Author Topic: System Advice  (Read 192 times)

Offline WhiteHawk

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System Advice
« on: January 02, 2006, 09:14:00 AM »
I recently found that setting the CPU/RAM ratio to 3/2 insted of 5/4 gets me much better performance for some reason.  With the 5/4 ratio, i get 4758 on PC mark 2004, with the 3/2 ratio I get 5084marks???  I set the FSB from stock 200 to 225 with the 5/4 ratio (max before instability issues) and can set the FSB multiplier to 240 with the 3/2 ratio.  This means my RAM is UNDERclocked, slightly, but it gives my best performance.  Can I assume that my best investment for system upgrade would be in the CPU?  (I know I need a new vid card).  Or am I reading this whole thing wrong?

thnx for any help.

ABIT ic7-max3 MOBO
ANTEC true 450w ps
p4 2.6
mushkin pc3500 RAM
ati radeon 9800 pro VID card.

Offline eagl

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System Advice
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2006, 10:06:06 AM »
It means that you should be running your memory at 1/1 and anything other than that will hurt performance somewhat.  Running at various cpu/ram multipliers will give different results, and who knows what the mobo and memory controller is doing when running asyncronously.

You might try running the memory at 1/1, and if it's not stable you might be able to increase the memory timing until it is stable, but then you're slowing it back down again.  Once you get into overclocking like that, you pretty much need to make a change and test it to see if the change helped at all.  If you do in fact get your best performance with a 260 FSB and 3/2 cpu/mem ratio, then just go with it.

Some AMD guys are pushing FSB up past 300 to get the mobo running as fast as possible, then dropping cpu and memory multipliers to where they function properly.  But different systems respond to that sort of thing in different ways so you just gotta figure out what works best for you.

Also keep in mind that if you're getting decent overclocking results on what you already have, tossing more money at faster components probably won't get you all that much of a performance increase.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2006, 10:09:31 AM by eagl »
Everyone I know, goes away, in the end.

Offline WhiteHawk

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System Advice
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2006, 10:25:06 AM »
thnx eagl.   Can I set my memory to fixed and OC my CPU only?   Yea, that is what Im trying to figure.  Why spend more on a CPU if I can OC mine to 3.2 now anyway.

Offline eagl

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System Advice
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2006, 05:49:38 PM »
I think that with most mobos you're stuck using a memory divider to set mem clock speed.  You may as well just keep the divider at 3/2 and push that as far as you can go.
Everyone I know, goes away, in the end.