Finally! Stable OC!

[Nubius]

Yay! I'm guessing it really must have been the valueram holding me back....lol I'm hoping that that stick had a weak life to it anyway and that's why it recently took a dump on me yesterday (Major knows about this ) So I put in a stick of my 256 Samsung ram just so I can boot up my computer and it has timings of 2.5-3-3-7 opposed to the kingston had 3-3-3-8 and so yeah I have the 2.5-3-3-7 Timings with 2.7Dimm voltage and it's been running prime95 stable for about 9 hours now! Woohoo!

Specs of OC:
13x200 - 2.6GHz (IQYHA Stepping) 1.925 Vcore
NF7-S v2 TicTac BIOS D26 Black Mantaray L12
CPU:FSB Ratio - 6:5 I believe for the RAM to run at 333MHz because the stick is only PC2700 But hell it seems to be giving me better stability than that kingston which I'm promptly RMA'ing to the manufacturer about damn time I got this thing stable! Only took one RAM stick going out and my HD boot file to become corrupt requiring a format but I did it!

 

[ag3]

It's good to hear that you have finally stabalized the system.
How many cycles (t) is the command rate set at w/ 2.5-3-3-7?

 

[Nubius]

I'm pretty sure it's 2 because this RAM came from a system that my brother gave to me way back when and the options in the BIOS doesn't include setting the command rate! How weird is that huh? But yeah I know it's not performance RAM that's for sure because he wouldn't have shelled out the money for that. It also doesn't tell me the command rate anywhere within CPU-Z for that matter.

EDIT: Yeah I just checked SiSoftware Sandra it's 2(T)

 

[Nubius]

Hehe, I got it runnin 13.5x200 - 2.7GHz and it's been running prime95 for over an hour now so I think it's going to be stable. It seems that that kingston RAM was really holding me back. So I cancelled my order of the 512mb stick that WAS on the way and decided I'll send the broke one and get it replaced via the manufacturer and sell it then buy some Corsair XMS Ram for $220 at newegg that'll have timings like 2-3-3-6 1T instead...so that'll probably be a month from now. I can't even get any of my motherboards sold so I probably shouldn't count on getting that memory sold

 

[Leonidas]

why are timings on the ram so important? cause the cpu has to wait for information from it if it is too slow? and will this cause your overclock to become unstable? or just make your comp run slower...

also, can you change these settings on your ram safely without destroying it? or should i just buy expensive ocz, or xms ram?

thanks alot

 

[Nubius]

You can change your timings, my 3-3-3-8 RAM could run at 2.5-3-3-7 but it recommended running it at PC2700 speeds instead of PC3200 if I did that. You'll get more stability using better RAM as I've found out. That kingston value ram musta been holding me back because getting my computer stable was a *****...now that I've put in this 256mb Samsung it's stable as hell at 2.7GHz.

Each number in ram timing represents a clock cycle which is measured in nanoseconds. When you loosen your RAM timings and put in more voltage you're giving it 'breathing' room because if you are overclocking the RAM then you will need to loosen up the timings and feed it more voltage so the RAM can work at those overclocked speeds. If you aren't going above 200FSB on PC3200 RAM then it's not being overclocked and there's no point in chancing them

However, at this point I feel I'm just going to save a little more and invest in the XMS series because I need the stability, and I couldn't get that out of kingston value ram then I'm going to try some Corsair High performance XMS 2-3-3-6 (1T) timing ram and hopefully my system will be completely stable

Being at 2.7GHz is pretty nice, but I need the RAM power also so for the moment this PC2700 is cuttin it. But 2.7GHz on air is a pretty dern good OC according to most forums I've read...especially on air with a full load temp of 45C...so hell I might even be able to push 2.8 but I don't know yet

EDIT: I tried 2.8GHz but I couldn't even get it to post, guess I need watercooling or something along those lines for that even though my temps aren't even that hot right now....I might try a little later and add in a lot Vcore and see if I can get it, but overall I'm going to be pretty happy with 2.7GHz