OC or ram timings?

[PP Mguire]

Ok well i have a second system im playing w/. it has
AN35N Ultra400 board(same as the one im using) NF2
AMD AthlonXP 2600+
512mb of Corsair Value ram PC3200
GeforceFX 5600ULTRA(256mb) NV31

Well i have 2 options, i can either OC the 2600+ to 2.3ghz
or i can drop it to 166multyplier and run it at 2600+ w/ standard 333 ram clock. Question is, is what would yall do for performance. Would yall run the OC at 2.3ghz and run the ram at 400mhz or would yall have the multyplier at 166 and run the ram at 333 w/ 2600+ BUT have the timings at 2-2-2-6? just a technicla question for the geeks amongst us. What would give me a faster oc?

 

[Demalii]

That's something you'll need to test yourself, oc then run benchmarks, then change your timings and do the benchmarks. I think someone's asked this before and got the same response that all hardware is different and you'll really need to test your system to find out which is the best.

 

[Leonidas]

id suggest going with faster memory, being as most the time you are not using all your processing power anyways... but if you consistently max out your processor then go with a cpu overclock and slow down your memory... have you seen how far you can overclock that memory yet? you may be able to get the best of both worlds.

 

[PP Mguire]

well i cant change the timings when i put the cpu on 2.3 and the ram on 400. the bios wont let me dont know why. well actually i dont think the ram will let me and when i play far cry it freezes.

 

[Leonidas]

do you have the ability to lock the agp/pci bus? if so then make sure it is set at 33/66 and if not then dont change your FSB, however the board supports 400mhz FSB so check and see if there is a way other than bios to change that... i misunderstood your question before and thought you meant go with 2600+ speeds on 400mhz FSB or 2.3ghz on 333FSB(sorry about that)... if the RAM is rated for 400mhz check the timings make sure they are at standard 400mhz timings...
test your RAM with memtest86, and make sure it isnt giving errors at 400mhz.
otherwise the processor is holding you back so try upping the voltage just a little and runnning prime95(download if you dont have it), if it gives errors then you know its the processor... and play with voltage/clock speed til you get what speed you want at a temperature you can handle.

 

[Nubius]

Would yall run the OC at 2.3ghz and run the ram at 400mhz or would yall have the multyplier at 166 and run the ram at 333 w/ 2600+ BUT have the timings at 2-2-2-6?

The multiplier wouldn't be set to 166 man, that's the CPU FSB...

Are you able to set the AGP frequency to 66MHz? If so then you need to put it there and then adjust your CPU FSB up to 200 so it can match the RAM and then nothing will have to be underclocked. You can then adjust your multiplier to reach the same speed as stock just using a different and more optimized configuration.

If you can't lock the AGP, they yeah, keep the CPU FSB at 166, underclock the RAM to 166 and you'd need to check the SPD Table using a program like CPU-Z to see what the rated speeds are for that stick. Not for the DDR400 speed, but you can get tigher timings like you want, but I don't think you'll hit 2-2-2-6 with ValueRAM only underclocked to PC2700, it'd probably take PC2100 speeds to be able to tighten the timings that much.

Depends of course on if the chip was stock CL3 or CL2.5 though.

EDIT: For a thorough testing of the RAM you should let it run the extended test atleast 2 times for best stability checks using memtest86+

 

[Leonidas]

perhaps his cpu multiplier is locked? can you find out for us pp