3 diffrent memory choices.. CANT DECIDE! please help =)

[Nitestick]

and with the OCZ i can just set the timings loose to get a great OC

don't just assume that. it depends on the memory IC's on the sticks you buy. for instance the BH series chips from Winbond basically will not tolerate anything other than their stock timings, and that includes loosening the timings. but chances are you are right anyway

i'm curious as to whether you tried a memory divider when you were overclocking or if you tried overclocking with the multiplier?

 

[CrazeD]

Well PC4000 gives you about .5GHz more than PC3200 does, stock. So, if you can hit, say, 2.8GHz with PC3200 RAM, and the RAM is what's holding you back, then you would be able to hit 3.0GHz easily with PC4000 RAM.

 

[lazer_viking]

don't just assume that. it depends on the memory IC's on the sticks you buy. for instance the BH series chips from Winbond basically will not tolerate anything other than their stock timings, and that includes loosening the timings. but chances are you are right anyway

i'm curious as to whether you tried a memory divider when you were overclocking or if you tried overclocking with the multiplier?

Originally posted by CrazeD
Well PC4000 gives you about .5GHz more than PC3200 does, stock. So, if you can hit, say, 2.8GHz with PC3200 RAM, and the RAM is what's holding you back, then you would be able to hit 3.0GHz easily with PC4000 RAM.

My stomach just got all in a knot reading those last two posts... what if I just wasted some money on new RAM? I didn't even check to see if it was the RAM holding me back. I just assumed ("assuming makes an *** out of you and me, don't assume" -my mother) that since it was the crappiest RAM Corsair had to offer that anything high performance would be leaps and bounds better than what I had.
The answer is, no I didn't use dividers or any of that jazz while I was overclocking w/ Corsair value. I had such a crappy overclock though (I could only get it up to 212 FSB with the mutliplier on x14 (default with FX-57)) that I just knew it had to be the RAM.
So I guess what I need to do now is put my multiplier on x11-12 or something like that and see how far I can go with it. I have memtest 86 built right into my mobo so I'll go do some testing. Hopefully my RAM is only stable to ~212.
Cross your fingers for me guys X_X

To crazed: "So, if you can hit, say, 2.8GHz with PC3200 RAM"
FX-57's stock is 2.8. I'm sure you meant 2.9 .

edit: wow. just wow. im really giddy right now because i put the multi on x15 (3.0 ghz) (not even stressing ram right now... i think being able to boot @ x15 and doing some prime95 when i couldn't even turn the damned thing on w/ the old ram, proves without a even a trace of a doubt that the ram is whats holding me back. (as of now its been doing 4 minutes of prime95)......... LOL!!! i cant even contain myself right now im so happy. i cant believe i didnt even TRY to put the mutli up to x15. i think i got put off when the x14.5 didnt work.. but someone told me that the half mutlies dont work so i dont know why i didnt. sorry this sounds like an 8 year old with all these run on sentences... but this is really something for me. i have the voltage @ 1.500, and highest temperature ive seen so far is 46... oop and back down to 45... down to 44.. 45.. 44.. yea so the temps are okay. i got really really loud fan so it must be good. it was only 20$ too. =D okay well ill edit this post again if i can get it to run @ x16. if i can get it to run @ x16 you can expect me to post a full page of incoherent capitalized words. lol jk but ill be really happy.

edit2: prime95 ran 10 minutes no errors. im gonna go put the mutli on x16 wish me luck.

 

[Nitestick]

i can almost guarantee that 16x will fail. did you or did you not try 15x with your old ram? oh well.

 

[lazer_viking]

i havnt gotton my new ram yet. the deal is, i gave up trying to overclock with my current hardware because the entry level ram i have now isnt good for squat.
but when i was prompted to go see if it indeed was the RAM which was holding me back, i got to thinking: a good way to see if it is the RAM holding me back is to just put to processor on x15 and see if it boots. well it did boot, so it was the RAM holding me back.
although i knew that raising the multiplier overclocks the CPU independant of the RAM, i tried raising it once to 14.5 and it didn't boot. even though i learned that sometimes the middle multipliers dont work, i will still put off from using them because resetting the CMOS is such a pain in the arse. so now im just happy that i got it to 3.0 almost effortlessly. (independant of RAM)
x16 did fail, like you said. so for tonight il just leave it on x15 and run prime95 until i wake up. its on the 17th test right now.. i can estimate its been going ~2 hrs.
but this brings me to another thought.. if im already at the limit of my CPU (probably around x15 and 105fsb), whats the point of the better ram? it cant give me a better OC since ive already hit it independant of ram... right?

 

[Nitestick]

but it can give you a better overclock. memory does count for performance but only in certain applications. video encoding and load times can benefit greatly from higher memory bandwidth as can things like mathematical algorithms (SuperPi, F@H, Prime95)

 

[pullyalater]

im waiting to see wether or not geil is going to come out with a 2gbversion of their ONE mem. i would get that no matter what it cost. after reviewing a whole lot on it the possibilities are so vast cant go wrong with it. but atm they only have 1gb and it is very hard to find

 

[lazer_viking]

alright, well thanks. i hope you're right nitestick. ill post back any results i get so stand by. ram should be delivered until like thursday of this week.