does the ram speed affect the max oc possible?

paradisiac

paradisiac

paradisiac

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i was just wondering, before i buy ram and cpu, does the speed of the ram affect how far you can oc the system. im assuming that 1066 will fail before 1333, and 1333 will fail before 1600 etc when you start to up the fsb and everything, or am i wrong? im thinking of getting the phenom x6 be, which i have been told i can get away with just changing the multiplier to get it to 4GHz, but will this be limited by which ram i by, and would i be able to push for more if i had faster ram?
 
Not sure but you have memory dividers in the bios to change the speed of ram. However when overclocking you are always supposed to keep ram at stock speed or lower using the ram dividers to factor it out of the overclocking limitation. Once you have achieved high enough stable overclock on cpu, then you can increase/overclock ram speed aswell and increasing ram voltage.

Run memtest afterwards to check ram stability usually 10 passes (which I do) and then prime blend test for overall system stablity.:)
 
ok, looking at getting
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but i dont want it to limit what i can achieve with my x6 when i get it
 
no, faster ram doesn't affect your cpu speed (within reason).

as long as you run your ram in spec, or at a reduced speed, your cpu overclock is only going to be limited by running the ram at its lowest divider. aside from that, voltage/heat/quality of the chip and/or board are limiting factors
 
so there isnt a ratio between the cpu and ram clocks that needs to be considered? wasnt sure if the bus speeds were linked, as in, increase the cpu multiplier and fsb and it auto adjusts ram to keep the ratio.
 
This should be well described in most guides, or grab an OC calculator and have a play with the options.

Normally, changing the FSB will also change the RAM speed. As you raise the FSB you will find that the RAM becomes unstable. You can then switch down to a lower divider to make the ram run slower, and keep upping the FSB.

But there are only certain dividers, so usually one has to fiddle with the FSB, multi, and dividers to find the best choice. Usually you want highest CPU speed, but sometimes you choose to settle for a slightly lower cpu speed if it leaves you with a good memory speed as well.

If overclocking an unlocked CPU you can just chuck the multi up, leaving the fsb more or less where it is, so memory speeds are less important as you have many more options.
 
joeyjojo said:
This should be well described in most guides, or grab an OC calculator and have a play with the options.

Normally, changing the FSB will also change the RAM speed. As you raise the FSB you will find that the RAM becomes unstable. You can then switch down to a lower divider to make the ram run slower, and keep upping the FSB.

But there are only certain dividers, so usually one has to fiddle with the FSB, multi, and dividers to find the best choice. Usually you want highest CPU speed, but sometimes you choose to settle for a slightly lower cpu speed if it leaves you with a good memory speed as well.

If overclocking an unlocked CPU you can just chuck the multi up, leaving the fsb more or less where it is, so memory speeds are less important as you have many more options.
Click to expand...

was gunna go for a 1090T BE or a 1100T BE as i heard they are easier to clock, so yeh, 6 cores @ 4GHz will probs be more than enough, i just dont want to restrict myself too much because of my ram and end up regretting it.
 
The speed of the RAM will not be affected if you alter the CPU multiplier as you're suggesting. The RAM speed is a product of the system BUS speed.

If you alter the bus speed however, you must keep the effective speed within the limits of the RAM otherwise it's deemed as overclocking the RAM.. Which can be a bit hit and miss.

Always buy RAM with enough headroom for higher RAM frequency.. 1600 seems to be a good choice.

This may help you further
http://www.huddysworld.co.uk/index....-ddr3&catid=40:techie-talk-hardware&Itemid=72
 
Admiral Huddy said:
The speed of the RAM will not be affected if you alter the CPU multiplier as you're suggesting. The RAM speed is a product of the system BUS speed.

If you alter the bus speed however, you must keep the effective speed within the limits of the RAM otherwise it's deemed as overclocking the RAM.. Which can be a bit hit and miss.

Always buy RAM with enough headroom for higher RAM frequency.. 1600 seems to be a good choice.

This may help you further
http://www.huddysworld.co.uk/index....-ddr3&catid=40:techie-talk-hardware&Itemid=72
Click to expand...

will have a read of that looks good :) i currently have 2x2GB sticks of 1333MHz in there at the moment, but was hoping to go for 2x4GB as i dont want to use up all my slots as i have read that can really hurt any overclocking.
 
I've not heard anything that using all slots effects OCing but could be wrong. I had 4x1gb modules in one of my systems with a decent OC. Although that was DDR2..?
 
Admiral Huddy said:
I've not heard anything that using all slots effects OCing but could be wrong. I had 4x1gb modules in one of my systems with a decent OC. Although that was DDR2..?
Click to expand...

ok, intresting. im sure i read that with all the slots full the voltages and stuff was too much of a hinderance or something. might be wrong, be nice if i was, could use my 2x2GB sticks and 2x4GB sticks then. although different speeds will proper throw it out.
 
Again, I'm not sure either.. Might be worth checking the Motherboard manufacturers website for latest BIOS. Check the release notes for any known fixes.
 
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