Does this all hinge on my motherboard?

[Dorkenstein]

I have a foxconn mars that I bought because it was allegedly an insane overclocker. To overclock my E8400 to 3.59ghz I had to up the voltage on everything nearly, not the NB chip though.

I think it would have worked stock (just guessing) but I bought some pretty cheap ram (A-Data, cost me 75 bucks). So I guess my big question is, to achieve higher OC stability and maybe lower voltages again, did I get the wrong motherboard, an inferior CPU stepping, or dodgy ram?

I am asking because I really don't want to replace all three parts, but try to get the best result by replacing just one. Thanks! I really need/appreciate the help.

 

[DSF]

If your RAM is DDR2-800 it shouldn't be the weak link in going to 3.6GHz. What timings are you running?

I don't think all E8400s make it that far on stock voltage anyway, but I could be wrong.

 

[Dorkenstein]

5-5-5-15 t2

 

[imported_Scoop]

My 'cheap' A-Data modules (4x1GB) spec'd at 800Mhz CL4 2.1V rock man. These babies go nearly 1100Mhz with 5-5-5-15-2T timings and over 900Mhz with 4-4-4-12. You are using the 1:2 divider when OC'ing your CPU right? Get your CPU overclock to max and then play with the divider for the best memory bandwidth.

 

[rgldsmth]

Ram varies so much, I have Ballistix Ddr2-677 that will take my rig to Ddr-900 or better. It had D9XX modules. Right now I have Cheap G Skill F2-6400CL5-1GBNQ [$100usd for 4 1gb sticks] that do the same even better if I start to plat with all the timing adjustments in the bios. This time when I built this rig I chose my parts wisely and have no regrets. Of course you can get higher rated ram which will cost more but will get you where you want to go providing all the other components are quality and configured properly.