Opteron @ 2.4Ghz RAM 270 or 2.7Ghz RAM 240?

[P229SAS]

I have run into a dilemma with my Opteron 165 and am not sure which setup would be better in terms of overall performance. My motherboard does not allow specific adjustments to the memory speed, so I have to select 200/166/133 etc. It also detects my memory as DDR400 and will not allow me to increase the memory speed without overclocking the processor. Fortunately, with my Opteron, I can get it all the way to 300 Mhz @ 2.7Ghz 1.4v though that is its absolute limit with my setup. Anyhow, I have set the correct timings and allowed it to run at 200mhz under the memory settings and of course it thinks it is running 1:1 so when I overclock the processor to say 250, the RAM obviously will also run at that speed. Currently, I am running at 2.43Ghz (270 x 9) and my ram is also at 270 (3-4-4-8). Because I know I can get my processor up to 2.7Ghz (300 x 9) stable, it has been bugging me as to which would be the better setup. Unfortunately, my RAM will not allow me to run any faster than about 274mhz so I have to set the divider to 166, which at 300 would put my RAM at about 250mhz or so. Now, the primary use I have for this machine is gaming and I regularly play BF2, CoD 2, HL2, etc. It could be my imagination, but I feel like my system performs better at 2.7, including in games, but particularly in Windows x64 although it is not a huge difference but it is appreciable. The one downside to the 2.7 option is that apparently my CPU cooling is not quite enough as it runs about 35C idle and gets upwards of 56-8C under load in dual instances of Prime95 and will eventually cause my system to either freeze or reboot once it gets that hot. Of course, if I determined that it was worth it to run at 2.7, I would buy a good HSF setup so that I could run it stable at those settings, but I want to make sure it is a worthwhile investment given the sacrifice in memory speed. Basically, I dont want to buy a new motherboard at this point but am willing to invest $50 or so into a good HSF so that I can run the faster settings if the consensus here is that it would be worth it. By the way, I also am running my memory at 2T because of the issue with the A8N boards as it will cause my system to crash when I put any kind of significant load on it under 1T.

Asus A8N-SLI
Opteron 165 @ 2.43 (30C Idle 49C Load)
G.Skill DDR500
XFX 7800GT 481/1500
WD 74GB Raptor
XP Pro x64 Edition

 

[JRich]

2.7GHz

Edit: Oh, and welcome!

 

[stevty2889]

Yep, 2.7ghz with ram at 240 will definatly be faster.

 

[F1shF4t]

the 2.7ghz for sure would be much quicker. Athlon 64 cpus generaly dont benifit much from more bandwidth.

 

[P229SAS]

I greatly appreciate you guys taking the time to give me some input on this! I'll probably head up to Tiger Direct and pick up a Big Typhoon here in the next day or two so I can crank this baby up a few notches. It is tempting as hell to buy a DFI board while I am at it but so much stuff is just around the corner. Thanks again.

 

[keldog7]

I can't say I've ever run the benchmarks *myself*, but the consensus I've observed over the past 12 months has generally been to run the processor as fast as possible, with secondary effort into the RAM. Does anyone know a good link on the subject?

 

[Doctorweir]

Yes, memory frequency ALWAYS comes second to CPU frequency. AMDs profit most from maximizing the core.
In your case 2.7 will be muuuuuch faster than 2.4

 

[akshayt]

2.7 with 240

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: P229SAS
I have run into a dilemma with my Opteron 165 and am not sure which setup would be better in terms of overall performance. My motherboard does not allow specific adjustments to the memory speed, so I have to select 200/166/133 etc. It also detects my memory as DDR400 and will not allow me to increase the memory speed without overclocking the processor. Fortunately, with my Opteron, I can get it all the way to 300 Mhz @ 2.7Ghz 1.4v though that is its absolute limit with my setup. Anyhow, I have set the correct timings and allowed it to run at 200mhz under the memory settings and of course it thinks it is running 1:1 so when I overclock the processor to say 250, the RAM obviously will also run at that speed. Currently, I am running at 2.43Ghz (270 x 9) and my ram is also at 270 (3-4-4-8). Because I know I can get my processor up to 2.7Ghz (300 x 9) stable, it has been bugging me as to which would be the better setup. Unfortunately, my RAM will not allow me to run any faster than about 274mhz so I have to set the divider to 166, which at 300 would put my RAM at about 250mhz or so. Now, the primary use I have for this machine is gaming and I regularly play BF2, CoD 2, HL2, etc. It could be my imagination, but I feel like my system performs better at 2.7, including in games, but particularly in Windows x64 although it is not a huge difference but it is appreciable. The one downside to the 2.7 option is that apparently my CPU cooling is not quite enough as it runs about 35C idle and gets upwards of 56-8C under load in dual instances of Prime95 and will eventually cause my system to either freeze or reboot once it gets that hot. Of course, if I determined that it was worth it to run at 2.7, I would buy a good HSF setup so that I could run it stable at those settings, but I want to make sure it is a worthwhile investment given the sacrifice in memory speed. Basically, I dont want to buy a new motherboard at this point but am willing to invest $50 or so into a good HSF so that I can run the faster settings if the consensus here is that it would be worth it. By the way, I also am running my memory at 2T because of the issue with the A8N boards as it will cause my system to crash when I put any kind of significant load on it under 1T.

Asus A8N-SLI
Opteron 165 @ 2.43 (30C Idle 49C Load)
G.Skill DDR500
XFX 7800GT 481/1500
WD 74GB Raptor
XP Pro x64 Edition

sounds like a psu issue too as it shouldn't reboot at those temps.....

 

[P229SAS]

I wonder if that is the case, well I guess I will find out once I get the new HSF setup and see if I still have that problem. I am using the Antec TruepowerII TPII-550W so I hope its not my PSU but it wouldnt surprise me with the kind of fortune that I have. Here is the Newegg link to the PSU that I am using:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931

I really wanted to get a modular one but that is the "best" one my local computer store had. Another thing is I plan on upgrading to the 8800 GTX or whatever the next top of the line DX10 card will be, so that may give me an excuse to use my extra scholarship money to get one that can power the new card if mine is insufficient! Thank you NCSU for your donations toward my gaming rigs!

 

[imported_ST]

cpu speed > mem command rate > mem cas / ras timing > mem speed for athlon 64's