Overclock.net › Forums › AMD › AMD Memory › nOOb RAM overclocking question
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

nOOb RAM overclocking question

post #1 of 15
5/10/12 at 9:50am
Thread Starter 
These are the specs for my RAM. I am using the ASUS Crosshair III mobo with the AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition Deneb processor.

Brand: G.SKILL
Series: Trident+ Turbulence II
Model: F3-12800CL7D-8GBTDD
Type: 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAMTech Spec
Capacity: 8GB (2 x 4GB)
Speed: DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Cas Latency: 7
Timing: 7-8-7-24
Voltage: 1.65V
Multi-channel KitDual Channel Kit
Heat Spreader: Yes
Features: Compatible with Intel P55 chipset

I am sure the RAM is running at 1333 by default. My question is can I, or should I, bump it up to 1600?

I ask because I am a noob at this. Nothing is overclocked right now!!! I am sure I can get more out of my processor but I just don't know how to overclock yet. I also read that bumping it up to 1600 may mean I have to increase the memory timings. Although I aslo read that if it were PC3-10600 that would be the case but my PC3-12800 can be bumped to 1600 without any adjustment to the timing. Is this correct?

Is it even worth doing without overclocking my cpu?
Zen Machine
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition Asus Crosshair III Formula Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB (X2) G.SKILL Trident+ Turbulence II 8GB DDR3 1600 CL7 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
WD 750GB 7200 Plextor 24x PX-880SA Windows 7 Pro 64 bit Asus VS248H-P 24" (x2) 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Roccat ISKU Corsair AX750 Gold Cooler Master HAF 932 Roccat Kone [+] 
Mouse Pad
VERY large!! 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Zen Machine
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition Asus Crosshair III Formula Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB (X2) G.SKILL Trident+ Turbulence II 8GB DDR3 1600 CL7 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
WD 750GB 7200 Plextor 24x PX-880SA Windows 7 Pro 64 bit Asus VS248H-P 24" (x2) 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Roccat ISKU Corsair AX750 Gold Cooler Master HAF 932 Roccat Kone [+] 
Mouse Pad
VERY large!! 
View all
  hide details  
Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #2 of 15
5/10/12 at 10:34am
OC'ing the CPU will net you significant gains. OC'ing the RAM beyond ~1333 MHz. will net you miniscule gains if anything at all in real applications.

I'd do the CPU OC first and leave the RAM ~ 1333 MHz. If after you have the CPU running at it's highest stable speed, you want to try OC'ing the RAM to 1600 MHz. you can but you never want the RAM frequency to limit how high you are able to OC the CPU - which is where the real gains are. Most Deneb CPUs will run the RAM @ 1600 MHz. stable.

Spend a little time with the Phenom II OC'ing Tutorials below and you'll be surprised how much fun OC'ing your CPU can be. Consider OC'ing as a journey of exploartion filled with some disappointment as you are asking your PC hardware to run beyond it's rated frequency. Any performance gain from OC'ing is FREE performance so whatever you get you get and that varies considerably by component to component.

http://www.overclockers.com/step-guide-overclock-amd-phenom/

http://www.overclock.net/t/902756/amd-overclock-guide-for-newbs

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=596023

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Understanding-RAM-Timings/26

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/152
Edited by AMD4ME - 5/10/12 at 10:37am
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 15
5/10/12 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AMD4ME View Post

OC'ing the CPU will net you significant gains. OC'ing the RAM beyond ~1333 MHz. will net you miniscule gains......(didn't want to quote whole respose)

I could not have asked for a better response and help! Thank you very much!!!!!
Zen Machine
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition Asus Crosshair III Formula Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB (X2) G.SKILL Trident+ Turbulence II 8GB DDR3 1600 CL7 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
WD 750GB 7200 Plextor 24x PX-880SA Windows 7 Pro 64 bit Asus VS248H-P 24" (x2) 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Roccat ISKU Corsair AX750 Gold Cooler Master HAF 932 Roccat Kone [+] 
Mouse Pad
VERY large!! 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Zen Machine
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition Asus Crosshair III Formula Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB (X2) G.SKILL Trident+ Turbulence II 8GB DDR3 1600 CL7 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
WD 750GB 7200 Plextor 24x PX-880SA Windows 7 Pro 64 bit Asus VS248H-P 24" (x2) 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Roccat ISKU Corsair AX750 Gold Cooler Master HAF 932 Roccat Kone [+] 
Mouse Pad
VERY large!! 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #4 of 15
5/10/12 at 11:45am
if you want to take advantage of the 1600 7-8-7 memory you will need to set your cpu nb at 2800 or higher, you will have to test this yourself, or ask someone with a similar setup.
Broken
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 920 @ 4.2ghz broken EVGA X58 Classified 4850 in dire need of a epower Redhats special 3x4GB 1600 7-8-7-21 1.6v 
Hard DriveOptical DriveMonitorPower
F3 1TB NEC 22X DVD-RW 22inch samsung sync master antec hcg 750w 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Broken
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 920 @ 4.2ghz broken EVGA X58 Classified 4850 in dire need of a epower Redhats special 3x4GB 1600 7-8-7-21 1.6v 
Hard DriveOptical DriveMonitorPower
F3 1TB NEC 22X DVD-RW 22inch samsung sync master antec hcg 750w 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #5 of 15
5/10/12 at 12:02pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by redhat_ownage View Post

if you want to take advantage of the 1600 7-8-7 memory you will need to set your cpu nb at 2800 or higher, you will have to test this yourself, or ask someone with a similar setup.

I would like to learn how to do this stuff. Right now I am kinda lost. I don't know what nb is.
Zen Machine
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition Asus Crosshair III Formula Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB (X2) G.SKILL Trident+ Turbulence II 8GB DDR3 1600 CL7 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
WD 750GB 7200 Plextor 24x PX-880SA Windows 7 Pro 64 bit Asus VS248H-P 24" (x2) 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Roccat ISKU Corsair AX750 Gold Cooler Master HAF 932 Roccat Kone [+] 
Mouse Pad
VERY large!! 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Zen Machine
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition Asus Crosshair III Formula Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 1GB (X2) G.SKILL Trident+ Turbulence II 8GB DDR3 1600 CL7 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
WD 750GB 7200 Plextor 24x PX-880SA Windows 7 Pro 64 bit Asus VS248H-P 24" (x2) 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
Roccat ISKU Corsair AX750 Gold Cooler Master HAF 932 Roccat Kone [+] 
Mouse Pad
VERY large!! 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #6 of 15
5/10/12 at 12:04pm
should be cpu/nb clock stock is 2000 and stock voltage should be 1.15

i forgot the exact settings its been a long time since ive used s crosshair 3
Broken
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 920 @ 4.2ghz broken EVGA X58 Classified 4850 in dire need of a epower Redhats special 3x4GB 1600 7-8-7-21 1.6v 
Hard DriveOptical DriveMonitorPower
F3 1TB NEC 22X DVD-RW 22inch samsung sync master antec hcg 750w 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Broken
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 920 @ 4.2ghz broken EVGA X58 Classified 4850 in dire need of a epower Redhats special 3x4GB 1600 7-8-7-21 1.6v 
Hard DriveOptical DriveMonitorPower
F3 1TB NEC 22X DVD-RW 22inch samsung sync master antec hcg 750w 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #7 of 15
5/10/12 at 12:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sbrochew View Post

I could not have asked for a better response and help! Thank you very much!!!!!

Glad to help.

Learning can be fun. wink.gif

Give yourself some time to read thru the tutorials so that you get the idea of exactly what needs to be changed, then go slow. If you have data on your PC that is important you should back it up just in case.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 15
5/10/12 at 4:29pm
  • xd_1771
  • Mess with the goat, get the horns
  • Forum Moderator

Taking the RAM to its proper 1600Mhz rating will not affect your Phenom II x4's ability to obtain higher CPU clocks at all because it is a black edition CPU.  That's a misconception.  An increase in memory multiplier has no effect on anything else.

 

It is ideal and for ease that you set your RAM to the settings it is rated for.  redhat is right in that to take proper advantage of lower latency/etc memory, you should up your CPU-NB clock.  Integrated memory controller clock needs to be at least 3 times of the memory clock before dual data rate (800 x 3 = 2400Mhz) or you may perceive bottlenecks. [SEE HERE]

 

You will find that a lot of people here will recommend CPU-NB clock raises anyway because doing so unlocks a significant amount of bandwidth that can make an improvement to performance in many cases. [SEE HERE] Just look at that juicy Starcraft II FPS. Mmmm.

Hexagonal
(16 items)
 
Voyager [XT875]
(11 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II x6 1055T [4GHz, 300x13.5, 1.42V] Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ [NB 3ghz 1.35v] MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II 1GB 8GB [4x2GB] G.Skill ECO DDR3 [1600 6-8-6-20-24-1T] 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveCooling
80GB Intel X25M SSD WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1001FALS) WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) Noctua NH-D14 
CoolingOSMonitorPower
Scythe GT-15 Gentle Typhoon 1500RPM fans (2x, o... Windows 8 Pro 64-bit ASUS PA238QR 23.6" 1920x1080 IPS LED monitor [x2] Corsair HX520 Modular PSU [520W] 
CaseAudioAudio
Antec P182 SE ASUS Xonar DG 5.1 Headphone Amp Audio Technica ATH-d40fs 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
ARM Cortex A9 dual core [1.2Ghz]  TI OMAP 4430 PowerVR SGX 540 1GB low power DDR2 
Hard DriveHard DriveOSMonitor
16GB on board storage 32GB Class 10 MicroSDHC card Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" (LiquidSmoot... 4.3" 960x540 TFT capacitive multi-touch screen 
KeyboardPowerCase
Swiftkey 3 Battery Motorola DROID BIONIC 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Hexagonal
(16 items)
 
Voyager [XT875]
(11 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II x6 1055T [4GHz, 300x13.5, 1.42V] Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ [NB 3ghz 1.35v] MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II 1GB 8GB [4x2GB] G.Skill ECO DDR3 [1600 6-8-6-20-24-1T] 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveCooling
80GB Intel X25M SSD WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1001FALS) WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) Noctua NH-D14 
CoolingOSMonitorPower
Scythe GT-15 Gentle Typhoon 1500RPM fans (2x, o... Windows 8 Pro 64-bit ASUS PA238QR 23.6" 1920x1080 IPS LED monitor [x2] Corsair HX520 Modular PSU [520W] 
CaseAudioAudio
Antec P182 SE ASUS Xonar DG 5.1 Headphone Amp Audio Technica ATH-d40fs 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
ARM Cortex A9 dual core [1.2Ghz]  TI OMAP 4430 PowerVR SGX 540 1GB low power DDR2 
Hard DriveHard DriveOSMonitor
16GB on board storage 32GB Class 10 MicroSDHC card Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" (LiquidSmoot... 4.3" 960x540 TFT capacitive multi-touch screen 
KeyboardPowerCase
Swiftkey 3 Battery Motorola DROID BIONIC 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #9 of 15
5/10/12 at 6:36pm
^^^^ As usual xd_1771 and I disagree. redface.gif

IME higher RAM frequency can limit the ability of the CPU to reach it's maximum OC stable. The default Phenom II RAM frequency is 1333 MHz. not 1600 MHz. Not all Phenom II CPUs (especially Denebs), will be able to run RAM stable @ 1600 MHz., though most will.

Every CPU/mobo/RAM conbo is different. If you leave the RAM frequency at or below it's default frequency, this will eliminate the chance of it limiting your CPU OC. Whatever works for you is what you should use.

If you want to determine any real performance changes, use real applications as synthetic benches are often very optimistic and unrespresentative of actual system performance. The reason why tighter latencies and increased frequency above ~1333 MHz. show no significant gains in real applications, is because DDR3 RAM at ~1333 MHz. is not a system bottleneck so all you are doing is making a minute change in data flow.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 15
5/10/12 at 8:06pm
  • xd_1771
  • Mess with the goat, get the horns
  • Forum Moderator

Nope.  No correlation here.

I can see higher RAM speed holding back Northbridge frequency slightly (not to a point where it'd matter) and CPU speed where a ref clock overclock is used.  Where RAM and CPU are separate multiplier?  Simply not possible.  There is no correlation between them and there is no possibility that increasing a RAM multiplier will limit an increase of the CPU multiplier on its own.  If the increased speed RAM is causing instability, it's causing instability on its own..... not causing the CPU to become unstable, because the CPU is never affected by that increase alone.

Hexagonal
(16 items)
 
Voyager [XT875]
(11 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II x6 1055T [4GHz, 300x13.5, 1.42V] Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ [NB 3ghz 1.35v] MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II 1GB 8GB [4x2GB] G.Skill ECO DDR3 [1600 6-8-6-20-24-1T] 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveCooling
80GB Intel X25M SSD WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1001FALS) WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) Noctua NH-D14 
CoolingOSMonitorPower
Scythe GT-15 Gentle Typhoon 1500RPM fans (2x, o... Windows 8 Pro 64-bit ASUS PA238QR 23.6" 1920x1080 IPS LED monitor [x2] Corsair HX520 Modular PSU [520W] 
CaseAudioAudio
Antec P182 SE ASUS Xonar DG 5.1 Headphone Amp Audio Technica ATH-d40fs 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
ARM Cortex A9 dual core [1.2Ghz]  TI OMAP 4430 PowerVR SGX 540 1GB low power DDR2 
Hard DriveHard DriveOSMonitor
16GB on board storage 32GB Class 10 MicroSDHC card Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" (LiquidSmoot... 4.3" 960x540 TFT capacitive multi-touch screen 
KeyboardPowerCase
Swiftkey 3 Battery Motorola DROID BIONIC 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Hexagonal
(16 items)
 
Voyager [XT875]
(11 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
AMD Phenom II x6 1055T [4GHz, 300x13.5, 1.42V] Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ [NB 3ghz 1.35v] MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II 1GB 8GB [4x2GB] G.Skill ECO DDR3 [1600 6-8-6-20-24-1T] 
Hard DriveHard DriveHard DriveCooling
80GB Intel X25M SSD WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1001FALS) WD 1TB Caviar Black (WD1002FAEX) Noctua NH-D14 
CoolingOSMonitorPower
Scythe GT-15 Gentle Typhoon 1500RPM fans (2x, o... Windows 8 Pro 64-bit ASUS PA238QR 23.6" 1920x1080 IPS LED monitor [x2] Corsair HX520 Modular PSU [520W] 
CaseAudioAudio
Antec P182 SE ASUS Xonar DG 5.1 Headphone Amp Audio Technica ATH-d40fs 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
ARM Cortex A9 dual core [1.2Ghz]  TI OMAP 4430 PowerVR SGX 540 1GB low power DDR2 
Hard DriveHard DriveOSMonitor
16GB on board storage 32GB Class 10 MicroSDHC card Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" (LiquidSmoot... 4.3" 960x540 TFT capacitive multi-touch screen 
KeyboardPowerCase
Swiftkey 3 Battery Motorola DROID BIONIC 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: AMD Memory

Gear mentioned in this thread:

Overclock.net › Forums › AMD › AMD Memory › nOOb RAM overclocking question