is it possible to blow out one's ram by just overclocking?

[udonoogen]

i set the bios to 11.5x200 effectively making it 2300mhz (thats right yea?). anyhow i dont know if it was due to this, due to my ineffective insertion/handling of the ram, or if i just got sticks of ram that just went bad ... but i had to RMA a 512 stick of crucial and i'm RMA'ing my 512 stick of kingston. only my original really old 256 stick of crucial has remained rock solid. the kingston one failed the stride6 microsoft memory test if that means anything? anyhow, i was just wondering if this could have been due to overclcoking? they're pc2100 sticks, btw. the rest of my system specs are in "my rig" below. i've put my system back down to stock speed because i dont want to blow out the "new" crucial stick and be stuck running on 256mb of ram. but i'd like to overclock again.

Don

 

[ColossusX]

Im not 100% positive, but I would say that it is the overclocking, since PC2100 is only 266mhz. I know some PC2700 (333mhz) will run fine at 200, but I havent seen/heard of any PC2100 running that high.
Get some PC3200 (400mhz) ram and you shouldnt have a problem.

 

[jagec]

you don't just crank up the FSB to 200...ESPECIALLY if you're running PC2100...unless you know the RAM can take it. The whole thing with overclocking SAFELY is to crank up the speeds slowly, and check for stability.

 

[udonoogen]

haha my bad. i didn't know since i'm new to this entire overclocking scene. what's a safe speed to overclock at for pc2100 ram and my current setup?

 

[jagec]

start at stock (133), run prime95 for a few hours to see if your system is stable in its stock config, and monitor your temps to see how high they get. If you're pushing 50C stock, don't even think about overclocking, deal with cooling FIRST. if you're in the low 40's, good.
Now, you can probably bump up the fsb in increments of 7 a couple times. Check to be sure it POSTs, no need to load windows *yet*. If it posts fine, go into the BIOS and increase it a bit more. At this point you should be in the ~150 range. Now lower your increments to 5 or so, checking for a POST every time. When it refuses to POST, back down on the speed by 3-4 MHz and try again. Once you have an idea where the limit is, lower it a couple MHz, bump up your voltage a point or so, and load windows. Run prime95 for a couple hours, monitoring your temps and stability. If it passes the test, and your temps are still below 50C load, you can up the voltage a bit more and try getting a few more MHz. Just remember, watch your temps, don't get above 1.8-1.85V unless you have good cooling and are willing to take risks, and if it flunks prime95 back it down a bit or up the voltage a bit until you get a cool, stable, fast system.

 

[trevinom]

Originally posted by: udonoogen
i set the bios to 11.5x200 effectively making it 2300mhz (thats right yea?). anyhow i dont know if it was due to this, due to my ineffective insertion/handling of the ram, or if i just got sticks of ram that just went bad ... but i had to RMA a 512 stick of crucial and i'm RMA'ing my 512 stick of kingston. only my original really old 256 stick of crucial has remained rock solid. the kingston one failed the stride6 microsoft memory test if that means anything? anyhow, i was just wondering if this could have been due to overclcoking? they're pc2100 sticks, btw. the rest of my system specs are in "my rig" below. i've put my system back down to stock speed because i dont want to blow out the "new" crucial stick and be stuck running on 256mb of ram. but i'd like to overclock again.

Don

I thought any type of overclocking voided the warranties of CPU and RAM.

 

[Avalon]

That's why you don't tell them you OC'd them
Yeah, if your memory was running 1:1 when you set your FSB to 200, that might have done your PC2100 in

 

[Corporate Thug]

thats a HUGE overclock for pc2100, prolly did it in

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: shady06
thats a HUGE overclock for pc2100, prolly did it in

You think?

 

[udonoogen]

well. ill be wary of doing it in the future.

Don

 

[trevinom]

So there is no way for them to test the parts to determine if the damage was done by OC'ing? I've purposely not done it for fear that they have the ability. If that is not the case, I can test to my heart's content and just RMA them when they blow.

Cool

 

[wicktron]

Originally posted by: trevinom
So there is no way for them to test the parts to determine if the damage was done by OC'ing? I've purposely not done it for fear that they have the ability. If that is not the case, I can test to my heart's content and just RMA them when they blow.

Cool

Warning: The righteous, angelic, ethics police will hunt you down.

 

[trevinom]

I'm not interested in ethics. I just want to know if there is a way they can test the components that will let them know the damage was due to OC'ing.

Thanks