Good RAM for overclocking

[kong132]

I plan on getting one of

E8400/E8500/Q9300/Q9450

should I go for 800, 1000, or 1066 DDR2 RAM?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I am really liking my Q9300 for gaming.

I've read alot of DDR2 800 clocks up to or past 1000 at DDR2 1000 timings. If you go with 1066 you'll have a max fsb of 533 to run 1:1 which is fairly steep and puts alot of pressure on the mobo. With the 800 in mind, it really is the best option to go with for any cpu with a decent multiplier. If you venture to the 9300, I would do some intense research on the 1000 or 1066 memory to compensate for the 7.5 mulitplier. I've got my 9300 clocked to 3Ghz with DDR3 1600 to keep the ratio at the ideal 1:2 ratio I'm happy at 3Ghz and it feels faster than my 8400 at 3Ghz not to mention smoother but it generates more heat. If you want a good quad overclocker, the 9450 12mb L2 cache! is a great choice even with the low 8 multi. You can get 3.6Ghz out of a 450 fsb putting you right in the middle between 800 and 1000 DDR2 and that's all I'd do if you don't have exotic cooling e.g. water cooling or lapping the cpu & hs.

It's up to you, good luck!

 

[kong132]

So for 1066 or 1000 RAM, you're basically paying for the guaranteed overclocking overhead? You can always clock them back down safely right?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

That is correct pertaining to your CPU overclock head-room, but basically that is correct.

 

[DSF]

First I would decide on a chip and how far you're hoping to overclock it. As a catch-all answer though, my recommendation would be DDR2-1000.

 

[n7]

Personally, i'd suggest the Q6600 or E7200.

The newer quads are stuck with lower multipliers, making higher overclocks a lot harder than they need to be.
High FSB for quads = PITA, & very hard on the mobo, hence my Q6600 or even Q6700 recommendation.

Q6600 - 9x389 = 3501 MHz
Q6700 - 10x350 = 3500 MHz
Q9300 - 7.5x467 = 3503 MHz (not gonna happen on many mobos, so more reasonably, 7.5x450 = 3375 MHz, if that even)
Q9450 - 8x438 = 3504 MHz

Granted, the 45nm quads are slightly faster clock for clock, so you can get the same performance at lower speeds.

But if you can keep the FSB 400ish or lower, it allows for nice tight tRD, & less voltage needed overall to the motherboard.
Not to mention better pricing for the "old" Q6600/6700.

E8200, E8400 or E7200 would be my dual core picks.
You can run high FSBs without issues on any decent mobo, so that wouldn't be an issue really.

E7200 - 9.5x421 = 4000 MHz
E8200 - 8x500 = 4000 MHz
E8400 - 9x445 = 4005 MHz


Now i've chosen some achievable [though high] overclocks for quads/duals, to determine what RAM would be ideal.

You need something that can run the speed of the FSB at minimum, which of course can vary depending on the CPU.

Obviously, amount is up to you, but i'd be recommending DDR2, 2x2 GB.
DDR3 & corresponding motherboards are too high in price right now for them to be really a reasonable deal considering the small performance improvement.

If you stick with the higher multiplier CPUs, DDR2-800 would suffice.
For the lower multis, you'd want DDR2-1000.

At this moment, for DDR2, it's really not much more for DDR2-1000 than DDR2-800, so that's likely where i'd lean.
Keep in mind pretty much all DDR2-800 4-4-4 kits will reach DDR2-1000 speeds also.

Though this is certainly dependant on the CPU overclock achieved, if we have a Q6600 @ 9x389, i'd be aiming for using the 3:4 ratio, which gives DDR2-1037.
For an E7200 @ 9.5x421, i'd try for 4:5, which results in DDR2-1053.
E8400 @ 9x445 5:6 = DDR2-1068.

Just some ideas