ddr500 compatiblity w/ Foxconn NF4SK8AA-8EKRS ?

[viperjohn131]

basically, i want the most performance possible out of my system as i run fraps for halo pc to record my gameplay- fraps renders huge files during the game and stores them on my hard drive, roughly 1 gigabyte/ minute, and i think that upgrading from pc3200 to pc4000 (ddr500) would give me a few more frames per second as fraps moves large .avi files around. ive been researching this for a bit, but in all honesty i have a feeling someone on these forums knows alot more about this than me and i was hoping to be enlightened 😱

-----------------------------do all regular 184 pin ddr chips work or will mine reject the quicker speed?--------------------------------------

Foxconn NF4SK8AA-8EKRS

newegg product specs: Model
Brand Foxconn
Model NF4SK8AA-8EKRS
Supported CPU
CPU Socket Type 939
CPU Type Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64
FSB 1000MHz Hyper Transport (2000 MT/s)
Chipsets
North Bridge NVIDIA nForce4 SLI
Memory
Number of Memory Slots 4×184pin
Memory Standard DDR 400
Maximum Memory Supported 4GB
Dual Channel Supported Yes
i know it recommends pc3200 but i want performance :S

system specs: amd opteron 185@2.8ghz, 4 gigs mushkin pc3200@ ddr430 (13x multiplier @ 215) 8800gt vid card, 320 ide hard drive-

another question- would going sata improve my framerate ?

 

[o1die]

I wouldn't pay a premium for it. Foxconn isn't known for overclocking abilities. Your memory will probably run at pc3200 speed. No point in paying extra for it unless you have a good overclocking board.

 

[heyheybooboo]

""Theoretically"" if you can overvolt your ram +0.2 to 2.8v (spec for DDR500), drop your HT to 4x and up your fsb to 250MHz you will be able to run that ram at spec without using a memory divider.

That would place that Opty 185 @ 3.25GHz - a 25% OC

I have OC'ed a Manchester X2 on that same mobo 25%. I think you can do it.

First try the OC before you purchase the ram. Up the voltage on the Opty to 1.375 (or 1.4+ - you can crank an Opty) and lower your memory divider to 150MHz. Loosen your ram timings and drop the HT to 4x. Slowly begin raising the fsb from 200 at 5-10MHz a pop.

Do not raise the ram voltage to 2.8v for your test!

Monitor your temps. Your cpu core limit is safely around 50c. If you get to a fsb of 240-250MHz run a stress test. If you pass the stress test I say go for it.

If you decide to get the DDR500 set your memory divider back to 200MHz (and don't forget to up the ram voltage to 2.8). A fsb of 240-250MHz (20-25% increase) would mean your DDR500 is running 480-500MHz.

Good luck!

edit: If you want to seriously raise your frame rate - buy a new video card. Improving memory speed and thruput will increase system performance especially in applications like Photoshop. The big problem with your system (compared to todays standards) is your ram. The question becomes, ""Is the upgrade worth the cost?""

If you decide it is not worth the cost and want to sell that Opty 185, PM me 🙂 lol

 

[Binky]

I still own a very similar Foxconn board and I don't remember any voltage adjustments. It does have basic overclocking controls, but without real voltage maniputation you are very limited. I managed to get a minimal 10% overclock out of it but I'm not sure how much further it can be pushed. My board is in a box, so my memory could be way off.

With your 320gb hard drive, my suggestion would be to upgrade that to the fastest thing possible first...unless it's one of those new single platter 320gb WD drives that appear to be incredibly fast. Writing 1gb/min to the HD may be your primary bottleneck.

 

[viperjohn131]

sweet, thanks for the help 🙂 -posted this on 3 different forums, this is the one that replied ^_^

im definately a noob to oc'ing so thanks for the step by step, ill let you know how it goes 😀 -this one definately has voltage controls, and i couldnt get it oc'd past how it is now- but the main thing i wanted was the memory oc, idk how the cpu does- also, what if my memory is already at 2.8v?

im really surprised at the price of the opty now, went from 230$ when i bought it to 300$ on newegg for a 939~! great part about it is that it scores over 2000 on just the cpu 3dmark06 benchmark- similiar to 6000+x2 🙂 brought my score over 10,000 for a 939 🙂

but yea. my memory is definately outdated ._.

i would very much like a new hard drive but it takes alot of time, installing a new os takes so long 🙁 -i have a 500gb external, could i just copy the entire drive to that, then back to a new hard drive and it should boot normally?

edit: i have an 8800gt, it's still a great card, im just not ready to ditch it- the board supports sli, but would it be worth it w/ nforce4 northbridge? i have no idea on that one.

 

[viperjohn131]

i lowered the memory clock to 166, loosened the timings to 3-4-3-7 (2-3-2-6) stock and it wouldnt go past 13x223mhz 🙁 ive heard the opty's oc well, but i just cant seem to get it past 2.9ghz. stable now @ 13x220 w/ ht multi @ 4x and memory timings at 3-3-3-6

basically, w/ the memory even at 133mhz w/ the looser timings (3-4-3-7) i still couldnt get it stable at 13x223 (2.99ghz). so that means my mobo would reject ddr500? 🙁

 

[Mondoman]

It wouldn't reject the RAM, it would just run at the same slower speed that you're running at now.

 

[Mondoman]

You might think about selling your CPU and RAM on ebay and buying a new Core2Duo + MB + 2 GB DDR2-800 RAM with the money.