RAM for overclocking A64

sillyguy · Aug 6, 2004

hi... my first post here

i'm planning to build a new A64 (S754) and overclock. it won't be anything extreme, i'm going for a 3000+ and planning to go to about 2.2ghz or 2.3ghz. as the RAM prices are currently way up in the sky , i want to gamble on PC3200 and push it, instead of paying extra for PC3500 or above... is OCZ dual channel EB series the most overclockable PC3200 for A64 in this case? thx

zyx · Aug 6, 2004

the ocz eb is very good for a64. go for it

Goldstandard · Aug 6, 2004

To be honest, I have seen people get 2.5ghz on A64's fairly often. If you get the newcastle core 3000 then I could almost guarantee it with a little extra voltage and a good mobo.

sillyguy · Aug 6, 2004

ya it'll be real nice if i can push it as high as 2.5ghz. but i do want to keep noise down, so i'll be having rather limited cooling (wanna use the zalman cnps7000, and only 1 more case fan). have to wait and see :-/

other than that, i'm just concerned whether the RAM will hold me back with the oc. would the OCZ EB oc well on the Epox 8KDA3J?

Goldstandard · Aug 6, 2004

Well, I don't know how much the board would affect your ram, since the memory controler is on the cpu and not the mobo. The only thing you need is to be able to reach high bus speeds, and as far as I know the epox boards are good. The OCZ EB's are also generally the best to pair with an A64 as far as I can tell from what I read in this forum. I have a question, what is your current rig? If you have decent ram you could use that in your new rig, see how far you can push the CPU and then use that info to better choose the right ram. I didn't have that option but I wish I had, because I didn't realize I could hit the high speeds I did and got some corsair c2 ram that doesn't overclock that well.

sillyguy · Aug 6, 2004

my current rig is just a p4 willy with some pc133... yes laugh at that

too bad it looks like i have to gamble on both the cpu and the ram.

but i'm wondering... if i get some cheaper ram which absolutely will not go beyond 200mhz and must use memory divider (lets say my HTT goes to 250mhz but the crappy ram is stuck at 200mhz, that's a 5:4), would i take a performance hit while not running with 1:1?

Goldstandard · Aug 6, 2004

No, at least in my case when I tried dividers it worked fine.

Jess1313 · Aug 6, 2004

yes the memory devisors are not buggy and unstable like NFII was, but i have seen a pretty desent loss in performace with running ratios, but nothing that i couldnt live w/

sillyguy · Aug 6, 2004

ahh ok ic. but in that case, if running crappy ram with ratios does yield *some* performance loss compared to EB, does that mean the only advantage of EB is it allows you to use 1:1? (ie. other ram would be ok for a mild oc?)

Jess1313 · Aug 6, 2004

well EB alows for 1:1+good timings, and really good bandwith, plus it doesnt need masive voltage....

sillyguy · Aug 6, 2004

the reason i bother with the crappy ram (well not 'crappy', maybe the 'value' ones from OCZ or Corsair) is that the price difference between 1 gig of each is quite a lot... and since i am not shooting for extreme oc, i might not need EB considering the performace gain over the price difference...

K4mui · Aug 6, 2004

Ah, wait a second- you don't want to spend some extra cash on PC3500 or higher but you consider OCZ?
Well, it sounds kind of inconsistent to me... OCZ is in Germany so expensive... you get 1.5GB A-DATA PC4000 for the price of 1GB OCZ PC3500EB, and the PC3200 EB is not really cheaper.

sillyguy · Aug 6, 2004

K4mui said:
Ah, wait a second- you don't want to spend some extra cash on PC3500 or higher but you consider OCZ?
Well, it sounds kind of inconsistent to me...

lol yes it is... it started when i read EB was good oc ram so i was only looking at the series, but the prices were like

but anyway, now i'm just considering if it's worth it to spend extra on EB to achieve 1:1 or just use some value ram with divider (if the value ram have troubles going above 200mhz).

CandymanCan · Aug 6, 2004

Using dividers also messus ur rams overclocking potential at least it does this for me. I can get 290mhz 1:1 ratio but when i use 5:4 or something my memory wont overclock to even 200mhz.

I suggest you get the Adata HyperRam pc4200 from www.komusa.com Make sure you pick ADATA chips for the brand option.

sillyguy · Aug 6, 2004

unfortunately the only selections we have in canada are Corsair, Kingston, and OCZ

. other brands are very rare, if there is at all....

i was looking at http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/OCZ_DDR_PC-3200_Rev_3. would these reach maybe 220mhz?

K4mui · Aug 6, 2004

Look for Corsari's PC3200XL. (should be much cheaper than OCZ's EB)
Or write a mail to komusa, maybe they'll ship to canada as well?

But to say it again, OCZ's EB- series is probably the best in the market, but at last for me they are too expensive

mrspec3 · Aug 7, 2004

OCZ pc3200EB is a good choice. It should do 240Mhz with good timings....though I know someone running 275Mhz with the pc3200EB.

Another choice as K4umi said is ram based on the Samsung TCCD chips like the corsairs XL, mushkin 3200 l2 r2 and ocz pc3200 r2

Read this review as it also has the crucial ballistix there which is also another good choice
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2145

sillyguy · Aug 7, 2004

mrspec3 said:
OCZ pc3200EB is a good choice. It should do 240Mhz with good timings....though I know someone running 275Mhz with the pc3200EB.

Another choice as K4umi said is ram based on the Samsung TCCD chips like the corsairs XL, mushkin 3200 l2 r2 and ocz pc3200 r2

at the EB... and for the other choices you and k4mui suggested, i either don't have access to them or they just cost as much as the EB. so in that case i think i'll get the EB.

but would the pc3200 rev3 from the OCZ performance series (http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/OCZ_DDR_PC-3200_Rev_3) do a mild oc? getting 2 sticks of these save me lots compared to EB...

K4mui · Aug 7, 2004

mrspec3 said:
Read this review as it also has the crucial ballistix there which is also another good choice
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2145

That's what we all thought- but they were handpicked!!
Common overclock for PC3200 Ballistix seems to be something about 220MHz- top timings, though.

The OCZ you proposed... well, I don't know it. I know the platinum revision2, maybe a typo? PC3200 Plat Rev2 should be TCCD, and it is the best TCCD available I guess

Way to expensive for me, again... nearly as much as EB

sillyguy · Aug 7, 2004

K4mui said:
The OCZ you proposed... well, I don't know it. I know the platinum revision2, maybe a typo? PC3200 Plat Rev2 should be TCCD, and it is the best TCCD available I guess

Way to expensive for me, again... nearly as much as EB

no it's not the platinum... check out the url. i know, the platinum is just as expensive as the EB

. since getting 2 sticks of that saves me a bunch, it's very tempting to try...

RAM for overclocking A64

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