Need some tips from overclocking veterans!

[Marquis23]

Hello all,

After reading reviews about the overclocking potential of the Conroe E6420, I have decided to go out and buy it. I will also buy a Gigabyte 965P-DS3 Mainboard to go along with it.

Now I do have some experience with overclocking, but it has been a long time and on older systems.

My questions are mostly about memory: I want to put 2 gigs of ram into my new system. The problem is, I know little about the new DDR-2 standards.

I want to overclock my E6420 using only the stock intel cooler and fan. I want a nice increase in speed; I don't want to buy a special cooler or fan to help me achieve the highest possible overclock. A lot of people on the internet have reported very decent speed just using what comes with the processor.

Now, will DDR-2 5400 4-4-4-12 be enough to achieve what I want or do I need to grab a pair of 6400 memory sticks (?

I am mostly looking at this memory here. Is this memory reliable and good for overclocking?


All your suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks a lot

Marc





http://www.pccyber.com/scrItem..._id=20&product_id=8018


TWIN2X2048-5400C4

The Twin2X2048-5400C4 is a 2048 MByte matched pair of DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs. This part delivers outstanding performance in the latest generation of dual-channel DDR2-based motherboards. It has been tested extensively in multiple DDR2 motherboards to ensure compatibility and performance at its rated speed. This memory has been verified to operate at 675MHz at the low latencies of 4-4-4-12. This module is also available in a single module part.
Features

# 2048 Megabytes of DDR2 memory
# Two matched CM2X1024-5400C4 modules
# Implemented using 32M x 8 DDR2 SDRAMs
# 100% tested at 675MHz in high performance DDR2 motherboards
# Legendary Corsair reliability and service
# Lifetime Manufacturers warranty.

 

[f4phantom2500]

well, the problem with that is that once you get the FSB to 333 (well technically like 337 since that ram's 675), you can't take the CPU higher without overclocking the RAM. however, if you get DDR2 800, you won't have to overclock it until you get the FSB to 400. The price difference is negligible really, you should just get the ddr2 800.

 

[996GT2]

If you want to do some serious overclocking, I would suggest a high quality set of Micron D9 based DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066 sticks, such as the G.Skill HZs or Crucial Ballistix. The prices are so low on these right now (IIRC the Ballistix is $85 AR in the Hot Deals section) that you won't be paying much more for these insanely overclockable sticks than you would be for value DDR2-800 or 667.

 

[Canai]

I have Corsair?s Twin 2x2048-5400C4 running at 800 with no problems on stock voltage.

But RAM's cheap nowadays. Get the best you can afford. (I paid $230 for mine, it's now $70...)

 

[Marquis23]

F4phantom2500:

Uff, all the FSB and multiplier is really technical! So if I stick to 5400 memory (675mhz), can I reach 3ghz? What is the standard FSB on the 6420? What is the relation to the multiplier? Sorry for sounding dumb, but I am a bit confused.

What frequency could I reach using ddr-2 6400 and the FSB 400? Remember, I want to use the stock cooler and fan only.

Thanks so much!

 

[imported_Un4given]

The actual FSB clock is 266MHz, but Intel uses 2 x DDR busses (90 degrees out of sync) for the FSB, so 266MHz * 4 = 1066MHz FSB.

The numbers on the memory essentially apply to how much bandwidth is produced, exactly the same way as DDR. In dual channel mode the RAM is 128-bits, which is 16 bytes. Multiply that by 333 (which is like 333MHz bus speed) and you get 5328, but they just round it to 5300.

 

[f4phantom2500]

it looks like that cpu's multiplier is 8, so 333 would put you at 2.66GHz. 400 would put you at 3.2GHz. You should just get DDR2 800. Of course, you could just overclock the RAM, but it's less hassle to just pay a few extra dollars to not have to overclock the RAM.

 

[hadje]

i have just built my first system ever and have just done my first overclock over the past two days...
i thought about the 6600, but am on a tight budget so i went with the 6420 figuring that i could learn how to do a "mild overclock" up to 2.4 and use the extra cash to buy a $20 Arctic 7 cooler...
i am shocked at how easy it is to do this!
i am using corsair xms667 ram because i didn't really know what i was doing when i bought it, but it was on sale...
anyway, i am at 3.2Ghz w/vcore 1.375 and have the ram running at 800 on v2.0 4-4-4-12(stock is 1.9 i think) and i am absolutely stable at 33C idle/51C load after running orthos for almost 9 hours overnight...
my Arctic Freezer 7 came two days after the rest of my parts so i started with the stock hsf just to see what it could do, and i can tell you that my temps went down about 10C right away when i put the new hsf in.
i think the highest i went with the stock hsf was 3.0Ghz and my temps were around 44C/63C

peace

 

[MarcVenice]

Just go ddr 800, it will be more futureproof as well and barely costs much extra. Then crank up the fsb to 375, to get a somewhat mild oc to 3000mhz, and you're done, you might have to crank the vcore a LITTLE, but that should be okay as long as load temps stay below 60-65 celsius.