can go.

I'd personally probably start at 266fsb and see how high I can ramp the multiplier while keeping cpu stable. Then once the next multi is failing, use the last stable, and then climb fsb from 266 to see where your raw speed max is. Then I'd try to see what the highest fsb I could get from the equipment would be (would try to keep multiplier lower so as to not stress cpu) and see where max fsb is. Then calculate a good median to get best of both.