Gigabyte P965 DS3 Memory requirements

greatromances

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May 18, 2006
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I currently run a pentium D 940 and will be slowly (but surely) migrating my system to core 2 duo. My plan is to first purchase the DS3 motherboard and run my 940 until I can afford an E6300. I'm on a really tight budget right now and cannot afford to make both purchases at once. With the DS3 i'll be able to get the 940 hopefully past 4ghz until i get the e6300, which I will also overclock.

The problem i'm having is, right now i'm running 2gb DDR2 667mhz with the PD940, and the DS3 specs says I will need DDR2 800mhz. Here's what Newegg has posted in the specs:

"Notice: Only DDR2-800 memory supporting JEDEC approved 1.8V operation with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 is supported on Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets."

Unfortunately I'm not going to have enough money left over to buy new ram for the system, so i'm wondering if anyone knows if the DS3 has any memory controls in the BIOS. The board i'm running now lets me run my memory clock and the FSB clock at different speeds, so that I can reach high OC speeds with the processor, but keep my memory speeds fairly close to stock since they don't overclock too well. Does anyone know if the DS3 has any BIOS features like this, and if i'll be able to run a conroe with DDR2 667 while overclocking just the CPU? I'm sure i won't see too much of a performance degrade with the memory running around 700mhz instead of 800mhz if it is possible with the Gigabyte board. ???
 

Zinn

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Sep 13, 2005
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Nah, the smallest memory divider you can use with the 965P chipset is 1:1. You can run the memory faster than the CPU but not slower. You should look into the new NForce 6 series chipsets if unlocked memory speeds is a must. I'm not sure if the 650 SLI chipset has it, but I know the 680 does (yea, that's out of your budget, but 650 shouldn't be...)

You can most certainly run your DDR2-667 ram with the DS3 though. A lot of people on the Conroe OCing database at HardOCP are doing this. It may end up limiting your overclock, but it will certainly POST.

You're misreading the notice. What they mean is that they don't support DDR2-800 modules with greater than 1.8V or lower than 5-5-5 timings. And anyway, what they "support" and what actually works are two different things, for example, you can run DDR2-800 on 975x chipsets that only officially "support" DDR2-667. (And on my S3, I'm running DDR2-800 at 952mhz at 2.2v and 4-4-4-12 with the Gigabyte S3, so their claim about support is nonsense as long as you have a fairly recent BIOS.)

Like I said though, there's a good chance that your memory will hold you back from E6300 overclocking. You're going to have to get the memory up from 266mhz to 420 just to hit 2.9ghz on the CPU. Intel's 965P does not allow a downward memory multiplier. So beware!
 

greatromances

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May 18, 2006
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Well thanx very much for the needed info. That's a bummer, cuz i'm finding the DS3 as low as $100 right now. Would it be a bad decission to upgrade (and downgrade) my ram from 2gb 667 to 1gb of fast memory? And if so, what memory would you suggest that isn't too awfully expensive that will allow me to get the E6300 as high as possible? Thanx again !
 

StopSign

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Dec 15, 2006
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You can get the E6300 to a guaranteed 333x7 overclock with your memory. You said it can do 350 so 350x7 is somewhat guaranteed. The only reason for DDR2-800 is so that you're absolutely guaranteed 400x7, and then some.

PS: You're going to have to define "...as high as possible..."
 

Zinn

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Sep 13, 2005
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To go as high as possible you'd want some super fast DDR2-800 or even DDR2-1000. You'll have to break DDR2-1000 speeds in any case to get the chip up to 3.5ghz.

Of course, the best solution on the market right now are the Buffalo Firestix. They are like $240 on Newegg, and mine go up to DDR2-1120ish before I stopped caring to push them any further. No matter which way you slice it, you're looking at a big chunk of cash if you really want to max your overclock on the E6300.

Might I recommend an E6400? It costs only slightly more and has a higher multiplier which should greatly decrease the amount of work your memory has to do to reach the maximum CPU speed. I wish I had got an E6400, currently my Gigabyte S3 motherboard is holding me back from getting the most out of my e6300 and Firestix. (can't break 480 FSB)

Greatromances, it sounds like you really need to do a bit more research before you go all gung-ho about upgrading. First off, find out just how fast your current memory can go. Then think about how fast you'd need to run it in order to get an E6300 to overclock.

The E6300 has a multiplier of 7. This is multiplied by whatever FSB speed you choose to get the CPU speed. The memory runs at 2x the FSB speed.

So in my case, I'm running an E6300 at 7 x 476 FSB = 3332mhz CPU speed and (476 x 2) DDR2 speed = DDR2-952.

If your current memory can reach 950mhz, and you get a decent E6300 sample, you're all but guaranteed 3.30ghz on an overclock. But if your memory can't push the numbers, think about getting a Core 2 Duo with the higher multiplier.

E6400 comes with a multiplier of 8, so to reach the same speed on as my E6300, the memory has to work a hell of a lot less.

8 x 416 FSB = 3328 mhz and only requires a DDR2 speed of 832mhz. A decent DDR2-667 kit will get here.

E6600 comes with a multiplier of 9, so to reach the same speed as my E6300,

9 x 370 FSB = 3330 mhz, requiring a DDR2 speed of only 740. Your current RAM should be able to clock this high, but the E6600 comes at a price...

To go "as fast as possible" you'd want to go even faster than 3.3 ghz though! Anyway, this all revolves around how fast your current memory can fly! If it isn't fast enough, it might be cheaper to get a faster CPU as opposed to buying faster RAM and an E6300. Of course it would be cheaper still to settle for less of an OC...
 

sdsdv10

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Apr 13, 2006
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Originally posted by: Zinn
E6300 comes with a multiplier of 9, so to reach the same speed as my E6300,

9 x 370 FSB = 3330 mhz, requiring a DDR2 speed of only 740. Your current RAM should be able to clock this high, but the E6300 comes at a price...

To go "as fast as possible" you'd want to go even faster than 3.3 ghz though! Anyway, this all revolves around how fast your current memory can fly! If it isn't fast enough, it might be cheaper to get a faster CPU as opposed to buying faster RAM and an E6300. Of course it would be cheaper still to settle for less of an OC...


Zinn, in you last two references (see bold above) did you mean E6600 or E6700?
 

greatromances

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May 18, 2006
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Yeah i got confused there too... So if the multiplier is higher, such as an E6600 or E6700, I would be able to hit higher clocks with the lower memory that I have. But those chips are quite expensive. It looks as though I would be better off price-wise getting the DS3 now, and waiting a little longer to upgrade both my memory and the E6300.
 

Conky

Lifer
May 9, 2001
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Get some nice DDR2-800 RAM with the DS3 and you should be set for some cheap overclocking goodness. Text :)
 

Zinn

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Sep 13, 2005
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Originally posted by: sdsdv10
Originally posted by: Zinn
E6300 comes with a multiplier of 9, so to reach the same speed as my E6300,

9 x 370 FSB = 3330 mhz, requiring a DDR2 speed of only 740. Your current RAM should be able to clock this high, but the E6300 comes at a price...

To go "as fast as possible" you'd want to go even faster than 3.3 ghz though! Anyway, this all revolves around how fast your current memory can fly! If it isn't fast enough, it might be cheaper to get a faster CPU as opposed to buying faster RAM and an E6300. Of course it would be cheaper still to settle for less of an OC...


Zinn, in you last two references (see bold above) did you mean E6600 or E6700?

D'oh! I totally meant e6600... Sorry for the confusion!
 

greatromances

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May 18, 2006
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I found an open box DS3 on Newegg for 99.99 so I thought i'd snatch it up. But after all the input i think i'm gonna save up a little longer for the new ram needed for a better overclock.