What RAM for overclocking E8400?

danswan · 9 Oct 2008 at 22:18

I'm sure this has been asked before but..

I am going to get an E8400, P5Q-pro and a TRUE soon, and plan on trying to push it up to 4Ghz. I am still running my Opty dual core on DDR1 at the moment so am a little shaky on what memory I need DDR2-wise to make this possible. Am I right in thinking that any old memory is OK as the dividers will allow me to lock the memory frequency? Or will I be losing a huge amount of performance if I do this?

Suggestions on what I should buy welcomed, 4GB required, cheaper the better.

Many thanks

mp260767 · 10 Oct 2008 at 12:33

i'd have a look at either the geil black dragon pc6400 kits or G.Skill PC8000.

danswan · 10 Oct 2008 at 13:26

Thanks - I like the look of the price of that G-Skill

Rroff · 10 Oct 2008 at 14:26

You won't be able to run the RAM slower than the FSB on an intel system...

Find out the multiplier on the CPU you are buying and divide the target speed by that to find the FSB needed then buy some RAM that matches or beats that FSB.

danswan · 10 Oct 2008 at 15:33

Thanks - I have been doing some reading up to try to get it clear in my mind. The way I am understanding it, is this:

The E8400 CPU I am getting has, I believe, a multi of 9 and runs at 333 FSB = 2997Mhz.
So if I had 800Mhz memory I could push my FSB to 400 before exceeding this memory's rated speed (400 * 2 = 800, max memory speed, right?). This would be running my E8400 at 9 x 400 = 3600.

So if I get the 1000mhz G-Skill stuff, other components willing, I could in theory push my FSB to 500 without exceeding my RAM's stated capability, with my E8400 running at 4.5Ghz! (I will be on air cooling, so of course I am stressing the 'in theory'.)

Someone please let me know if I am missing something.

Cheers

Fire Wizard · 10 Oct 2008 at 17:37

Hello danswan, what you have just said is spot on.

Pneumonic · 10 Oct 2008 at 18:24

what you have said is correct... I would buy 8000/8500 RAM if you are looking to go over 450FSB... most quality 6400 RAM will overclock to 450FSB without issue however

vanquisher · 11 Oct 2008 at 11:53

Hi,

So if I had a motherboard that will hit 545 FSB stable and a chip that has a x10 multiplier and 1333Mhz RAM....... I should (in theory) be able to push the processor to above 5ghz stable ?? :confused:

Fire Wizard · 11 Oct 2008 at 12:00

Hello vanquisher, providing the actual chip that you have can reach those kind of speeds. You also have to take into account the temperatures which in the majority of cases is the limiting factor, especially with air cooling

vanquisher · 11 Oct 2008 at 12:20

Fire Wizard said:
Hello vanquisher, providing the actual chip that you have can reach those kind of speeds. You also have to take into account the temperatures which in the majority of cases is the limiting factor, especially with air cooling

Hi mate,

Well I was looking at the E8400/E8500/E8600 with the Asus Maximus Extreme Mobo and OCZ DDR3 RAM. I already have my water cooling kit ready and waiting

.

So if I were to go for an E0 stepping E8600 with a multiplier of x10 then I should feasibly be able to hit the 5Ghz mark stable with a 545 FSB (according to PCStats)?

That'd be schweeeeeeeet :cool: