Overclocking -- multiplier question

[envy me]

Just had a noob question regarding the multiplier when overclocking. I understand that while overclocking, FSB x Multiplier = Final Speed... Now what advantage would someone have by lowering the multiplier say to 6 or 7 and increasing the FSB to 400-500 (provided the motherboard allowed this) Isn't the FSB the more important part of the equation?

 

[coomar]

there isn't any, this is done to test out the HTT (or FSB) max of the board only

 

[GuitarDaddy]

If you have highspeed ram lowering the CPU multi and raising the FSB allows you more options in acheiving your best ram overclock. Other than that there isn't much use in it

 

[coomar]

yeah but Rev E. processers can overclock the ram while leaving the cpu at stock

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: coomar
yeah but Rev E. processers can overclock the ram while leaving the cpu at stock

Agreed! And overclocking the ram on A64's is useless anyway, unless your into synthetic benchmarks

 

[envy me]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
If you have highspeed ram lowering the CPU multi and raising the FSB allows you more options in acheiving your best ram overclock. Other than that there isn't much use in it

Will I receive better performance using a setting of 6x500 (if possible) rather than 10x300 ??? I thought it was only FSB that mattered out of the two.

 

[designit]

There is no mobo that can do 6x500 and no one will know if it is better than 10x300.
Plus, your memory will not be able to work @ 500 mhz.(DDR1000)
The best HTT was acheived by anandtech on ULI refrence board at lower multi and HTT400.
But most boards are not capable of more than 340mhz. but then you have to have a memory to work at that speed too, to give you highest bandwidth and highest cpu speed at highest multi.
So the best bet is to use the stock multi ( highest multi).
You can look at it this way. Venice 3000 is 9x multi, but a 3200 has 10x.
so running a 3200 @ 9x is like having a 3000 cpu.
why would anyone want to downgrade their cpu? another word, those w/ venice 3000, would be extremely happy if it was 10x instead of 9x.
You get the picture?

 

[envy me]

Originally posted by: designit
There is no mobo that can do 6x500 and no one will know if it is better than 10x300.
Plus, your memory will not be able to work @ 500 mhz.(DDR1000)
The best HTT was acheived by anandtech on ULI refrence board at lower multi and HTT400.
But most boards are not capable of more than 340mhz. but then you have to have a memory to work at that speed too, to give you highest bandwidth and highest cpu speed at highest multi.
So the best bet is to use the stock multi ( highest multi).
You can look at it this way. Venice 3000 is 9x multi, but a 3200 has 10x.
so running a 3200 @ 9x is like having a 3000 cpu.
why would anyone want to downgrade their cpu? another word, those w/ venice 3000, would be extremely happy if it was 10x instead of 9x.
You get the picture?

Then the people with the fx-55 series chips, with unlocked multipliers, whats stopping them from going say 200x20??

 

[designit]

cpu can only handle so much speed, heat, and cpu internal programing.
Plus the memory controller keeping up w/ the cpu speed.
Basically lower multiplier is worthless and only used to see how high it can go, lesser cosideration for performance/speed.
Also any mobo shows 1/2 multiplier is nothing but geek and marketing.
dont be fooled by it.

 

[tvfreakazoid]

Ok here's a big nub question. And i am a nub by the way lol. So the x2's are locked mulitpliers i beleive. So are the Opteron's locked as well? What are the benefits of unlocked or locked? Better OCing if unlocked?

 

[tvfreakazoid]

And my other questions is the opteron FSB is 1000 and the x2's are 2000 FSB. Does this make any difference in performance???

 

[BOLt]

Originally posted by: imanub
Ok here's a big nub question. And i am a nub by the way lol. So the x2's are locked mulitpliers i beleive. So are the Opteron's locked as well? What are the benefits of unlocked or locked? Better OCing if unlocked?

if unlocked, you can change the multiplier in addition to the cpu frequency which yields more overclocking options as you are not limited to modifying fsb speeds (and hence needing to change memory ratios, speeds, etc.). you can simply leave the cpu freq. at 200 and increase the multiplier (voltages would need to increase after a certain point to retain stability). an fx proc is a good match with value ram because if you want to skimp on spending lots of money on the ram (though you've got an fx chip, so you've probably got money to burn), you can increase the cpu freq. to whatever your ram will let you get it to without hitting diminishing returns there and then up the cpu multiplier to achieve the cpu's maximum overclock. this way you've gotten the best performance that you can out of both hardware components.

Originally posted by: imanub
...the x2's are 2000 FSB.

i don't think that is an accurate statement.


hope this helps, i could be wrong in some areas, as i am not terribly experienced in OC'ing. however, i'd like to think that i'm a quick learner, so maybe some of this stuff is accurate...