Hi folks,
I'm building a new Core 2 Duo PC with the E6400 CPU and planning a fairly modest overclock — probably in the 2.66 to 2.9 GHz range. The motherboard is an Asus P5B Deluxe. I'm new to the forum but I did a little reading around so hopefully I don't say anything obviously foolish.
The memory ratio issue seems to have gotten less straightforward since the P4 days, with the new 1066 MHz FSB on the C2D chips. I bought some good Patriot PC-6400 RAM recommended by Tom’s Hardware that’s reportedly stable at 1000 MHz with slightly relaxed timings.
So, at stock speeds, the FSB is 266 MHz quad pumped and the RAM timing is 400 MHz double data rate… Sounds like the RAM is always going to be ahead with any reasonable overclock. my questions:
1) Does that mean I would have to use a memory divider of 2:3? I’ve heard performance-wise that a 1:1 ratio is generally optimal. Would I get better performance if I underclock the RAM to 266 MHz (533 DDR)?
2) In order to get 1:1 FSB:memory ratio, would I have to overclock to 400 MHz? 3.2 GHz is nice and all, but I don’t want to run too hot or too loud (I got a Zalman CNPS 9500), and more importantly I don’t want to significantly impact the life expectancy of my hardware.
3) My target overclock is probably going to be 325-375 MHz for the FSB. Would I be better off underclocking my memory to match 1:1 (and using tighter timings)? Are divider options like 5:6, 7:8, etc. even available on this motherboard?
Or….am I getting this all wrong?
Thanks for any help!
I'm building a new Core 2 Duo PC with the E6400 CPU and planning a fairly modest overclock — probably in the 2.66 to 2.9 GHz range. The motherboard is an Asus P5B Deluxe. I'm new to the forum but I did a little reading around so hopefully I don't say anything obviously foolish.
The memory ratio issue seems to have gotten less straightforward since the P4 days, with the new 1066 MHz FSB on the C2D chips. I bought some good Patriot PC-6400 RAM recommended by Tom’s Hardware that’s reportedly stable at 1000 MHz with slightly relaxed timings.
So, at stock speeds, the FSB is 266 MHz quad pumped and the RAM timing is 400 MHz double data rate… Sounds like the RAM is always going to be ahead with any reasonable overclock. my questions:
1) Does that mean I would have to use a memory divider of 2:3? I’ve heard performance-wise that a 1:1 ratio is generally optimal. Would I get better performance if I underclock the RAM to 266 MHz (533 DDR)?
2) In order to get 1:1 FSB:memory ratio, would I have to overclock to 400 MHz? 3.2 GHz is nice and all, but I don’t want to run too hot or too loud (I got a Zalman CNPS 9500), and more importantly I don’t want to significantly impact the life expectancy of my hardware.
3) My target overclock is probably going to be 325-375 MHz for the FSB. Would I be better off underclocking my memory to match 1:1 (and using tighter timings)? Are divider options like 5:6, 7:8, etc. even available on this motherboard?
Or….am I getting this all wrong?
Thanks for any help!
Last edited:
