Confused about FSB and Memory.

Howdy all,

I've recently purchased (and am still waiting for it to arrive) these components:

Thermaltake Xaser V Damier Silver Chassis 1.0 mm All aluminum made Front Door Aluminum made ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P4 700W ATX12V 700W Power Supply - Retail

BFG Tech BFGR88640GTSOCE GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 OC HDCP Video Card - Retail

Tuniq Tower 120 P4 & K8 CPU Cooler - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

LITE-ON Combo Drive Black SATA Model SHC-52S7K-05 - OEM

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Creative Sound Blaster SB0610VP 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Audigy 4 SE Sound Card - OEM


And I have a few questions about the OC'ing abilities of this rig. I would really appreciate anyone's help as this is my first time trying to OC and I just hope that I purchased all the right parts for it. Before purchasing I studied the FAQ's from here as well as from AnAndTech, Tom's Hardware, and Overclocking.net.

Questions:

1.) After reading about FSB and how Memory works best at a synchronus rate (1:1), I was curious how far I could push this rig. I keep seeing people talking about trying to go over 500 FSB with a P5B-Dlx, but if my memory is rated to 400Mhz (don't you divide DDR2 in half? so that my DDR2-800Mhz is actually at 400Mhz?) how could I possibly move it close to my processor's FSB of 1066Mhz?

2.) Does The Duo Core 2 use the "Quad-pumping" of the old P4's? If so, does that mean that each processor on the DC2 is getting "quad-pumped" ? And if so, perhaps I am wrong about my actual FSB. Could anyone shed some light on that?

3.) Back to memory - When I went to ballistix website and used their flash page to see what memory would work best for my MB, they recommended 1GB of PC-6400 was "Good", 2GB of PC-4200 was "Better", but that 4GB of PC-5300 would be the "Best". How is it that the "Best" option is the middle speed one? Why not 4 GB of PC-6400 ??

4.) Can anyone tell me if the RAM I have chosen is this "D9" type that I keep reading about, and does anyone have a link to someplace that can explain what it is and why is it important?

Well, I hope you don't mind my very noobish questions, and I look forward to any responses. Have a great day!

Cheers,

Tata

Yes, the C2D is quad pumped like the P-4. So, 1066 system bus speed is really 266 FSB. Yes, DDR2 speed is doubled, so memory frequency of 400 MHz is actually DDR2-800.

Forget about running an E6600 at 500 FSB with air cooling, that's 4.5 gig. You will be lucky to hit 3.6 gig (400 FSB) with decent air cooling. By coincidence, 400 FSB using the 1:1 memory ratio is DDR2-800.

Not sure why the Crucial website says 4GB of PC2-5300 is best unless they don't think you want to O/C. Maybe they have an over stock of that RAM and are trying to get rid of it.

That DDR2-800 Ballistix used to have D9 chips, not sure if they still do or not. The reason people love D9 is they O/C really well and have decent timings.

Is that a good PSU brand? Ive never heard of em.

I got the information from here:

Quick round up of Best PS's for your rig
__________________________

$39: FSP Group (FSP) AX400-PN ATX12V 400W (Low to Midrange)
$52: XClio 450BL 450W (For 95%+ of All Modern PC's)
$62: Antec SP2 500W Modular (Highend to Limited SLI)
$79: Enermax 535W SLI-Ready (For SLI & DFI N4 mobos)
$125: OCZ PowerStream 520W (The Best All-Round PSU Available.)
$239: PC P&C 510 ASL (THE BEST PC PSU EVER MADE!)


Which is in the PSU buyers guide. Click Here.

I upped the wattage because I thought, if I should ever go Quad for the CPU I might need the extra power. Also I might go SLI with the videocard when they drop down to $200.00.

@batboy - Thank you for the information, really helpful! I didn't realize that 500FSB would shoot my GHZ up that much, but I guess I just didn't think about the multiplier and what would be the end result. I'm still just trying to figure things out and I'm very grateful for the help.

Cheers,

Tata

That is a really outdated list

That XClio isn't exactly the best PSU you could choose. There are some models of XClio that are pretty decent (The 'Stable Power' line only I believe, which is OEMed by Enhance)

I'd say that if it hasn't shipped yet, you may want to cancel the oder for the PSU and go for something else.


Also, you didn't list your motherboard, what did you order for that?

jivetrky said:

I'd say that if it hasn't shipped yet, you may want to cancel the oder for the PSU and go for something else.


Also, you didn't list your motherboard, what did you order for that?

Click to expand...

DOH! Unfortunately it has already shipped, so I'll have to see how it goes and hope for the best. Thanks for catching my mistake, I'll go back and edit the Mobo in for future posts. But since you asked it I purchased the Asus P5B deluxe, and am PRAYING that I don't get one of the older boards with the 510 Bios on it.

Cheers,

Tata

About the PSU, depending where you ordered from you might be able to RMA it for a refund. I know NewEgg would and as long as it hasn't been opened they won't charge you a restocking fee. Of course you would have to pay for the return shipping and your CC wouldn't get refunded until they received the RMA and inspected the unit. Also you would have to order a different PSU, pay for its shipping and that would also delay your build a tad.

I know it's not one of the very best, but I just put a build together with an OCZ GameXtreme 700W. I'm confident that should be okay for my purpose and intent. But I also hear many here heaping praise on Corsair, Zippy, Silverstone & PCP&C to name a few.

Tatalebuj said:

DOH! Unfortunately it has already shipped, so I'll have to see how it goes and hope for the best. Thanks for catching my mistake, I'll go back and edit the Mobo in for future posts. But since you asked it I purchased the Asus P5B deluxe, and am PRAYING that I don't get one of the older boards with the 510 Bios on it.

Cheers,

Tata

Click to expand...

Ahhh...well bloodshedder's recommendation of trying to RMA is a good one. If you don't want to do that however, then hopefully it works ok for you. Just keep it in the back of your mind that if you have strange instability problems or just can't get the OC you think you should, it's probably that PSU, becuase everything else you've bought is pretty top notch!


Oh and, if you were to get a P5B Deluxe with an older BIOS, those things are easily upgraded via software. So don't fret about that one.

Extreme Overclocking gave the PSU a good review:

LINKY

-Dave

Sweet! I was getting worried when no one here had ever heard of one. Of course, what's the opinion of the "ExtremeOverclocking" group. Do they know their stuff or should I still be worried?

And Baltoos, thanks for the link!

Cheers,

Tata