RAM OC'ing question

Makunouchi

Makunouchi

Makunouchi

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Hey guys/gals,

I currently have this RAM: GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-064-GL

on this mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-088-GI

Basically ive only recently got into the whole OC'ing thing, ive managed to get my E6600 2.4 Conroe to 3GHz stable, but when i moved onto RAM i kind of hit a wall. I understand the theory of what im doing, but i dont seem to be able to change the latencies or voltage without Windows hanging up and then my system refusing to POST untill the mobo auto-resets to default settings.

Ive tried all sorts of latency/volt combinations, i assumed from reading these boards that something like 4-4-4-16 would be fine on it (standard is 5-5-5-18) with a +0.3 volt on it (standard 1.8v), but i cant get it to stick.

Right, onto the second question. I recently bought some new RAM: OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz ReaperX DDR2 https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-105-OC leaving out the fact that i might not be able to get that RAM to fit alongside my existing RAM cos of the size of the heatsinks, is it worth trying to run them together to have 6GB total, or is it going to be more beneficial to replace the old RAM with the new? Will the new RAM be 'held back' as it were by the old? Im assuming the advice ill hopefully get here will translate to the new RAM as well?

Thanks in advance!
 
Windows XP.

"swap the ram" was that in answer to my question about wether its better to run both RAMs together or 1 set only?

Thanks for the reply.
 
He means one set only. If you can't even get the OCZ set running 800 4-4-4-12 there may be another problem.

There is the chance of course that the value ram simply won't do Cas4 timings. You may have to settle with a slight mhz overclock and let it be.
 
yes but in windows you will only see 3GB of ram, maybe 3.5GB, because unless you have a 64 bit OS it wont see all 4GB...but that wont be a problem, 3GB is better than 2 and you should get tighter timings and mayble able to overclock some on the ram, depending how the previous step went
 
Well i did like you suggested Nickq (i actually tried to fit all 4 sticks but the jacket things on the OCZ's make it impossible), and i still cant seem to change the RAM latencies and get it to POST. The new ram is at 800 5-5-5-18, +0.3v.

What other info can i give you that will help?
 
Hmm ive just noticed cpu-z saying the DRAM frequency is at 525Mhz, but im pretty sure it says 800 in BIOS...

cpu-z also says the FSB:DRAM ratio is 2:3

Im not sure how to change these things however.
 
2:3 ratio means your ram should be running at 1.5x FSB.

1.5 * 525 is roughly 800

Your CPU FSB is 525 right? it's multiplying that by 1.5 to get your RAM speed.

You should be able to change the divider somewhere in the BIOS, might mention 'strap'.
 
60625322xa3.jpg
clipboard02tm6.jpg
clipboard03hj4.jpg


Ignore that core speed, its wrong. Should be 3.2GHz

Im pretty sure those voltages arent right for the RAM either, they should be at 2.1v atm i think.

I can take a screenshot of Slot2 as well if you need.
 
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okay this should be an easy fix, go into the bios and try and select the multiplier of 9 for your CPU, its not running as it should be at all.

the ram u have just shown is actually running at 1068Mhz (its 538x2 for DDR!!) so no wonder you cant get the timings down.

i have an e6600, i run @ 3.15ghz comfortably, set the multi to 9, set the FSB to 350, then set your ram to a lower speed, 1000mhz works, as you can see on mine which is a 7/10 divier (it should work it out itself) so ensure you have selected "Unlinked" or simply link it if you want the ram to be at 800mhz or so...

it shoudl if u go with the above look like;

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/7356/6600yr0.jpg
 
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Yeah, i said ignore the core speed but i forgot to say ignore the multiplier also :P It just looks like that due to speedstep, it goes to the right multiplier and core speed once it gets a load on it.
 
ah turn off EIST C1E etc all of those they will give u nightmaters tring to get a stable overclock.

but your memory is at some high speed there, id drop it back and set it to 2.1v.. shouldnt really put 2.2 through it constantly
 
Arent higher speeds good? Ive clearly missed something here. I dropped it down to 2.1, same speed till i do a bit more reading up. (fixed the speedstep too)
 
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While running Prime with the above settings, i got back an error saying the following:

FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4

How serious is that? seeing as how my system is running totally fine?
 
id say that it wasnt perfect at those speeds and timings it should be 100% stable really.

yuor ram should be able to do 400mhz (800ddr effective) at 2.1v with the timings as advertised and still be 100% testable and stable.

it could that the cpu is not 100% stable at that fsb and its voltage, can you show the cpu voltage and the nb voltage and vtt if you have it.
 
Hi,

That error can mean windows sometimes won't boot, or that you'll never notice instability.
Basically you can't draw any conclusions from that error, other than, there is some level of instability in your set-up.

You never know when that instability could cause a problem, you could not notice it for a while then, out of the blue, get a problem with your registry not being written to correctly.
In my own experience I had no problems whatsoever with instability until during a LAN I noticed that I kept getting disconnected from a local Battlefield2 server. Literally, the only sign of system instability I ever had.

I'm not particularly an expert on DDR2/Intel Core2 overclocking, but I hope this post helps you understand that ORTHOS result.

Regards,

Banjo
 
Makunouchi said:
Hmm, im unclear about this, is this RAM now running faster/better than it was in my previous screenshot?
Click to expand...

It's running at 367*2 = 734mhz

If you want it to run faster while being linked 1:1 with FSB, then you'll need to up the FSB. Upping it to 400 will give 800mhz ram speed. I have no idea whether your CPU/mobo will do that FSB though.

Basically when you started off you'd upped the FSB, had the divider set to 2:3 (fsb:ram speed) which gave you the RAM speed of 1068mhz - very high so you couldn't get the timings down. Now your divider is set to 1:1 so your ram speed is slower and you're able to use 4-4-4-16.

Your ram states it can do 4-4-3-15 at 800mhz, so I would up the FSB to 400 (but lower multi to 8x to get 3.2ghz cpu speed) then try 4-4-3-15.
 
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Thanks for the reply. Between the time i posted and you answered i'd actually spent a lot of time reading and had pretty much figured out what was going on.

Im using their recommended latencies now, its running pretty well.
 
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