Newbie in Overclocking and FSB

[nasayin]

Hey,

I am a noob when it comes to overclocking and I have been reading a lot of guides and getting confused. Hope you guys can help me out. This is my current setup:

AMD X2 4800+ (Brisbane) 2.5GHz
Crucial Ballistix DDR2-6400 2x1gig
Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H Bios version F3a
Antec 900 case

I have already manually changed the memory timing to 4-4-4-12. I ran CPU-Z and found out that my memory frquency is at 357Mhz (2500/7=357). Most guides said it is best to have the frequency as close to what the memory are rated which is 400Mhz. So here are my questions:

1. Will I see much imporvement from 357 to 400?
2. Do I have to overclock to boost my memory frequency?
3. Currently have a 12.5 mutiplier with 200FSB. Some guides said 1/2 multiplier are not good but I thought I read somewhere that this does not apply to X2.

Thanks!

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: nasayin
Hey,

I am a noob when it comes to overclocking and I have been reading a lot of guides and getting confused. Hope you guys can help me out. This is my current setup:

AMD X2 4800+ (Brisbane) 2.5GHz
Crucial Ballistix DDR2-6400 2x1gig
Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H Bios version F3a
Antec 900 case

I have already manually changed the memory timing to 4-4-4-12. I ran CPU-Z and found out that my memory frquency is at 357Mhz (2500/7=357). Most guides said it is best to have the frequency as close to what the memory are rated which is 400Mhz. So here are my questions:

1. Will I see much imporvement from 357 to 400?
No
2. Do I have to overclock to boost my memory frequency?
No
3. Currently have a 12.5 mutiplier with 200FSB. Some guides said 1/2 multiplier are not good but I thought I read somewhere that this does not apply to X2.
Yes it does matter with X2's, thats why your memory is not running stock speed.


Thanks!

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: nasayin
1. Will I see much imporvement from 357 to 400?

Not at all. Your cpu has an on-die memory controller.

2. Do I have to overclock to boost my memory frequency?

Yep, that would be the only way to get it up to 400 Mhz.

3. Currently have a 12.5 mutiplier with 200FSB. Some guides said 1/2 multiplier are not good but I thought I read somewhere that this does not apply to X2.

You're combining two different things about the Athlon 64: 1) Your RAM's speed doesn't make that much of a difference, since it has an on-die memory controller, not an FSB. 2) It's best not to use a ½ cpu multiplier, since it lowers your RAM's speed a bit. Of course, if you overclock your processor by 100 Mhz, it will completely make up for the slower RAM speeds, in overall system performance.

 

[nasayin]

@myocardia

Thanks for replying. So are you saying that if I change my multiplier to 12 and FSB to 215~216 that my system would perform better?
Also is a there a good monitor program? I am currently using core temp and find it a bit weird. The temp is much lower than what my bios says.

 

[BitByBit]

Originally posted by: nasayin
1. Will I see much imporvement from 357 to 400?
2. Do I have to overclock to boost my memory frequency?
3. Currently have a 12.5 mutiplier with 200FSB. Some guides said 1/2 multiplier are not good but I thought I read somewhere that this does not apply to X2.
Thanks!

1. Your memory will be able to supply more bandwidth and will run at a lower latency, given the same timings. The performance gain will be minimal most of the time, but this has nothing to do with the Athlon 64's integrated memory controller.

2. There are two ways to boost memory frequency: raising the HTT clock, and adjusting the divider. Your BIOS should give you the option to do both.
Your memory appears to be rated for 400MHz operation, so you should have no problems setting it to run at that speed.

3. As hinted at, core speed is more important than memory speed. It doesn't make sense to lower your CPU multiplier to achieve higher memory clocks.