Will 4GB of RAM ruin my overclock?

[balane]

I have the system in my sig. It's pretty fast for what it is. I threw some healthy OC all over it. I got a deal too good to pass up on 2 more GB of RAM. (I haven't paid for it yet because I'm not sure.) But I thought I read that if I go from 2gb to 4gb it could make the machine more difficult to OC. Is that true? You can see OC details in my sig link. If everything will remain the same then I will go ahead and pick it up. Just curious what you guys think.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Inferior RAMs can significantly reduce your overclock speed with four sticks. Good RAMs may cause you to lose between 2 and 15MHz FSB. It's very hard to predict how far you can overclock with four sticks. In general, if you stick with high quality 1.8V JEDEC DDR2 800 modules, then you will lose between 3-5MHz FSB with four modules. If PC is not RAM starved, then stick with two modules.

 

[balane]

OK, I'll pass then. The RAM I was going to get is theoretically better than what I have in my machine now but the g.skill I've been using has been really great. I don't believe I need the RAM. I just play games (All the latest games.) and do typical small graphic editing, word, web, Excel, etc.

 

[undeclared]

Just buy a 2x2gb kit and sell your current 2GB

In fact there is 2x2GB G. Skill DDR2-1000 for about $180 on newegg...

 

[balane]

I'm fine with 2gb. I just stumbled upon a guy at work that would sell me this 2x1GB PC6400 for $40 I was just going to buy it and stick it in just to say I have 4GB but I don't want to slow my system down.

 

[firewolfsm]

Why don't you ask him if you could try it and then buy?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Even if you can run four sticks at the same FSB, then will be some speed drop with four sticks. Not huge, but measurable with Super Pi or other similar application.

 

[balane]

I thought about that, I don't really know the guy that well and I think he just wants the money. I'll see if he wants to but my pre-guess is that he won't really be that into it.

 

[Matrices]

You really aren't going to notice 3-5 mhz FSB here there or anywhere else but some irrelevant synthetic application. Doubling your RAM, on the other hand, is a significant improvement for heavy multitasking. 2GB has been the standard, or optimal standard, for quite a long time in games, too, so one would imagine that can't last too much longer, either.

 

[Acanthus]

4GB of ram didnt change my OC at all.

It does however depend on your motherboard and the specific memory to whether youre going to take a hit or not.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
4GB of ram didnt change my OC at all.

It does however depend on your motherboard and the specific memory to whether youre going to take a hit or not.

QFT. My overclock didn't change any with 4 sticks of RAM either, I'm running 2x2GB and 2X1GB, but it really does depend on the motherboard.

 

[Markfw]

Well, I have a P5K. I have been working all day on it, and I get one set of PC- 8000 Ballistix to do 490 (probably OC limited for the chip) and the other pair will do 470 (PC-6400 Ballistix).

But I put all 4 in, and it won't pass memtest at 400 ! YMMV

 

[SerpentRoyal]

May need to increase NB, SB, and/or Vcore.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Well, I have a P5K. I have been working all day on it, and I get one set of PC- 8000 Ballistix to do 490 (probably OC limited for the chip) and the other pair will do 470 (PC-6400 Ballistix).

But I put all 4 in, and it won't pass memtest at 400 ! YMMV

Try 2t?

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Well, I have a P5K. I have been working all day on it, and I get one set of PC- 8000 Ballistix to do 490 (probably OC limited for the chip) and the other pair will do 470 (PC-6400 Ballistix).

But I put all 4 in, and it won't pass memtest at 400 ! YMMV

Hmm, sounds awfully familiar.

On my much older P5B Deluxe, with anything more than 2 dimms (three or four), i cannot go one MHz over 399 MHz FSB.

Hence why when i get the P5B back from RMA (bios update bricked it), i'm selling the 4x1 GB Corsair i have for 2x2 GB Mushkin.

 

[Elfear]

My oc dropped from 3.5Ghz to 3.4Ghz when I threw another pair of sticks in my rig. Same vcore, I just had to lower it 100Mhz for it to pass Orthos.