CPU/RAM Overclocking

Hey all!

 I'm kind of new to overclocking and I've been reading plenty of guides, yet I'm still a little confused on one thing.  To my understanding, you want to keep your FSB and RAM clock at a 1:1 ratio for best performance.  So, since I have DDR400 RAM (dual-channel), it runs at 200 mhz because my Opteron 165 1.8 ghz CPU has a FSB of 200 mhz.  So, if I bump my FSB up, I would want to increase my RAM clock as well, correct?  How much would this effect performance if I bumped my FSB to say 225 mhz (and left my RAM at 200 mhz)?  Any insight or further links would help!

 Also, voltage kind of trips me up as well.  Do you only increase voltage to improve stability (if needed)?

Thanks in advance for the help guys!

-Honus 

Hey all!

 I'm kind of new to overclocking and I've been reading plenty of guides, yet I'm still a little confused on one thing.  To my understanding, you want to keep your FSB and RAM clock at a 1:1 ratio for best performance.  So, since I have DDR400 RAM (dual-channel), it runs at 200 mhz because my Opteron 165 1.8 ghz CPU has a FSB of 200 mhz.  So, if I bump my FSB up, I would want to increase my RAM clock as well, correct?  How much would this effect performance if I bumped my FSB to say 225 mhz (and left my RAM at 200 mhz)?  Any insight or further links would help!

 Also, voltage kind of trips me up as well.  Do you only increase voltage to improve stability (if needed)?

Thanks in advance for the help guys!

-Honus 

Honus722

Yes, ideally you want your ram and CPU @ 1:1.  When you start with your OC if you don't know how to do the math, use CPUZ to verify you are at 1:1.  Generally, when running higher clock speeds on both ram and CPU you would need to up your voltages.  I am not a fan of juicing the ram too much. If you get the right chips you can get a pretty high OC with out roiding them out, but if you have plenty of cooling and can keep the core temps down on your CPU you will need to juice it up and should for stability at higher clocks.   

Since your RAM and FSB is in the ratio 1:1, it means that if you increase your FSB to 225 (1), then your RAM will also increase to 225 (1) If it would be FSB 225 and RAM 200, it would be 1 : 0.89 Voltage should always be used as a LAST resort when overclocking. You can only really take the risk of increasing the voltage if all other methods (higher NB stepping, better cooling, better RAM, etc. etc. etc.) has failed to give you a stable OC.DirkVDV01

I agree.  One will not reach a high OC without adjusting the voltages but this should be done last. 

[QUOTE="DirkVDV01"]Since your RAM and FSB is in the ratio 1:1, it means that if you increase your FSB to 225 (1), then your RAM will also increase to 225 (1) If it would be FSB 225 and RAM 200, it would be 1 : 0.89 Voltage should always be used as a LAST resort when overclocking. You can only really take the risk of increasing the voltage if all other methods (higher NB stepping, better cooling, better RAM, etc. etc. etc.) has failed to give you a stable OC.Taijiquan

I agree.  One will not reach a high OC without adjusting the voltages but this should be done last. 

This is why I love my Asus P5N-E...I just set her to auto, and away she goes :) E6600 @ 3.0Ghz and DDR2-800 ram at 1000mhz with only a fsb adjustment (on my part)....stable for a week and very cool! =D Also, did you have any probs getting your P5n to support 4GB of ram, tajiq? Because I am thinkin' about doubling my pleasure at some point.

[QUOTE="Taijiquan"]

[QUOTE="DirkVDV01"]Since your RAM and FSB is in the ratio 1:1, it means that if you increase your FSB to 225 (1), then your RAM will also increase to 225 (1) If it would be FSB 225 and RAM 200, it would be 1 : 0.89 Voltage should always be used as a LAST resort when overclocking. You can only really take the risk of increasing the voltage if all other methods (higher NB stepping, better cooling, better RAM, etc. etc. etc.) has failed to give you a stable OC.Staryoshi87

I agree.  One will not reach a high OC without adjusting the voltages but this should be done last. 

This is why I love my Asus P5N-E...I just set her to auto, and away she goes :) E6600 @ 3.0Ghz and DDR2-800 ram at 1000mhz with only a fsb adjustment (on my part)....stable for a week and very cool! =D Also, did you have any probs getting your P5n to support 4GB of ram, tajiq? Because I am thinkin' about doubling my pleasure at some point.

omfg yes 4 gig was a mess.  Its funny you should ask as I was the one that finally figured out how to get 4 gigs stable on the Asus Boards (I bought mine in Dec 06).  This is of course without adjusting the voltages.  The P5N-E does not run at spec (DDR800) with 4 gigs.  I can sit on 3.6 ghz (1:1 with ram) 24/7 but the voltages it requires is insane!  Be careful with the auto settings with this board.  It will really juice the cores.  Your CPU temp will look like it is running fine until you look at each core (I use Everest Ultimate Edition).  They get HOT!  The worst part about this board is the Northbridge arrangement.  It is SO close to the ram and naturally it runs hot that it heats the ram up! I suggest this for safely overclocking http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_hr05.htm , or the cheaper route, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185039 for the Northbridge. 

What are your Vcore Voltages?  Also what cooling are you using for your CPU?  I would stick to the ol 2 gigs lol.     

Does the Southbridge heat up much? Or is it the Northbridge that you really need to worry about when over clocking your processor? Also is it suggested that you stick heat spreaders on your memory when ramping your CPU up? I have an Opteron 170 and I want it to run at 2.5GHz - 2.8Ghz and I have four sticks (4 x 512mb) of Geil DDR400 and was wondering if they would heat up much?sykonfc