Overclocking Memory

[Captain Murphy]

I've only dabbled with overclocking a tiny bit but I wanted to try and OC my memory so I can get less skippy gameplay in my games (I know its not my GFX card because I still get it at low settings and my fps is fine). I was wondering if I should be overclocking the mhz or the timings for this scenario. My specs are as follow:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L Mobo
Intel Q6600
Crucial Ballistix 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Radeon HD 3850 256mb GFX Card

I noticed now when I look at my motherboard on newegg.com it says Memory Standard: DDR2 1066. Does this mean I should have gotten 1066 ram instead of 800?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Antec-User]

You are only running 2G of ram? I'd step up to another 2g for a total of 4, before you decide to switch to 1066.. the 1066 board, means that it can support up to that speed. If the board doesn't specify that it supports 1066, it could give you an issue if you try to run that faster ram... But 1066 is pretty much normal now, so I don't see any newer boards NOT supporting it.

Some GB Boards also have DDR3 Sideport, which could help the gfx processor. (IIRC)

What OS are you running? 32b can see and use only 3.5g of ram, again correct me if I'm wrong. So I would just run 4g and see how it works..

And I've always had bad luck when I mess with any of my ram settings, so I'll leave that to someone who knows what they're doing.

 

[thirdshiftdj]

Running higher mhz vs lower timings shows no significant increase in gameplay. Like Antec said get 2 more gb of ram and you'll see games load faster and run smoother

 

[Captain Murphy]

If im not even using 100% of my RAM only around like 1200mb in a game will getting more ram really help?

 

[thirdshiftdj]

I've noticed moving from 2gb to 4gb games will load quicker and play more smoothly

 

[Captain Murphy]

Thats interesting. Another question I have is whats more important FSBRAM ratio or memory speed as in mhz. Because in order for me to have a 1:1 ratio I need to either underclock my ram to 533mhz, overclock my cpu to 3.6ghz, or change the multiplier from x9 to x6. I don't really want to OC my cpu to 3.6 cause I don't think its really necessary and something I don't want to have to monitor.

 

[Antec-User]

^ I agree with you there, as far as the overclocking, take care of other items first, seeing as you have a nice rig to game with..

As far as RAM again, it's like having a glass of water.. Smaller glasses get full quicker.. If you have a bigger glass, you have more room to play
with... -For other processes to draw from.. I forgot how much a system idle process draws, depending on the OS and the devices you have running in the back ground.

But that should give you a better idea.. The FIRST thing I do with a new rig is upgrade the RAM, if it needs it that is..

Oh, and I'm not sure if you answered, what OS are you running?

 

[Captain Murphy]

^ I agree with you there, as far as the overclocking, take care of other items first, seeing as you have a nice rig to game with..

As far as RAM again, it's like having a glass of water.. Smaller glasses get full quicker.. If you have a bigger glass, you have more room to play
with... -For other processes to draw from.. I forgot how much a system idle process draws, depending on the OS and the devices you have running in the back ground.

But that should give you a better idea.. The FIRST thing I do with a new rig is upgrade the RAM, if it needs it that is..

Oh, and I'm not sure if you answered, what OS are you running?

Windows XP Home

 

[Antec-User]

^ ah ok... Yeah, grab another 2g of ram and see how it runs..