P965DS3 question

[lolwtfinternet]

Hello everyone,

So my board (Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards) supposedly has a memory standard of 800mhz, or at least thats what it says in the Specs tab, and I think it mentions it in the manual as well. Does this mean that I can't run RAM at a higher frequency than that? Or is it a polite suggestion?

Also, I'd like to know if someone has actually tried using a higher frequency, just to see if it works anyway =)

Thanks

[Lsdmeasap]

Yes, you can run ram higher. That is just the "Official" Standard. You can run 1066 ram if that is what you mean.

Or yes, you can also overclock your 800MHz ram as well

[lolwtfinternet]

Alright well, my processor (Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors) has a FSB of 1333mhz, so in a best case scenairo, wouldn't I have ram that would match that speed? If I were to buy some 1200mhz RAM, and OC it to 1333mhz, do you think I'd run into many problems?

Also, as a temporary upgrade, is the 1066mhz OC worth the performance boost?

[Lsdmeasap]

No a 1333FSB uses 333X4=1333 and you ram would be 333X2 = 667 and your CPU would use that 333x9=2.997GHz, until you changed that in the BIOS by Either overclocking the 1333FSB or using a higher then 1:1 (2.0 in GA boards) memory multiplier

You should either buy 800 or 1066. Good 800 will do 1000 anyway with loose timings, so if you are strapped for cash get 800.

It all REALLY depends on what you are going to run (Overclock) that processor to, if nothing or not by much then 800 will do you just fine

Please read thru the thread I have pinned in this section, so you can better get a handle on how motherboards and Ram work together as you are thinking about it all wrong.

No Offense meant, I just want to you to know the proper way things work so you dont buy things you cant use, or dont need thinking you do need them

[lolwtfinternet]

I gave the memory OCing part of the guide another read through, and I think I picked up on some things. The CPU Host Frequency is the FSB for both the RAM and the CPU then, correct? This is why having a 1:1 ratio would be bad in this case since I would have to use the RAM at 667mhz, even though my processor would still be at 3.0ghz. I think that made since, idk if it doesnt just disregard, lol.

Anyway, I was going to OC the cpu a bit, maybe up to 3.3, but when I found out the multiplier only went to 9, I didnt really want to OC by increasing the bus speed, since I thought that would shatter my CPU to RAM ratio. I dont really remember my exact reasoning at the time, actually.

In a perfect world then, taking into account your suggestions, I would be running the CPU at 3.3 and the RAM at 1066mhz, so I'm trying to take this all in. So it seems like I would need to change the multiplier for the memory in order to get it up high enough, and then tweak the FSB to get it to 1066. Is this correct? *

Also heres the RAM, since I havent posted it yet.
OCZ Technology | Products | Memory | OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Vista Performance Platinum 2GB Edition

---edit---
* After reading the memory portion of the guide much more closely, it would seem that that is basically what I am doing by following that guide and testing the speed limit.

[lolwtfinternet]

Also your guide doesnt use E.6850s, so I take it I should use something like, maybe E6700's for reference?

My multiplier is 6x-9x and the fsb is 1333mhz. Default operating frequency is 3.0ghz. Hope this info helps.

[lolwtfinternet]

Also I have another question about the guide.
Once you have the test profile, and have found the four different max speeds of the RAM, are you supposed to enter the desired speed, RAM multiplier, and respective settings accompanying that choice into the test profile, as well as change the CPU clock back to its original settings? (9x in my case)

[Lsdmeasap]

Yes CPU host freq is for the ram and CPU. The CPU Host Freq for Ram is X 2, and for CPU is X your max CPU Multiplier = CPU Freq, and finally, what you set the CPU Host Freq to is X 4 for FSB

Anyway, I was going to OC the cpu a bit, maybe up to 3.3, but when I found out the multiplier only went to 9, I didnt really want to OC by increasing the bus speed, since I thought that would shatter my CPU to RAM ratio. I dont really remember my exact reasoning at the time, actually.

No, at 3.3 (366 FSB) at 1:1 you would only be running the ram at 732MHz. You could still go way higher anyway, you will not break either the ram or the CPU. If you want to run 800 Ram and have 1:1 still you would want to run 9 X 400 for CPU which would be 800MHz ram. If you want to run 1:1 with 1066 ram you would have to use the 7 or 6 CPU Multiplier and 533 FSB (CPU Host Clock Control) like so >> 7 X 533 = 3.73GHz or 6 X 533 = 3.19Ghz. YOu better bet if you want to use 1066 ram is to not use either of those and use the 8 or 9 CPU multiplier and then use a higher ram Multiplier and not the 1:1 ratio. Such as 8 X 450 for 3.6 on CPU and Ram 400 X Ram Multi of 2.4 for 1080 on RAM.

Doing any of these is just a trial and error session, it will take you some time to find a sweet spot, but all of the above is very easily doable. If you do not have the time, or want to spend hours messing around in testing and failing and playing the in the BIOS, you should get 800Mhz RAM. That will be FAR easier for you to setup, and the is no real world differences in speed between 800 and 1066 RAM, only in benchmarks would you see a difference, not in using your system

I also have to suggest against OCZ, Corsair, and Crucial for a few reasons, I personally from helping MANY users feel there is compatibility issues with those brands and GA boards. And with you not having previous knowledge of boards and ram and BIOS tweaking it will just give you so many headaches trying to get stable that you will want to send your board back thinking it is broke. So save yourself the hassle and pick a different brand now before you have to later. I would suggest Mushkins, G.Skill, they are both superb performers and play very well with GA boards

The guide is a "General" guide, meaning it is made to help with all CPU/Ram/Boards, to better explain the settings and such to you. What you will be shooting for if you want to overclock is 3.4 at first that is very easy and you should get there with no isses, then work up to 3.6.

What cooler do you plan to use?

You will see once you get your board you can load several profiles and save them in your BIOS. You can keep the one you use for testing with the 6 multi if you want and just name it so, then make a separate one for your normal daily use. Or any number of different ones.

If you want, once you get everything, and get it built I can just give you a set of settings and you can go from there. That will save you much time and effort. But if you want to learn (Which you should) then yes please do all the different tests in the guide, it will help you know what to do in the future if things go wrong, or you get a different board

[lolwtfinternet]

Sorry about the long wait, I got caught up with some things. I actually found out one of my ram sticks was bad, lol. Damn OCZ, however lifetime warranty ftw.

As far as cooling is concerned, here is the fan i plan on getting.
Newegg.com - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks
That should've been the one.

The system itself is already built and has been working for awhile. I need to send that stick back, but once I get that then Ill buy the other two sticks. They will probably be 800mhz since my other two are 800mhz so I need the same speed. At least I think that's how ill get the most bang for my buck =)

Thanks for your thorough response.

[Lsdmeasap]

Sounds like a good heatsink

Good luck with OCZ, I know they have issues with GA boards, P35 at least. But since you have been using them you are likely ok then