Can I OC my Q6600 with DDR2 533 RAM?

[modex20]

Or is the RAM going to be too slow?

 

[MadScientist]

That ram's a bit slow but possible if your MB has fsb:dram dividers.

Read Graysky's excellent oc guide:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=47089&highlight=

 

[modex20]

Yeah I was actually going thru that guide which prompted the question. He warns not to set the RAMs speed faster than it is rated.

According to that, DDR2-533 can work on an FSB up to 533/2=266MHz which is the stock speed. What would my dividers have to be?

EDIT: from reading other sources it seems you just dial in the ratio of your RAM's I/O clock to your FSB clock. So if I upped the FSB on my Q6600 to say 333MHz, the ratio is now 266:333 or 4:5 right?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Modern Intel chipsets don't allow RAM ratios that run the RAM slower than the FSB. The last chipset that could do that was the 865PE, I think.

 

[modex20]

ok so what's the point then? to get ram to run at its full potential of the FSB is holding it back at a 1:1?

EDIT: looked in my BIOS settings (it's an ASUS P5N32-E SLI, nVidia 680i chipset) and it basically had an FSB and Memory clock menu.

I could choose a Linked or Unlinked mode. In Linked mode, I dial in the FSB (QDR) speed. I then choose a ratio, and the memory (DDR) speed is automatically updated. Each ratio increased my memory speed beyond 533.

In Unlinked mode, it let me type in both the FSB (QDR) speed and the memory (DDR) speed manually.

I'm assuming I can't run my memory any faster than 533 right? According to that guide it didn't say you could. Unless it's possible to overclock RAM.

Am I unable to OC my chip with this RAM installed?

 

[Childs]

Your memory might be able to go beyond 533, just try it. Most times the speeds are conservative, but maybe not so much on cheap brands. If it cant the good news is that DDR2 800 is pretty cheap these days.

 

[Spikesoldier]

then oc your memory in addition to the cpu. i bet those 533's can do 667 no problem.

 

[Ben90]

I concur with overclocking your RAM. My relatively slow DDR3-1066 hits DDR3-1600 no problem. It IS one more thing to watch out for stability wise though so be mindful of that.

 

[modex20]

Gave it a shot last night. Set my QDR FSB to 1333 which, in Linked mode, set my Memory DDR to 666.7. Set vcore to 1.3v and left the others auto.

It crashes as soon as it starts to boot windows. Of course now I don't know if this is due to the RAM or the CPU, but I would venture to guess the ram since it's cheap Kingston ValueRam.

 

[Spikesoldier]

try 2.0v on vdimm. even if your cheapy ram is naked (no heatspreader), 2.0v is about the highest you want to go on those naked ddr2 DIMMs without any additional cooling. if you got a heatspreader, you can go as high as 2.1v or the highest i would recommend is 2.2v with the heatspreaders.

also, are you running 4 DIMMs or 2?

 

[modex20]

4 DIMMS, all Kingston ValueRam 1GB sticks. No heat spreader.

According to the specs I found on the Kingston site, they are rated for 1.8v +/- .1v. You still think 2v won't fry them?

 

[betasub]

2.0V should be ok for testing, but if you have the patience, memtest them after small bumps in voltage (say +0.05V) starting from stock. Memory can go bad after running for a long time at a higher voltage, so go with 1.90V or 1.95V if they work for you.

 

[Idontcare]

4 DIMMS, all Kingston ValueRam 1GB sticks. No heat spreader.

According to the specs I found on the Kingston site, they are rated for 1.8v +/- .1v. You still think 2v won't fry them?

get a couple zip-ties and ghetto-strap a fan across the top of the four dimms to they stay nice and cool.

I recommend you first find out if your ram can handle the overclock without complicating matters by overclocking your CPU at the same time.

Set your CPU multiplier to 6x, force it to be underclocked despite the FSB and ram being overclocked. Then run memtest+ to test the ram.

If your ram can't handle the overclock then you are just going to corrupt your windows install by trying to get windows to post with unstable ram.

 

[Attic]

Not sure how your mobo bios looks, but i'd reccomend starting with a much smaller jump from stock speeds. 533 to say 550 or 560... should get you roughly ~200mhz on the proc, enough to be a worthwhile series of jumps.

From my experience valueram doesn't like lots of volts, or to be oc'd.

 

[MadScientist]

I recommend you first find out if your ram can handle the overclock without complicating matters by overclocking your CPU at the same time.

Set your CPU multiplier to 6x, force it to be underclocked despite the FSB and ram being overclocked. Then run memtest+ to test the ram.

Exactly, from Zebo's old Quick and Dirty AMD OC Guide, "Isolate and then Consolidate"

 

[bryanW1995]

if your ram and cpu have an unlinked option, just run the ram at 533 and oc the cpu. if they are linked you won't get a great oc with 4x1 of that cheap stuff anyway, so I wouldn't even bother with the ram.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

If your DDR2-667 sticks are stock voltage, then yes.
Bump VDIMM up to ~2.0 and it will very likely run at 800 5-5-5-15 (at worst 750+).
With the 9x multi on the Q6600, this should get you comfortably up to 3.6GHz, which seems to be about as high as you can go on the 65nm C2D quads on air cooling.

 

[modex20]

get a couple zip-ties and ghetto-strap a fan across the top of the four dimms to they stay nice and cool.

I recommend you first find out if your ram can handle the overclock without complicating matters by overclocking your CPU at the same time.

Set your CPU multiplier to 6x, force it to be underclocked despite the FSB and ram being overclocked. Then run memtest+ to test the ram.

If your ram can't handle the overclock then you are just going to corrupt your windows install by trying to get windows to post with unstable ram.

I did what you said and set my CPU multiplier to 6x and the FSB the 1333. This OC'd my ram to 667 and underclocked my CPU to 2.00. Windows still crashed on boot. I'm thinking the ram just can't handle it.

When I originally built the system, I did it with the mindset of "fuck overclocking; I'm just gonna run at spec." So I got RAM that would run at its spec speed with the spec FSB of my chip. Of course now that decision is biting me in the ass.

 

[Spikesoldier]

since you are running 4 dimms i would raise the vmch in bios. try 1.4v if you got a good NB cooler on the mainboard.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

You could always run with 2 sticks for testing purposes and then swap too...

Could be that you have a bad stick.

 

[tweakboy]

The RAM has nothing to do with your OC, as long as you downclock it when the clock goes up as you take up the FSB. Also youll need to tinker with vcore,, gl

 

[modex20]

Tried different vcores all the way up to 1.7V at 3GHz and windows still won't boot. There's no way I can overvolt it any more than that (going above 1.5V is already pushing it).

It's a newer revision too (G0).

 

[richierich1212]

lol why did you go all the way up to 1.7v?

 

[modex20]

because 1.5V wasn't working and people kept telling me to tweak my vcore