overclocking a c2q q9550 - ddr2 800 or ddr2 1066?

[BlahBlahYouToo]

i read that the q9550 is a simple overclock by upping the bus from 333 to 400 mhz.
theoretically, ddr2 800 is enough to take it to 400.
should i stick with that, or play it safe and get ddr2 1066 for head room?

 

[jjmIII]

1066

For the price, get the headroom.

 

[geokilla]

DDR800 if you want to save some money. Don't forget that DDR800 could overclock to DDR900 as well, which is a bus speed of 450Mhz.

 

[TC91]

1066 since its so cheap nowadays

 

[TidusZ]

my ram runs at ddr2-1000, I wouldn't wanna turn that down for my q9550 overclock. The price difference is so little there's just no point getting 800 anymore.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Go for 1200 if you have a UD3R or UD3P

 

[spinejam]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
i read that the q9550 is a simple overclock by upping the bus from 333 to 400 mhz.
theoretically, ddr2 800 is enough to take it to 400.
should i stick with that, or play it safe and get ddr2 1066 for head room?

you know you're gonna want faster ram eventually so, ...

for example:

UD3P (F9b Bios) -- Q9550 E0 (L835B166) pack date: 11/11/2008

Robust Graphics Booster.....................[ Auto ]
CPU Clock Ratio.............................[ 8 ]
Fine CPU Clock Ratio........................[ 0.5 ]
CPU Frequency 4.0GHz........................[ 471*8.5 ]

******Clock Chip Control******

CPU Host Clock Control......................[Enabled ]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz)....................[471 ]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz).................[100 ]
C.I.A 2.....................................[Disabled]

******Advanced Clock Control******

CPU Clock Drive.............................[ 1000mv ]
PCI Express Clock Drive.....................[ 1000mv ]
CPU Clock Skew..............................[ 0ps ]
MCH Clock Skew..............................[ 50ps ]

******DRAM Performance Control******

Performance Enhance.........................[ Turbo ]
Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)................[ Disabled]
(G) MCH Frequency Latch.....................[ 333MHz ]
System Memory Multipler.....................[ 2.40b ]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) .....................[1130 DDR2]

DRAM Timing Selectable......................[ Manual ]

CAS Latency Time............................[ 6 ]
tRCD........................................[ 6 ]
tRP.........................................[ 6 ]
tRAS........................................[ 18 ]

******Advanced Timing Control******

tRRD........................................[Auto ]
tWTR........................................[Auto ]
tWR.........................................[Auto ]
tRFC........................................[Auto(52)]
tRTP........................................[Auto ]
Command Rate (cmd)..........................[Auto ]

******Motherboard Voltage Control******

Load-Line Calibration [Enabled]
CPU Vcore [ 1.25 ]...............[ 1.3500 ] (1.328 CPU-Z)
CPU Termination [ 1.20 ]...............[ 1.28 ]
CPU PLL [ 1.50 ]...............[ 1.500 ]
CPU Reference [ 0.760 ]...............[ 0.835 ]

MCH Core [1.1 ]...............[ 1.32 ]
MCH Reference [0.760 ]...............[ 0.850 ]
MCH/DRAM Refernce [0.900 ]...............[ 1.000 ]
ICH I/O [1.500 ]...............[ 1.500 ]
ICH Core [1.100 ]...............[ 1.100 ]

DRAM Voltage [1.800 ]...............[ 2.1 ]
DRAM Termination [0.900 ]...............[ 1.000 ]
Channel A Ref [0.900 ]...............[ 1.000 ]
Channel B Ref [0.900 ]...............[ 1.000 ]

******Advanced BIOS Features******

Limit CPUID Max to 3........................[ Disabled ]
No-Execute memory Protect...................[ Enabled ]
CPU Enhance Halt (CIE)......................[ Disabled ]
C2/C2E State Support........................[ Disabled ]
C4/C4E State Support........................[ Disabled ]
CPU Thermal Monitor.........................[ Disabled ]
CPU EIST Function...........................[ Disabled ]
Virtualization Technology...................[ Disabled ]

 

[TidusZ]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
Go for 1200 if you have a UD3R or UD3P

I'm waiting to hear the reasoning behind this.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: TidusZ

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
Go for 1200 if you have a UD3R or UD3P

I'm waiting to hear the reasoning behind this.

Why?

high fsb

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The OP wasn't specific about his motherboard.

However, I happen to be going through . . . "stations of the Cross" . . . . with my GA-EP45-UD3R.

A lot of troubles disappeared when I replaced some old OCZ modules with some G.SKILL DDR2-1000's. More problems disappeared when I completely disabled the power-management features.

I'm running a Conroe E6600, and I suspect that the BIOS version shipped with the -UD3R I got is probably optimized for Wolfdale and Yorkfield cores.

Now -- putting that digression and veiled invitation-to-comment aside -- I agree with everyone that the price on faster DDR2 RAM is so low that it's a better idea to get the faster modules even if you don't plan to run it closer to spec.

The only caveat I'd add is this: If you plan to run it at less than spec, it should also be "downwardly elastic" in potential latency-timing settings.

For example, I picked up a set of G.SKILL "Black PI" DDR2-900 modules rated to run at DDR=900Mhz with latencies 4,4,4,12. I can run them at DDR=850Mhz with timings 4,3,4,9.

Of course, those Black-PI's are on a 780i motherboard using an E8600 processor. [But at least, another kit of G.SKILLs play nicer with the -UD3R system than some OCZ's I tried in testing it.]