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GA-x38-DS4 380 x 9 or 450 x 8

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Q6600FIEND

Registered
Joined
Apr 30, 2008
Location
Australia
Hi guys,

I need a bit of clarification here, using the parts that are in my sig, do I use 380x9 = 3.42GHz with a FSB of 1520Mhz and RAM at 1013Mhz 5-5-5-15, or do I go 450x8 with a FSB of 1700Mhz and RAM at 900Mhz 5-5-5-15.

I have reached my temp threshold and 3.4 is my limit. AM I under utilising my mobo and over using my RAM, if I go with 380x9 setup OR am I over using my mobo with the 450x8 setup?

Is it better to have a higher multipler with a smaller FSB? Or the other way round. :screwy:

Any light on this matter would be great - is this a discussion topic as most users opions will differ? ..... or am I a NoobyisMaximus? Im all ears either way !

Thanks guys
 
Im a n00b when it comes to oc'ing as well, but I think I may be able to help a little. Some say that high fsb with low multi gives better performance, but the performance is negligable for most.

Why can't you run your ram differently? Is there no 'unlinked' mode in your bios?
 
Unlinked mode? I’m not sure about that one, this is my first overclock so coming to terms with these things are slow and cumbersome but I will prevail ! The options in the BIOS for the memory are set to frequency types 200MHz = C , 266MHz = A , 333MHz = B 400MHz = D and then the strapping’s and what they give me are:

2.00A = 760 – I thought to low to try but will and get back to you
2.50A = 950 - can’t get working with 4-4-4-15 timing
3.00A = 1140 - to high for 5-5-5-15
2.66D = 1013 - this is what I have currently running 24/7 stable on 5-5-5-15 @ 2.116V
2.40B = 912 – cant get working with 4-4-4-15 timings

And the other strappings are the same as the ones mentioned above. I hope this isn’t to vague.

So, the goal is to high the most GHz out of the chip on the lowest Voltage with the highest front side bus from the Motherboard on the lowest/tightest timings on the highest frequency from the RAM? Is this is it? Or do I have to start over?

I have not touched any of the subtimings as I have no idea what each one of them do? And cant really find specs on these subtimings so, I feel as if at this stage the tight timings I cant get on the board is due to a lack of knowledge and not because of the hardware, I don’t know. I just cant blame the hardware as I think this ram is pretty decent. Let me know what you guys think.

Cheers
 
Unlinked is nvidia chipsets only divider strap/options are :-
mchstrap_s.jpg
They will be the same on X38
 
Hey Supershanks, im not sure what you mean by this, could you please explain.

Does this mean I am already in unlinked mode? By using a strapping of 2.66D im I unlinked?
 
Hey Supershanks, im not sure what you mean by this, could you please explain.

Does this mean I am already in unlinked mode? By using a strapping of 2.66D im I unlinked?

Unliked mode means when you increase fsb, it has no affect on memory. Memory remains in set speed regardless of fsb. On intel boards if you increase fsb memory speed also increases.
 
unlimked means
Unliked mode means when you increase fsb, it has no affect on memory
as meionm says.

easiest way to get your head round dividers is think about them likre the gerabox ojn a car. there the gears govern the ratio between engine & wheels. Here it's FSB & memory speed.

Like formula 1 there are 4 gaerboxes or straps , these are based on the stock speeds of the different Intel CPU's see charts here
the dividers are the gears like 1st ~ 4th in a car.

2 = lowest gear 1:1 so FSB=Memory Speed (though remember memory runds at double data rate so is x2) E.G. FSB = 400 Ram = 800 (400x2 x1)

4= Highest gear 1:2 E.G FSB= 300 Ram =1200 (300x2 x2)

So you can see from above Intel chipsets are linked using the straps & dividers.
 
Thanks for clearing up the unlinked mode thing. I thought it was on all mobo's.

You have the right idea about overclocking, just need to get your head around the dividers/straps etc. Have you read any guides on these/other forums yet? There are some really good ones out there. Some are just general and some are chipset/cpu specific.
 
Yeah, I have read the overclocking guides. Thats whats got me so far but its one thing to read something but then have it explain in " easier" terms makes more sense sometimes. Thanks for helping me on this one.

So if I were to chose a board with unlinked mode, what would a good choice be? What are the clockers of today using? Or should I get higher spec ram? Hearing of what some people are doing are just mouth watering. I know I should'nt base my goals on their achievements but man, there got to be light at the end of this tunnel. Whats 4 Ghz like for encoding? Anybody know? On quad or dual?
 
So if I were to chose a board with unlinked mod
Why would you wnat to do that :) Nvidia as stated is the onlty chipset that supportsd it, without wishing to get in a slanging match about nvidoi, the Intel chipsets tend to overclock better. Any performance benefit of running unlinked is fairly minimal.

If you want SLI or something fine Nvidia is fior you.
 
While we're on the subject of these multipliers, I have 1200Mhz DDR2 Transcend ram and I set it to 3.30B in the BIOS (it shows 1216mhz). When I use this setting it crashes ArmA real fast. When I use 2.00B (1:1) it seems to run fine, but it will bomb after an hour of gaming.

I just want to use this ram to its' full potential at 1200Mhz without the game crashing on its ***.

I have my E8400 at 380x9 for 3.4GHz o.c. Should I set it to a lower cpu multiplier... say 8x?

Recommendations?
 
Not all straps & dividers work as well as others. I found on the x38 that the D strap was strongest. You'll probably find you can run 3.33D easier than 3.2B give it a try .
2 or 1:1 is alway the easiest as it stresses the memory controller & northnridge less.
 
With your overclock, is it necessary to give the FSB Overvoltage a +1 in the BIOS?
 
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