Overclocking Q's for Power Users

[Furiousg]

I have built a new PC and tried my hand at overclocking this last week. I have an E6600 (2.4 C2Duo) on a Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 with 2GB of OCZ PC2-6400.

I have managed to get it up to 3.15Ghz and be stable with <55C core temps under load. My question to you is this, I have seen it reccomended that I attain a 1:1 ratio with FSB:RAM...but I do not have an option in my BIOS for setting the divider. Am I supposed to tweak my FSB and memory multiplier to attain 1:1? I want the most out of my RAM, I think I understand that DDR2-800 RAM runs at a max of 400Mhz correct? ( without OC'ing )

Any good Guides I should check out??

Thanks for any input.

[Chewy]

running the cpu and ram at 1 to 1 synchroniously is old tech, newer computers seem to be able to run it well out of sync. Leave the ram running at it's spec, how are you overclocking the cpu now? fsb? multiplier?

take a dvd rip from your hard drive and make a bench using shrink, say just a quick compression that will take ~5-10 minutes at 70-80%, no da no aec.

that should test your setup quickly, then start tweaking to get the lowest times

[Furiousg]

I have bumped the CPU Host Frequency (FSB) up to 350Mhz and left the multiplier at 9x, and lowered my Memory multiplier to try keep my memory close to 800...although the RAM seemed to be stable at 875Mhz

I am just unsure if I am going about this in the correct way. I believe I should be trying to get the FSB as high as possible (thus lowering the CPU multiplier)

I think the thing that is bothering me is with cpu-z, at 3Ghz it lists my FSB at 1326Mhz, but my mobo/cpu are rated for 1066

Here is a link to the cpu-z system shot

CPU-Z

[Chewy]

1066/4 = 266 true fsb(quad pumped?)

9 x 266 = 2400 cpu speed

1326 just applies to the cpu if the pci's lock work?

RAM Ratio : 4:5

is the divider you were talking about


I wouldn't push it much past there with stock cooling, those temps(50's) are kind of high, hate to burn it up so soon.

[Furiousg]

Ok, when I change the memory multiplier my FSB:RAM ratio changes. So I guess I would just have to play with memory speeds to get close to 1:1...but as long as the system is stable, would there be any issue with leaving it at 4:5...2:3 etc?

I was also thinking, should I try a 400Mhz FSB (to max out RAM) and drop to a 8x Cpu multiplier to give me 3.2Ghz? I would be quite happy with a stable 3.2 that keeps cool. Although, I should probably also disable auto vcore control...because if I ramp up the cpu/bus speed, the voltage will increase proportionately correct? The max is 1.4V on the side of the retail box.

I still have the pci-e set to 100Mhz, and pci to 33Mhz. Seems to be happy there.

[Chewy]

memory might overclock some with no onboard controller like on the amd64's but it will never keep up with your cpu, try a 3:2 ratio and see what the cpu will do without letting the voltage get even close to max, keep voltage low, most can get a 50%(3.2) out of the 2.4 but not usually on stock cooling, when both cores get a good load, temps will go thru the roof