Suggestions for overclocking a AMD X2 5400+

[clockjunkie]

Hello everyone. I want to overclock my amd athlon 64 x2 5400+ over 3GHz. I'm unsure of whether to increase the CPU multiplier or the base clock speed of my system. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't DDR2 RAM's speed derived from the base clock? So if I increase the base clock, the RAM's speed increases as well?
My question is: Should I increase my CPU's multiplier or my system's base clock speed.

My specs are:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+
Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3
Zalman 9500A
One stick of Kingston 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 800(PC2 6400)
A generic ATX mid tower case.

 

[nyker96]

i think it this has locked multiplier then increase the base clock speed, change memory and HT divider to something suitable to keep them under spec.

 

[clockjunkie]

Um, this is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Black Edition. It's not locked. Not sure what you mean by memory and HT divider. Do you mean change the memory frequency? Thanks.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The memory divider, to some degree, is determined by the CPU multiplier. You'll only need to mess with the HT divider when you start increasing the bus speed (past 200). I've been able to get my Black Edition 5000+ to run at 1100 MHz HT speed, so I bet yours will probably do that to. And this means you wouldn't need to mess with the HT divider so long as you don't take the bus past 220.

But back to the memory divider. I don't remember what they all are off the top of my head, so it's best to just use CPU-Z to see what your RAM is running at after you make changes to the CPU multi and the RAM divider. The RAM divider might be disguised like "DDR2-800, DDR2-667, DDR2-533". By this I mean you probably won't be able to pick the actual divider, but just those things.

I do know when the CPU multi is at 14, bus speed is at 200, and the memory is set for "DDR2-800", your memory will actually run at full speed 800. If you only change the CPU multi to something like 13, then your memory won't be running at full speed. It will run slightly slower than DDR2-800, and this is because the memory multiplier does change.

 

[SonicIce]

Theres this old guide: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1077
and this thing: http://overclocking.gogar.com/athlon64.cgi
but im not sure how much differant ddr2 is because it came out after these guides