Memory Question in Regard to Overclocking

[Sabrewolf21]

I just ordered a 2.4c system on a p4p800 deluxe motherboard and geil value ram pc3200 2x512=1gb.

I am wondering how overclockable this system is and how safe it is to overclock a system. Does it damage the system and reduce life, or void warrenties? I really dont know much about overclocking so some info would be great.

The next question is that the geil Ram is advertised as pc3200 which is ddr 400 rated. Does this mean that if I set the FSB to 250mhz x12 which is 3.0 ghz the the ram to 5:4 ratio (or is it 4:5 i dont know) the ram will be running at the speed it is designed for while the cpu will be running at +600 mhz?

Info on this would be great, as well as how the ratio of memory to processor effects performance etc. Thanks alot.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

PC2100 = DDR 266 Mhz
PC2700 = DDR 333 Mhz
PC3200 = DDR 400 Mhz
PC3500 = DDR 433 Mhz
PC3700 = DDR 466 Mhz

The type of RAM you get is dependant on what FSB you want to run your system at. If you get a 2.4c and jump the FSB to 285 and run in 5:4 that means your memory will be running at 456 Mhz (which will most likely require at least PC3700) This will run the CPU at 3420Mhz.

If you want to run a more conservative over clock...say just 250 FSB and run in 5:4 your memory would be running at 400 Mhz and PC3200 should suffice (I'd get PC3500 to be sure though). This will run the CPU right at 3Ghz.

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with DDR, the ram runs 2X the speed of the FSB. Ex. In systems with a 133FSB, DDR266 (PC2100) does the job. This is when run 1:1.

However in systems that bump the FSB way up it is impossible for the RAM to run at the 2X the speed.
That's where the ratios of 5:4 and 3:2 come in to play.

If I were to set my FSB to 250, and ran 1:1, that would mean I would need DDR500. However if I set the ratio to 5:4 that means
250 5
--- = -
200 4

The ram would run at 2X the 200 and run at DDR400 (PC3200). This lets the higher setting of FSB without the RAM being the limitation.

Hope that helps you.

 

[Sabrewolf21]

so then why would quality of Ram matter at all when overclocking? If Im using a value based ram thats rated as pc3200, and I overclock my fsb to 250 but use the 4:5 ratio, then my ram is still going to be running at pc3200 levels even though the rest of my system will be running faster. Doesnt this mean that the value RAM is just as good for this kind of overclocking as overpriced low latency ram?

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

because some ram, even though rated at high speeds, only rate that high when timings are extremely relaxed, and even then, might not run at those speeds.