Overclocking with dividers...

[imported_xer0]

I've read that OC'ing with a 1:1 divider is the best, hence why there is such a market for the top of the line RAM as opposed to the Value VX (which I am running ;p), however, is there a point where you are losing performance by raising the divider. In other words, if I continue to raise the clock speed while keeping the RAM at max FSB that is stable (raising the divider as I raise FSB), is it better than finding a spot where Clock speed is lower but also running a lower divider.

Maybe I can make this a little more clear with some hypothetical numbers.

Lets say my 3000+ is running at 290x9 (2610MHz) with a 5/6 divider (RAM @ 241.6MHz).
If I used a higher divider (~3/4) and bumped the FSB to 320, I would have a clock speed of 2880MHz with my ram running @240MHz.

If I see a performance hit, where would it be and how prevalent are we talking here.

 

[furballi]

In general, lowering the RAM speed from 200 to 166, or 166 to 133 will cost about 50 MHz CPU core speed. I always limit my RAM speed to 166MHz. Good quality Corsair value ram will generally run at +235MHz. Most A64 3000s will top out around 2.5GHz. Just because the PC will boot doesn't mean that it's stable at 2.8GHz.

 

[PingSpike]

CPU speed is king. Run on a divider if you have too, there's no performance hit, if you can keep the ram running at a similar clock speed. However, running the ram at the highest speed you can is of course beneficial.

In your example we're talking 1.6mhz of memory speed...the performance hit would be virtually nonexistent and totally wiped out by the extra cpu speed.

However, you'll have to get the processor stable at that speed of course...2880 might take some doing on a venice core.

 

[Bull Dog]

And remember there is no such thing as running your ram at 1:1. Ram speed is based off (divided from) CPU speed. Your ram ALWAYS runs A-sinc

 

[isekii]

what the hell is a divider ?
I'm reading about people ocing and have no clue what the divider is.

 

[Quinton McLeod]

A divider is how the ram is sync'ed to the CPU.

Lets say the CPU processes 6 things in a second.
If the divider is 1/1 (6/6 in this case), then the ram can technically do 6 things within a second.
If the divider is 5/6, then the CPU has to wait 1 cycle for the ram to process again.
If the divider is 4/6, then the CPU has to wait 2 cycles for the ram to process again.


Kinda like an Olympic runner waiting on a fat guy to catch up to him. He can run super fast and maybe the fat guy can catch up for a little bit, but then the fat guy has to catch his breath. So, the fast runner (the CPU) has to wait 1 cycle (5/6) for the fat guy to catch his breath. If the divider is 4/6, then the fast runner has to wait 2 cycles (2 minutes for comparison purposes) for the fat guy to catch his breath.

 

[imported_xer0]

Thanks everyone and thanks PingSpike, those numbers were totally theoretical, just used them to get the idea across.