RAM:FSB; 2:1 significant over 3:2?

[cmdrmoocow]

It seems that most of the discussion over ratios and timings is about 1:1 and slightly faster ram with slightly off ratios.

My question is whether going a step further up to get RAM running at 2:1 will see a significant boost or not.

 

[nefariouscaine]

so by the looks of that you'd intend on running the rest of the system at stock but trying to clock the memory significantly higher than the rest of the clocks. While its doubtful to cause a decrease in performance it also is doubtful to cause an increase in performance. Your memory at 800mhz vs 1066mhz - either way is still faster than your fsb. You fsb would then be your performance barrier at that point.

 

[Foxery]

The way current generation hardware is set up, especially Core2s, increasing RAM speed without changing the CPU speed gives tiny, tiny performance increases. Either go for the gusto and overclock the CPU, or leave the RAM frequency alone.

The other possibility is to tighten the RAM's timings. e.g. My DDR2-800 is rated for 4-4-4-12, but also runs quite happily at 667/3-3-3-9. The speed gains are still pretty small, but it's better than letting them waste the extra clock cycles.