overclocking memory

[Darkgundam111]

My motherboard is the Biostar TA790GX XE, and the memory is Corsair XMS2 DHX CM2X2048-6400C4DHX. The speeds at stock for the memory is 800mhz @ 4-4-4-12.

Now I have a few questions about overclocking the ram. What is the limit of voltage for these ram sticks?

If anyone has experience with this biostar motherboard, where is the FSB to ram ratio setting in the bios?

How do i check temps for ram? and what is safe for temps?

Is overclocking the fsb the only way to increase the speed of the memory?

 

[Mussels]

2.1-2.2V is commonly used for overclocks. Its possible to overheat in a poorly cooled case, but the ram wont take damage from it. If your ram is 2.1v at stock, i'd suggest 2.3v as your maximum voltage.

temps: stick your finger on it. if you feel pain, its too hot.

yes, for the most part. you can raise the FSB to ram divider, but that tends to do big leaps only (800 to 1066 is a bit of a jump, my 800MHz corsair only does 960Mhz at 2.1v)

 

[Darkgundam111]

ok, so i did some overclocking, and i found something really strange. WHen I set the timings in my bios, it changes from what i set it to. I mean that say i set it to 5-5-5-12. then when in windows, i use cpu-z and it says its set at 5-7-7-12. THen i re did the timings and it gave me 5-5-5-11. Is this normal??? i double checked before i set the timings, so i doubt i accidentally changed it. On top of that, 12 is the lowest trc value i could set in the bios. 11 is just strange...

 

[Kweku]

Sounds interesting to overclock ram, maybe one should try it out, what performance gain will I get out of it?

 

[Mussels]

what performance gain will I get out of it?

not much, unless your ram was holding you back in the first place. ram overclocks are more or less common only cause you have to OC your ram to OC your CPU.

 

[Kweku]

Ahhh. Then I guess I'm okay with that.

 

[Studabaker]

Good luck with yours man, I got a bad batch, supposedly they quit using the high quality chips (I guess they had Micron d9?). My mem won't even get close running at 900 stable.

 

[Bo$$]

mine are rated 677 and will do 800 easy

 

[BarbaricSoul]

ram overclocks are more or less common only cause you have to OC your ram to OC your CPU.

No you don't. I can take my CPU to whatever OC I want(provided the CPU can do the OC) and and keep my RAM at it's stock settings of 800/4.4.4.12 . I've done this with my EVGA 750ftw nvidia chipset board, a p35 DFI LP DK board, and a ASUS AV8 socket 939 motherboard. Yes I normally OC my RAM(my 800/4.4.4.12 ballistix is running at 1020/5.5.5.15 right now), but I don't have to if I don't want to. I have one word for you, UNLINKED

 

[Mussels]

No you don't. I can take my CPU to whatever OC I want(provided the CPU can do the OC) and and keep my RAM at it's stock settings of 800/4.4.4.12 . I've done this with my EVGA 750ftw nvidia chipset board, a p35 DFI LP DK board, and a ASUS AV8 socket 939 motherboard. Yes I normally OC my RAM(my 800/4.4.4.12 ballistix is running at 1020/5.5.5.15 right now), but I don't have to if I don't want to. I have one word for you, UNLINKED

unlinked is a feature only provided on Nvidia chipsets. I'd like you to link me to anything that proves it works on other chipsets.

 

[Studabaker]

unlinked is a feature only provided on Nvidia chipsets. I'd like you to link me to anything that proves it works on other chipsets.

I've done it on this P45 board.

 

[Mussels]

I've done it on this P45 board.

i know that P35 and x48 dont do it, P45 might be an exception.

 

[Studabaker]

i know that P35 and x48 dont do it, P45 might be an exception.

You know when he says unlinked, he means when you're running it at a fraction of the speed, right? A lot of people confuse not running 1:1 and running at a lower ratio to be 'unlinked' when basically it's still linked, just forced to run at a fraction of the bus speed. Even nVidia chipsets don't truly 'unlink', it'll still always run at an internally accepted fraction. I know I don't have to educate you about this one Mussels, just saying for Barbaric and all parties involved.

 

[Mussels]

You know when he says unlinked, he means when you're running it at a fraction of the speed, right? A lot of people confuse not running 1:1 and running at a lower ratio to be 'unlinked' when basically it's still linked, just forced to run at a fraction of the bus speed. Even nVidia chipsets don't truly 'unlink', it'll still always run at an internally accepted fraction. I know I don't have to educate you about this one Mussels, just saying for Barbaric and all parties involved.

indeed. All nvidia do is support negative dividers, where ram speed can be below FSB speed. you'll often find settings that just dont work, are unstable, or not what they should be (EG you unlink and set it to 800MHz, but it runs 770 when you check)

 

[johnspack]

I've got that same corsair memory kit in my server, 1000mhz was the max oc I could get out of them. I don't think I'd use more than 2.2v on those. Extra voltage won't get any more out of these. I used 5-5-5-18 to get that speed.

 

[nINJAkECIL]

@Darkgundam111, I have a pair of RAMs just like you, and it can hit 950mhz 4-4-4-12@2,2v on an old mobo/chipset (abit Kn9sli).
mine are ver.2.1 (promos chip)

 

[BarbaricSoul]

I'd like you to link me to anything that proves it works on other chipsets.

I'll get my buddy I just built a system for to get me some cpuz screenshots of his e5200 running at 3.1 and OCZ ddr2 800 RAM @ stock speeds running on the p35 DFI board I recently bought from erocker. Might be acouple days, so I'll just PM them to you when I get them.

 

[sneekypeet]

I'll get my buddy I just built a system for to get me some cpuz screenshots of his e5200 running at 3.1 and OCZ ddr2 800 RAM @ stock speeds running on the p35 DFI board I recently bought from erocker. Might be acouple days, so I'll just PM them to you when I get them.

I guarantee you if your FSB in that DFI is over 400 so is your ram. There is no setting in the bios for less than 1:1.

Edit: I did the math and no wonder why, you are only running the bus to 248, sorry but that isnt exactly what Mussels means. He says if its holding you back, meaning in an Intel Chipset anything over 400 FSB will start to stress PC 6400 ram. if it stops at 900MHz, you are effectively stopped at a 450FSB. If you had say an 8X multi, the ram becomes a whole different kind of bottleneck when trying for just 4.0GHz.

 

[Darkgundam111]

With the timings loosened a little to 5-5-5-12 and the voltage kept at 2.3v, the XMS2 DHX managed an impressive overclock of 174 Mhz (DDR2 349), bringing the kit to a fantastic DDR2 speed of 1149. All the results taken were tested for absolute stability with OCCT stress testing.

thats what I found from an overclocking website, so i'm guessing it could go a bit more. and nINJAkECIL's and johnspack's overclocks work.

now it comes down to the question, which one works the best? it seems that the benchmarks all give it about the same scores (using everest). But somewhere, i read that AMD favors tighter timings while Intel favors higher bandwidth. Is this true?

 

[sneekypeet]

Both can benefit from tighter timings. Intel does like the speed more than the timings tho.