800 to 1066 DDR2 question

[BlackMagic]

I increased my Corsair Dominator ram from 4GB to 8GB recently.
I was wondering, due to a phone conversation with a Corsair Tech, if what he told me is correct.

He said I would be stuck running the ram at 800MHz because I increased to 8GB.

He said the more ram one runs, the slower it needs to be run, Windows limitation.
Does this sound right?

Is it really even worth it for me to try to run it faster as far as real world gaming performance? The system works flawlessly right now, runs like a raped ape in the games I play. Will I see dramatic differences?

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by BlackMagic

I increased my Corsair Dominator ram from 4GB to 8GB recently.
I was wondering, due to a phone conversation with a Corsair Tech, if what he told me is correct.

He said I would be stuck running the ram at 800MHz because I increased to 8GB.

He said the more ram one runs, the slower it needs to be run, Windows limitation.
Does this sound right?

Is it really even worth it for me to try to run it faster as far as real world gaming performance? The system works flawlessly right now, runs like a raped ape in the games I play. Will I see dramatic differences?

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...eluxe36MHz.jpg

No he is not right when he states it is a "Windows" limitation as far as I am aware. It can be physically harder to overclocked larger quantities of memory AND (dependant on chipset to the degree), you will find that you need more Northbride/VDimm and perhaps PCI-E voltage to maintain even stock speeds let alone overclock speeds, but you can overclock your memory however your headroom may well be less.

if you can manage faster speeds and tighter latencies with a VDimm voltage hike you will notice some minor improvements in a select amount of apps but little in games at all.

[BlackMagic]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

No he is not right when he states it is a "Windows" limitation. It can be physically harder to overclocked larger quantities of memory AND (dependant on chipset to the degree), you will find that you need more Northbride and perhaps PCI-E voltage to maintain even stock speeds let alone overclock speeds, but you can overclock your memory however your headroom may well be less.

Can you elaborate?
What does "headroom may be less" mean, in plain simple terms?

I am already maintaining "stock speeds" because as you can see in my above post the system is running at 800MHz, which is stock, no?

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by BlackMagic

Can you elaborate?
What does "headroom may be less" mean, in plain simple terms?

I am already maintaining "stock speeds" because as you can see in my above post the system is running at 800MHz, which is stock, no?

You quoted me before I added some to my origional post. With 2 sticks of 2GB in just 2 populated slots 800mhz rated ram may let's say reach 1000mhz with a voltage hike, if you use the same memory but have 8GB populating 4 slots the chances are you might not acheive 1000mhz certainly not on the same voltage.

Depending on what memory divider options you have with your boards Bios, more often than not you may only be able to overclock your memory by overclocking the CPU further in any case.... does that make sense to you?

[BlackMagic]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

You quoted me before I added some to my origional post. With 2 sticks of 2GB in just 2 populated slots 800mhz rated ram may let's say reach 1000mhz with a voltage hike, if you use the same memory but have 8GB populating 4 slots the chances are you might not acheive 1000mhz certainly not on the same voltage.

Depending on what memory divider options you have with your boards Bios, more often than not you may only be able to overclock your memory by overclocking the CPU further in any case.... does that make sense to you?

I think I am getting it now, thanks for the help.

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by BlackMagic

I think I am getting it. Memory oc'ing confuses me somewhat, I need to understand it better.

I guess I should jump into the Bios and start experimenting then?
I already run the cpu oc'ed to 3.6 from stock 3.0, via fsb increase.
So I should maybe be ok with that?

Guess I just don't know if it's worth it to play around with the speeds?

Would you?

If I don't see any dramatic speed increase in my games, maybe it's just not worth the trouble. All I use this pc for is gaming, no other apps.

I ALWAYS play with my memorys speed and timings, it's about getting the most out of your investment...... safely. If your CPU is overclocked but your memory is running at it's stock 800mhz then thats because it has invoked a memory profile withing the Bios or you have selcted a lower memory divider, you will have an option in there to be able to set it to "manual" then you will see the 800mhz shoot up to a much higher speed as it will then be "linked" to the FSB. If that speed is showing at something you know the memory is not going to acheive, lets just say for examples sake.... more than 950mhz, then you will find memory dividers to run said speed slower, so try to then get it down to a reasonable speed above 800mhz (because you want an overclock). Then i would increase your NB voltage slightly, increase your PCI-E voltage slightly and finally increase your VDimm voltage slightly to compensate for the xtra speed.

If your PC fails to boot, that will be because your memory can just not handle the speed/timings you have set (they all have their limitation) OR because your voltages are too low to support that speed...... it's very much trial and error, you may have to re-boot/reset CMOS several times to get there.

Before you attempt this you should do some research on your memorys capabliities in google, search for something like "overclocking Corsair ******" (whatever your memory description is called), and read up on what others with your memory are acheiving and how much voltage they are using to get there. Remembering that 8GB of memory overclocked is likely to need more NB volts also, but hopefully only an increment or two.

[BlackMagic]

Now that's what I call helpful information.
Thanks Tatty_One.
I will look into this further and see what I can come up with.

[JATownes]

If the info is good, which it usually is from Tatty, be sure and hit the "Thanks" button on the bottom right of his post to give credit where credit is due.

[BlackMagic]

I thanked you both...didn't even see the button...lol.
Now I know, won't forget.