PC 3500, PC 3700, PC 4000

[JSC924]

I'm building a new system with P4 2.4C and I don't know what memory to get. I want to overclock my system but have little experience and was wondering what memory to get?

 

[bjc112]

No need for anything over PC 3500.. Save your money

The P4 has an 800 mhz FSB, in turn it's really a 200FSB quad pumped... 200*4 (800mhz)

PC 3200 runs @ a stock speed of 200mhz

PC 3500 runs @ a stock speed of 217mhz

PC 3700 runs @ a stock speed of 233 mhz...

Now you can't adjust the multiplier on a P4 so you can only go about overclocking by raising the FSB...

If you are running a 2.4c @ 200mhz it's running sotck ( just say the pC 3200 would work ) You most likely will be able to make that ram run at speed of 215...

When overclocking the p4 you use what are called dividers or ratio's.. These are in place so you can overclock the front side bus to high speeds such as 250mhz without making the memory it's self go that fast... ( quad pumped 1000mhz DDR )

For that you would think you needed PC 4000... Not true, you just run the 250 FSB on a 5:4 divider and you are only pushing your ram @ the stock speed of 200 mhz...( Thus PC 3200 )

Thus 217mhz ( PC 3500 ) wil be plenty for your overclocking needs...

Allowing you to run a 275 FSB on the 5:4 ratio.

That allows for basically any overclock you can achieve...

Hope that all made sense..

LMK ...

Good Luck.

 

[Sunny129]

Corsair XMS3200 seems to be the most trusted memory known for its combination of stability and OCability...of course it comes at a price. Kingston makes hyperX pc3500 that isn't too expensive, and its rated high enough to accomodate most OCers. basically, if you get pc3200, make sure its high quality memory becasue with a P4C processor (800mhz fsb) it will already be running stock at its rated speed (pc3200 = 800mhz = 4 x 200mhz). so when you OC, you'll have to push the memory beyond its stock speed (unless you use a 5:4 or 3:2 CPU to DRAM ratio to cut back on the memory clock). many OCers get memory faster than pc3200, like the 3500, 3700, and 4000 you mentioned, and they do it b/c its rated speed higher than the stock 800mhz fsb of the P4C processors, so it takes a bit of OCing the fsb on a 1:1 ratio to reach the memory's rated speed.

if you are going to go w/ something higher than pc3200, then i suggest any 3500 or 3700 OCZ gold, b/c the timings just suck w/ pc4000 memory...

 

[JSC924]

Well, for the Kingston HyperX PC 4000 1GB i can get for about $335 after tax and shipping but with a $15 MIR comes out to $320 at outpost.com and the cheapest PC 3500 is the Kingston HyperX 1GB for $283.62.

Or should i just settle for 512 MB of PC 3500?

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Definatly go for 1024mb especialy if you game. You could settle for the 512 right now but would end up needing to put more in abut 3 or 4 months down the road. However P4's are a special case. Since you have four banks and can run two sets of dual channel you can get 2 2x256 kits and have 1024mb. That would allow for the best overclocking as the higher MB per stick they tend not to oc as well. You shouldn't need anything better than 3500 though unless you intend to push the thing above about 230-240. I don't suggest using any ratios below 1:1 or 6:5(dfi only) or 5:4 though for great performance so keep that in mind.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: JSC924
Well, for the Kingston HyperX PC 4000 1GB i can get for about $335 after tax and shipping but with a $15 MIR comes out to $320 at outpost.com and the cheapest PC 3500 is the Kingston HyperX 1GB for $283.62.

Or should i just settle for 512 MB of PC 3500?

You do not need PC 4000 at all.

WASTING MONEY

My Hyper X 3200 does 220 FSB 2/3/3/7

 

[Slammy1]

Well, not all HX3200 will do 220FSB. My HX3500 maxes out at 228, or there about. It depends on what o/c you want. If you only plan on 3GHz (I wouldn't go much further on the stock HSF) then PC3200 low latency is what you want. If you're replacing the stock HSF with something more powerful, then 3500 to o/c between 250 and ca 280FSB on a 4:5 ratio. Anything past that and you're wasting bandwidth unless you go phase or water cooling. The 2.4C's tend to max 280-290FSB on air (or less).

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Slammy1
Well, not all HX3200 will do 220FSB. My HX3500 maxes out at 228, or there about. It depends on what o/c you want. If you only plan on 3GHz (I wouldn't go much further on the stock HSF) then PC3200 low latency is what you want. If you're replacing the stock HSF with something more powerful, then 3500 to o/c between 250 and ca 280FSB on a 4:5 ratio. Anything past that and you're wasting bandwidth unless you go phase or water cooling. The 2.4C's tend to max 280-290FSB on air (or less).

Slammy that's still 11mhz out of stock... What timings... I can do it running 2/3/3/7 from the norm. 2/2/2/6

 

[Slammy1]

I had stable 2.5-4-3-7 at 228. My current o/c is 280 on a 4:5 (224DDR) at 2-3-3-7. Any higher I need to loosen timings, and my CPU max is only 283 so I stuck with that (I can also enable MAM at that speed, which gives a very noticable improvement in memory on my P4P800-D). VDIMM 2.85V. I do dual P95 for stability, and additional testing if I stick with an o/c.