• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

PC3500 in a PC3200 board, more stable?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

cracker1082

Registered
Joined
Jul 31, 2004
Location
Chicago
I got a question, before i make a decision in purchasing memory. I have an Asus k8vSE Deluxe MB with an A64 3200 processor. The board supports up to pc3200 memory. Since i'm overclocking my system, along with the memory, would i be able to purchase pc3500 instead, providing a more stable overclock? I mean i know the system would read it at pc3200, but since the memory is being "held back" by the system, overclocking the memory would just bring it to its stock timings and bus, right?

So my question is would it make sense to put pc3500 in a pc3200 motherboard if i'm going to overclock it? Would it be more stable? :confused:
 
memory ratings can be misleading. all those numbers mean is that the company guarentees the memory to work at pc3200/200mhz. or pc3500/217 mhz. but if that pc3200 has bt/d43 chips in it, it will run at least 260 mhz..(pc4200) so the first trick is to find out here in the forums what memory chips will run fast. the second trick is to know how fast ur cpu and mb will run then buy memory to match it.
 
Yes it would. To be honest, considering how an amd 64 3200 would oc, I would be tempted to get 3700 or even 4000. The OCZ ram seems to be the ram that most people have the best luck with these days. If it has EB in it's name you know it will be good. They also came out with some 4000 ram with tighter timings, I think it is the 4000 Rev 2, and I saw it on newegg, which might work good for you.
 
Oh, and if your cpu is a newcastle core one then you are basically identical to me but with single channel memory. I bet you could hit 2.5ghz with good air cooling and using the 10x multiplyer at 250 fsb.
 
actually, my motherboard doesnt let me change the multiplier. I can hit 2.5 at 11x230. My system runs fine, and so does the memroy i have currently, although its cas3.

The reason i wanted to get new memory is because i ran memtest86 with my current ram, and it came up with errors in phase 5 of the test (dont know if you guys know what phase that is). I'm not sure if that's common with memtest86 or not, but it broke my heart. :(
 
It means your memory can't handle that speed, so you would be wise to get new memory sticks. If you have it running 11x230 then I would think 3700 would be your best bet, since it is guaranteed to run with fsb at 233 so you have a little headroom. The OCZ 3700 EB's would be ideal IMHO, but look for youself in the forums to see what others use.

What you can try in the mean time is loosening your timings to see if that will make it stable. I wouldn't want you to crash your computer.
 
so pc3700 instead of 3200? It'll be possible right, the motherboard shouldnt have any problems with it? It'll be able to support it eventhough 3200 is the highest? Just making sure, double checking.
 
PC3200 is the highest speed rating ANY motherboard officially supports, but in real life, most new boards will run up past that without a hickup of any type. Your limitations are more likely to come from the cpu and the ram. In addition to more relaxed timings, you could also try increasing the voltage to the ram, in an effort to improve stability. The link below is to a very good discussion on memtest86 with causes and possible solutions to various error messages.

http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=442
 
Back