Soldato
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I'm shortly upgrading my RAM from PC2700 to PC3200, does this affect the level at which I could upgrade my CPU?
Noob question
- Thread starter mcwildcard
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Sadly No
No mate, the ram upgrade will give you a slight performance increase but prob wont even see it unless running in dual channel...
The CPU form factor will limmit the upgrade... i.e. Socket 939 etc.
If its a Pentium 4 socket 478 you can only upgrade to another 478 processor... i.e. you can upgrade to athlon
Hope this helps
No mate, the ram upgrade will give you a slight performance increase but prob wont even see it unless running in dual channel...
The CPU form factor will limmit the upgrade... i.e. Socket 939 etc.
If its a Pentium 4 socket 478 you can only upgrade to another 478 processor... i.e. you can upgrade to athlon
Hope this helps
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Wow, I just read my original post back properly and I must have had some sort of brain error! Clearly I'm not with it today!! Cheers anyway Black_Widow!
I actually meant to ask if upgrading to PC3200 would affect the level at which I could overclock my CPU?
(The RAM would be 2 x 1GB sticks, but not paired, in fact probably not even the same make as I'm buying 2nd hand from 2 different sources)
I actually meant to ask if upgrading to PC3200 would affect the level at which I could overclock my CPU?
(The RAM would be 2 x 1GB sticks, but not paired, in fact probably not even the same make as I'm buying 2nd hand from 2 different sources)
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Makes a little more sence 
I now understand a little but again no mate - Completely different comps.
You can overclock the ram which doesnt affect the CPU and Vise Versa.
Check Bios to make sure the RAM is compatable also, if not the Motherboard with limmit the ram speed back to PC2700 which you'd be gutted to know you've just spent money on an upgrade for nothing
Carefull when overclocking componants mate - Small ammounts only in small increments, if the PC stops working correctly back it off a little untill its stable.
I now understand a little but again no mate - Completely different comps.
You can overclock the ram which doesnt affect the CPU and Vise Versa.
Check Bios to make sure the RAM is compatable also, if not the Motherboard with limmit the ram speed back to PC2700 which you'd be gutted to know you've just spent money on an upgrade for nothing
Carefull when overclocking componants mate - Small ammounts only in small increments, if the PC stops working correctly back it off a little untill its stable.
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The answer is yes, however this hinges on the fact your CPU can overclock past the highest FSB setting your old RAM could handle on it's lowest devider.
To explain more fully:
On most motherboards the speed of the front side buss (FSB) and the speed of the ram can be different by using a devider. Using a devider means the RAM will run at some percentage of the speed of the fsb.
You can usually put the RAM on a lower devider when overclocking the CPU brings the RAM past it's prescribed speed rating (remember that DDR and DDR2 ram will run at half it's rating as it will allow two access per cycle).
When you run out of lower deviders you may need to upgrade your RAM to get to a higher fsb for the overclock. However, most RAM will run a little over the prescribed fsb rating.
Hope this helps, please ask if anything was not clear.
Chris.
To explain more fully:
On most motherboards the speed of the front side buss (FSB) and the speed of the ram can be different by using a devider. Using a devider means the RAM will run at some percentage of the speed of the fsb.
You can usually put the RAM on a lower devider when overclocking the CPU brings the RAM past it's prescribed speed rating (remember that DDR and DDR2 ram will run at half it's rating as it will allow two access per cycle).
When you run out of lower deviders you may need to upgrade your RAM to get to a higher fsb for the overclock. However, most RAM will run a little over the prescribed fsb rating.
Hope this helps, please ask if anything was not clear.
Chris.
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Well my CPU is an Athlon 64 3800+ Venice (single core).
I currently have it modestly overclocked to 2.5Ghz, however if I go much higher than that then my system loses stability, even if I pep up the voltage a bit. It's certainly not a heat issue, I don't think I've ever seen my CPU go much over about 50C, but I have been running 1 x 512MB + 2 x 256MB PC2700 RAM and I wondered if that might of been connected with the poor level of overclocking I've been achieving.
My upgrade wasn't really so much for speed anyway, it was in preperation for BF2142, I could see I needed 2GB so I figured while i was at it I'd go up to PC3200 (which I know my board can run).
I got myself a Geforce 7900GS as well, but I can clearly see that I'm not getting as much out of it as I should, because my CPU is a bit of a bottleneck, which is why I'm now interested in trying to push it a little further.
I currently have it modestly overclocked to 2.5Ghz, however if I go much higher than that then my system loses stability, even if I pep up the voltage a bit. It's certainly not a heat issue, I don't think I've ever seen my CPU go much over about 50C, but I have been running 1 x 512MB + 2 x 256MB PC2700 RAM and I wondered if that might of been connected with the poor level of overclocking I've been achieving.
My upgrade wasn't really so much for speed anyway, it was in preperation for BF2142, I could see I needed 2GB so I figured while i was at it I'd go up to PC3200 (which I know my board can run).
I got myself a Geforce 7900GS as well, but I can clearly see that I'm not getting as much out of it as I should, because my CPU is a bit of a bottleneck, which is why I'm now interested in trying to push it a little further.