General overclocking question (ram)

[kershner]

So, I'm getting an E5200 here pretty soon and I've been reading up on overclocking. The gist seems to be finding the right FSB/Mult. combo to get the desired clock speed, while at the same time reducing the vcore voltage so that the system produces as little heat as possible to maintain stability. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, my question comes from the ram part of things...this seems to be where things get more complicated. I don't really want to mess with anything, I just want to keep my ram at at 1:1 ratio...my question is - is this the default setting on the mobo, or do I have to configure them to be 1:1?

If this will help anyone, this is the mobo/ram I will be getting:
Gigabyte Ud3r p45
Corsair 2x2gb

Thanks guys!

 

[PP Mguire]

So, I'm getting an E5200 here pretty soon and I've been reading up on overclocking. The gist seems to be finding the right FSB/Mult. combo to get the desired clock speed, while at the same time reducing the vcore voltage so that the system produces as little heat as possible to maintain stability. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, my question comes from the ram part of things...this seems to be where things get more complicated. I don't really want to mess with anything, I just want to keep my ram at at 1:1 ratio...my question is - is this the default setting on the mobo, or do I have to configure them to be 1:1?

If this will help anyone, this is the mobo/ram I will be getting:
Gigabyte Ud3r p45
Corsair 2x2gb

Thanks guys!

As for the bolded part, no when you overclock you have to increase vcore to stabilize the higher clock speeds. If you decrease it will cause instability and crash your system or possibly not even post.

As for the ram, since you dont have high grade ram or fast DDR2 you wont be able to keep your ram at a 1:1 ratio if you plan on hitting a high cpu speed. For instance 1:1 ratio on my E8400 and G.Skill DDR2 800 is 3.8ghz (cpu) and 1013 (ram). Thats a pretty high OC on my ram but im also pushing the volts as well.

Since your new at overclocking i suggest not really worrying about ram/cpu ratio and just play with a few things. Do research online on overclocking till your confident in your knowledge of it then try it.

If you just want to OC your cpu im sure your board has an option in the bios to unlink the ram and cpu. Just keep your ram at 800 and OC your cpu.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

^^ He has a E5200 which has a 12.5x multiplier and a 200mhz stock fsb (800mhz quad pumped). He should have no problem keeping his DDR2 800 ram at 1:1 since it is very unlikely he would run a 400mhz fsb on air cooling with that cpu.

Also Intel chipset motherboards do not have the option to unlink the ram and cpu.

 

[PP Mguire]

Ah good point, i run an Nvidia chipset so didnt know that Intel cant unlink. Thats pretty lame imo but oh well.

If he could reach a higher CPU clock he could always just drop the divider down and crank FSB. He does have a P45 after all.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

^^ True, although starting out its probably better to just work with the 12.5x multiplier.

 

[PP Mguire]

Wouldnt really make much of a difference. All it would be doing is lowering one setting and raising another setting higher to get a better clock.

Btw Atlantis pwns.

 

[kershner]

When I said 'lower' the voltage, I meant after you find the optimum settings...you want enough power to provide a stable system for the overclock, but you also want it to be as low as physically possible for optimum efficiency. That's one of the main points that super long article is trying to hammer home (at least, what I took from it).

So, once I pop everything in and I'm ready to do some overclocking, do I have to change anything in the BIOS regarding my ram, or will it be at 1:1 by default? If I'm wrong about this, well then I don't really understand the 1:1 thing so any enlightening would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PP Mguire]

Your ram and cpu will always be 1:1 since Intel's chipsets dont allow unlinking. So you dont have to worry about it. Guess its a simple case of raise voltage and raise FSB lol.

 

[kershner]

That's what I like to hear, nice and simple!

 

[PP Mguire]

Theres alot more to overclocking but its not as difficult as some people make it out to be. Just if you want to get good at it and have good high clocks you need to know what certain things mean and how to tweak different things.