subaru_highlander

I am a complete newbie when it comes to overclocking RAM so this may be a stupid question.

do I need to up the voltage on my memory?

I have a 2x2GB sticks of Crucial Ballistix Tracer they are in P35-DS4 with a Q6600 OC 3.6ghz @1.4875v

The memory is using stock voltage 1.8v at the moment and is happily running 4-4-4-12

I notice that others have upped the voltage and wonder if there is a reason for it - I had always thought I only needed to push the voltage up if the memory did not work at the required timings with lower voltage!

So my question is - is there a benefit to running at a higher voltage on the RAM?

Deviyl

I'll assume you've got the 800 sticks as they're usually the ones to run at 4-4-4-12.. and if you're just running out-of-the-box settings, chances are they're not at 400mhz like they should be.

I could be wrong though.. but just check. If your ram is running how it's supposed to run, the lower the voltage the better. But if you ever do want to clock it up, you've got plenty of room to add voltage to increase the speed. =)

subaru_highlander

Yes, they are DDR2-800 sticks. My Q6600 is running at 9 x 400mhz, my system memory multiplier is set at 2X i was trying to get a 1:1ratio which I believe is good!

So if I wanted to run the memory faster I could up the voltage to feed them - is that what you are suggesting?

As a matter of interest what timings do you run on your Ballistix Memory?

Deviyl

Right. You could try to increase the speed on that voltage if you want, but if it crashes you would simply increase the voltage a bit.

Right now I'm in the process of trying to get my ballistix 800s to OC to 1066. I finally got some double sided modules that should overclock better.

No success so far, but they ran at 800 4-4-4-12 for a good while until they died (i had single sided). The new double sided set I have now seems to run 800 4-4-4-12 ok (I say ok.. it's been about 2 weeks).. I'll know when I get home and see how memtest did =)

Admiral Doom

You only need to up your voltage if your system is unstable. Try running Prime95 overnight or run memtest and if it fails either you need to up the voltage.

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subaru_highlander

Thanks for the input guys! Unfortunately I can't run Prime95 or memtest as I don't use Windows my machine is running the Mac OS 10.5.4. I will pop over to the overclocking forum on insanelymac.com and see if they have suggestions for a similar program for the mac os

Deviyl

Memtest runs from a disk on boot.. you should be able to run it on any machine. Just put in the disk and reboot. I have heard of people having problems with their keyboards in memtest on a mac though.. but you don't really need a keyboard as it's an automated scan.

A quick google provided this: http://www.memtestosx.org/