What speed DDR2 do I need?

I'm new to DDR2, know nothing about it really.

I'm thinking of switching to a Core Duo 6600. I know it overclocks well. I'm thinking of a modest overclock on it to around 3 gig as it seems that's pretty easy to get.

I know I will have to switch over to DDR2. What speed DDR2 do you guys recommend for me to get a decent overclock? I'll be going to 2 gigs (2x1024).

If anyone wants to add a motherboard recommendation to the mix, I'm listening. Thanks.

DDR2 is not all that different from DDR ram, it just runs at higher frequencies and generally has looser timings. Basically your stock fsb will be 266 so technically you would only need some ddr2-533 (pc2-4200) to run at stock. Most people tend to get stuff that will clock higher such as ddr2-800 (pc2-6400) so they can push their fsb up and keep it 1:1 with the ram.

You will have a 9x multiplier with the 6600. To reach 3ghz you would only need to push your fsb to 333, giving you 2997 mhz. That would mean you could get away with some ddr2-667 or pc2-5300 to reach your said goal.

Personally I would recommend some ddr2-800. That way you can reach 400 fsb and run 1:1 for sure if you would want/need to and if you get some decent ram you can most likely overclock it as well.

As far as a mobo recommendation, I know a lot of people suggest getting the intel 975 chipset (Asus P5W-DH DLX) for the 6600's and up and for the 6400's and down the general suggestion is the intel 965 chipset (Asus p5b deluxe, Gigabyte ds3). However, many people run a 965 chipset with the 6600's so it will depend on what features you are looking for, etc. Also if you want to go sli then you may want to look at the nvidia 680i chipsets.

My $0.02 for you!

What he ^^^^^ said
Ive not long had my E6600 and Im still using my old 667 ram and Im 2 X prime stable @ 3.4Ghz and only 1.375 volts but like DJCorpse I'd recommend DDR 800 if you want to go higher, thats what Im going to do, as soon as I can find some I like and can get here.

Thanks, good info.

Let me ask a question here as I think I'm really tweaking.

Would you guys go to a Core 2 Duo if you had a system from my sig? (I'm running the X2 4800 at 2.6 gig, stock is 2.4 gig).

Mike89 said:

Thanks, good info.

Let me ask a question here as I think I'm really tweaking.

Would you guys go to a Core 2 Duo if you had a system from my sig? (I'm running the X2 4800 at 2.6 gig, stock is 2.4 gig).

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probably not... core 2 duo is only good for those that want brand new stuff without using old stuff.. an upgrade for everything like that isn't gonna be worth it IMO

Mike89 said:

Thanks, good info.

Let me ask a question here as I think I'm really tweaking.

Would you guys go to a Core 2 Duo if you had a system from my sig? (I'm running the X2 4800 at 2.6 gig, stock is 2.4 gig).

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Well, I do believe that a c2d at stock may rival what you currently have depending on which particular c2d and an overclocked c2d would be even better.

It's a tough call. I guess it would really depend on your budget more or less. I went from an a64 3700+ at 2.8 to a c2d 6300 at 2.8 and all I can say is wow. You already have a dual core cpu (i think anyway?) so you might not notice a huge difference but I believe there would be a difference.

The tripping side of me always wants to upgrade, sometimes at the expense of my common sense.

The tripping side says, "go ahead and do it dude, even though you know it's just going to put you in deeper debt", and the common sense side says, "dude, what the hell is wrong with you, stick to what you got, it's not exactly a slouch system".

I think logic would say, wait until you see what the quad developes into, and in the meantime enjoy what you have now.

You've got a good system so imo it comes down to a money question. If you're going to literally go into debt by putting it on a CC that you won't pay off right away or not pay off some CC balance then I'd say definite no.

MadMan007 said:

You've got a good system so imo it comes down to a money question. If you're going to literally go into debt by putting it on a CC that you won't pay off right away or not pay off some CC balance then I'd say definite no.

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Agreed. No point in wasting money when, as madman said, you already have a nice system.

Mike89 said:

The tripping side of me always wants to upgrade, sometimes at the expense of my common sense.

The tripping side says, "go ahead and do it dude, even though you know it's just going to put you in deeper debt", and the common sense side says, "dude, what the hell is wrong with you, stick to what you got, it's not exactly a slouch system".

I think logic would say, wait until you see what the quad developes into, and in the meantime enjoy what you have now.

Click to expand...

Well, your Athlon chip is certainly good enough, I would hold off. One thing to consider is saving up for a quadcore Direct x10 system when it becomes affordable. That will be a justifiable leap and well worth the expense, if you want to upgrade.

With that in mind, then you can hold off for a while. I don't know if you like to game (but I see you do have a Direct x10 capable setup already, nice 8800 you got there ), but Half Life 2 Episode 2 and Crysis will not only be graphically amazing, but also be able to utilise the quad core processors coming out, as they will have a physics based particle system, which is very demanding on the hardware. Just something to consider perhaps.

You have an x2 4800 and you're thinking about getting a core2duo?

I'm getting an x2 4200 next week. You're already ahead of me. I doubt a core2duo is going to give a serious performance boost, unless you're just curious and want to compare intel vs amd.

Yeah I think I'm just trippin a bit. It's the tweak/curiousity thing that seems to grab us by the balls sometimes. Heh heh

My son is building a Core 2 Duo system (6600) and I guess I'm a bit jealous. He won't spring for the Nvidia 8800GTX like I did though (he'll probably get a 7900GTX or something like that) so I think I'll still be able to stay up with him (in games anyway). I think the X2 4800 still has plenty to drive the 8800GTX. He'll beat me in encoding (copying DVD's) and stuff like that.

Yup, just wait until quads come out and then you'll be laughing (specifically when HL2 EP2 comes out with physics based particle systems and the game looks amazing).

The other option is to sell off your old CPU, mobo, and Ram. You might be able to do that and get a new setup for not much more? I'm not sure what your parts are worth..