Do I correctly understand max settings?

[jelifah]

So I'm playing with my Opteron 170, currently at 2.7, and I had some questions:
(My max RAM speed is 3200, and my max HTT is 1,000)

If I am running a multiplier of 10x, and an HT of 4X, than the most I could overclock is 250 or 2.5? If I ran above 250 than I would be above my max HTT, right?

If I reduce my multiplier to 9X, and drop the HT to 3X, than the most I could overclock is 333?

Am I correct in thinking that lowering my RAM divider to 150 or even 100 is worth it, IF it allows me to go from 2.7 to 2.8 or 3.0? Or would running a RAM divider at 150 or 100 be WAY to low?

 

[Raider1284]

your HTT runs at 1000 at stock, and your ram runs at 3200 stock, so no its defineately not your MAX! I believe the amds want to run in 1:1 mode meaning the ram and HTT/FSB are the same, so running dividers will probally hurt performance somewhat. I would check with the amd overlocking sticky as a first start. The general idea is if you first find your max HTT/fsb, then max memory speed, then choose the appropiate speeds from there.

 

[betasub]

The 1:1 ratio (may be labelled as 200MHz or 400DDR in BIOS) is actually derived from a divider applied to the full HTT (usually 1000MHz at stock). Therefore there is no inherent penalty for choosing a divider other than 1:1 - performance lost or gained is purely from slower/faster memory speed.

Because of the direct CPU-RAM link (instead of via a Northbridge), this CPU architecture is rarely memory bandwidth limited, so eeking out extra CPU speed at the expense of memory bandwidth is usually sensible. Of course, memory benchmarks or a bandwidth-hungry app will be penalised by slower memory speed, and at some stage (100-133MHz?) memory will become a general limiting factor. Try it and find out