Is getting the ram worth it?

[Gixer]

Water cooling is a bit above me.  I haven't ever set it up so wouldn't know.

Any overclocking can shorten the life of your PC parts it deosnt matter how cool they are kept.  The cpu will be doing more than its designed to do and will more than likely have more voltage going through it than standard.

I believe when you do rig up watercooling you have to do a leak test, for obvious reasons.  Water and electrics IMO ar a no no.  I just air cool, I run 50C max at full load in summer, down to about 45C now its gettin cooler. Its all to do with airflow.

If you are going to overclock you really need some benchmark programs though.  Sometimes overclocking can cause throttling or smothing you do make your system run outta synch, so even though you have high MHz etc your system is running like a heap of junk.

For example My system as below scored 24000 or somthin in 3dMark01.

I overclocked my CPU to 2600MHz so a lot faster than it is  ;D to do this though I had to run the ram out of synch.  Thus my bench score went down to just under 20000!  Big numbers dont always mean good results and you need somthing that will show you what tweeks you are making make an improvement.

The 6800 cards when overclocked to much also throttle.  My card @450/1200 scored 13457 which is pretty good.

I set it to 465/1200 and it passed all tests required.  Benched it and it scored 12200 or there abouts.  The card was throttling itself  :(

Just a few things to take into consideration when overclocking.

[Tanner8]

Where do i get 3dMark01 from? Thanks

[Gixer]

Futuremark as well I think.

[Tanner8]

Yea on bench my sys got 19500. I can still clock it alot higher but then it gets heat dangerous. yea i dought ill get it passed 21k. U got urs to 24000 because of ur 3500 processor. Mines the 3200.

[Tanner8]

That was with 3dMark01SE

[Ivan]

get a phase-changer type cooling if you want to overclock...

[Tanner8]

I think this loooks nice!

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 450&depa=0

[Ivan]

that one should work if the mobo suppports 1GB/bank.
over 2x more expensive compared to a 512MB DIMM

[Gixer]

Thats the same stuff I got.  I run Corsair XMS PC3200 2x512 sticks in my PC.  I managed to tighten the timings a bit though over standard.

No good if you want to overclock though!  You wont be able to raise the HTT much at all with that ram.  Its only my ram holding me back at the moment.  You shoulda realised this if your planning to overclock so much though  ;)

[Dan]

Yeah Futuremark.com for benchmarks.  My brothers gonna d/l it for me at uni cos he's got broadband there!!!!!  :P If youve got 'spare cash' the check out VapoChill gear. Its at www.overclockers.co.uk
Dan

[Tanner8]

bout this?? http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 114&depa=0

can i over clock that well?

Thanks:)

[Gixer]

Nope!!

As you have an AMD64 3200 its Multiplyers will be locked.  The only way you will overclock your CPU is adjusting the HTT higher.  Some rams will clock there FSB/HTT (same thing) a fair bit but with the sacrifice that you loose ram timings.

I would say at present you are running 200x10 thus giving you 2000Mhz.  If you want 2500MHz your HTT will need to be 250MHz meaning you would need ram that is capable of 500MHz FSB to run ultimately stable.  I expect there are ram sticks out there that will overclock from say 470FSB to 500 though I cannot quote which as I have not tried and would be unwilling to make a suggestion in case it doesnt work.

I really don't think that any PC3200 stuff is gonna be capable of clocking that high and stay in synch with the rest of your system though.

PC4000 ram is 500MHz
PC3700 ram is 466MHz  (Possibly will clock higher? might require more voltage though)
PC3500 ram is 434MHz

My next lot of ram will be OCZ stuff.  Not sure which as they do a few types, but i want fast ram with tight timings.

Also when overclocking there is an option in BIOS that should be LDT (HT) x5 at the moment.  The aim is to multiply this by your HTT (FSB) and have it equal 1000.  So standard 200*5 = 1000.  If you overclock and get to HTT (FSB) of 250MHz then you will want to set this @ LDT (HT) x4.   250*4 = 1000.

[Tanner8]

Ok so PC 4000 is the best? Ya got any suggestions of PC 4000 1gig dual channel ram? I will worry about clocking the ram once i get it. I just want ram thant can overclock alot and thats really fast.

[Tanner8]

Ok Whats better PC4000 or PC3200??? I found out that pc 3200 is ALOT more expensive then PC4000 OCZ (is that a good company????) was going for around $150!! and the kingston was like $250 Which one is better? Which one is ffaster? With one lasts longer? Which one will give me a lower FPS? Thanks

[Gixer]

To get lower FPS wou want memory with a high bandwidth and Low Latency, i.e. tight timings.  A lot of the good quality ram is capable of achieveing tight timings.

Be careful when purchasing ram as for exampl OCZ do more than one type! i.e. performance ram, ehanced bandwith ram etc etc

Ideally you want ram you dont have to overclock. So you get ram with a speed that matches the FSB of what you will be overclocking too.

I think you should go look into overclocking a bit more especially with regards as to what your mobo is capable of and any probs you may encounter.  For the speeds you are trying to achieve you should kinda have a good idea of what you are doing otherwise your gonna end up with all kinds of unstability problems.

As for the ram, I cannot reccomend any.  You will have to make your own decision on that one.  I haven't purchased any rams with higer speed than PC3200 so cannot quote whether its good or not.  It would be a shame though you spend more money on high speed ram and at the end of it you struggle to overclock and end up with you system running at a low FSB as your ram will be wasted then.

Myself when I buy ram will buy OCZ PC3700 Enhanced Bandwidth Ram.  This only 466MHz but it has tight timings and my Multiplyer is locked one higher than yours at 11 so 11*233  (Half of 466) = 2563MHz which I would be happy with.