a few questions

Dist · 2 Jan 2008 at 04:09

on thursday i get my new pc so would like to know a few things before hand so im ready to OC it when i get it.

First off, does having the ram run faster then the CPU have any performance benifits? im getting a e2180 to hold me out untill penryns, and i am getting some OCZ ReaperX pc6400 2x2gb. If i run the e2180 at 400x8 I'll get 3.2ghz out of it (getting a tuniq tower btw so i could proberly get more) and be able to run it 1:1 with the rams default 400mhz speed.

If i do overclock it like that, should i leave the ram at 1:1 and focus on improving the timings? or should i overclock the ram beyond 400mhz, even though the cpu is only at 400 (or lower if i go for a bigger OC with higher multi).

My next question is what will the best stable OC be for my e2180 do you think? im getting decent pc6400 ram, a tuniq tower and a maximus formula MB, so my cpu will be the slowest part of my system and its overclocking potential should'nt be limited by anything else except at v high speeds.

weescott · 2 Jan 2008 at 09:18

Expect around 3.4Ghz. Every CPU is different so you will just have to clock it and see.

The less the cache the more you notice a difference is ram speed and timings. Only in synthetic benchmarks will you see a big difference in really high ram speeds.

1:1 can yield better overclocking results as some dividers/bios' (certainly on the Maximus) can be finicky.

Dist · 2 Jan 2008 at 13:04

weescott said:
Expect around 3.4Ghz. Every CPU is different so you will just have to clock it and see.

The less the cache the more you notice a difference is ram speed and timings. Only in synthetic benchmarks will you see a big difference in really high ram speeds.

1:1 can yield better overclocking results as some dividers/bios' (certainly on the Maximus) can be finicky.

well if i keep 1:1 ratio then its unlikely i will be able to get 3.4ghz, as 400x8 gives 3.2, if i increase the multiplayer by 1, then 400x9 will be 3.6 which is too high. unless its possible to use a 8.5 multiplyer, is that possible?

weescott · 2 Jan 2008 at 13:52

Keep the ram on auto, that will keep the ram at the same speed as the FSB (1:1). You should be able to tighten up the timings too. It depends on where your FSB wall is too. It could be as low as 370FSB.

You might be able to get 425x8. 1:1. Perfectly possible.

I haven't tried using a half multi on my E2180. Not sure if it would work or not.