Hi folks -

I'm new to overclocking, and I've tried to do all of my research but I'm still a little bit confused about the effect of the FSBRAM ratio - and how I should be setting this on my new system.

I have a Gigabyte P35-DS3L board with a 6600 (B3 Stepping) and 2 1GB sticks of Corsair Ballistix RAM (800mhz, 4-4-4-12, 2.2v).

Right now, I have my CPU Host Frequency set to 333, which gets me an overclock of 3.0ghz. I'm comfortable at 3.0ghz for the moment - but I do plan on trying to get this higher if I can. I'm using a Scythe Ninja Rev B, and I've heard that this CPU should comfortably overclock to 3.2 with this cooler.

As far as memory is concerned - I've set the memory timings in the BIOS to 4-4-4-12 and set the voltage to +.4v. Right now, I have the "System Memory Multiplier" set to 3.0. Things seem stable, but I'm worried that they aren't "ideal". I have read that your FSBRAM ratio should be 1:1, and CPU-Z lists mine at 2:3.

I'm kind of at a loss as to what I should be setting this to in order to obtain the golden 1:1 ratio. Also, will this setting have to change as I increase my "CPU Host Frequency"?

Thanks.

- Keith

I actually sort of answered my own question. Looks like 2.4 is the number that puts the ratio at 1:1. But I do have some other newbie questions.

My RAM is now running at 800mhz - is this really ideal for my system? Or will setting the multiplier to something else (2.5, 3.0, etc...) improve system performance? I know changing the multiplier will set my RAM to a higher mhz, but does this negatively impact my system since the FSB:RAM ratio is out of whack?

Secondly - what's about the maximum I should see for my CPU under load before I start to get worried? I've been running Prime95 and my temperatures have spiked to about 65c under load. I've read about people having it as high as 70c - but I'm really not sure at what point I risk damaging the CPU.

Simple choice: would you rather have slow speeds with 1:1 or fast speeds at other ratios?

Still undecided? Simple, load defaults in bios & run cpu & memory benchmarks in like everest, overclock both & bench them again. See the differences?

If you can't not have 1:1 ratio, no problem. You can keep the ram at 4-4-4-12@2.2v or even 2.1v. You can tighten the timings a bit to gain better performance. i.e. 4-4-3-8@2.25v. If you're not sure which speeds to set, simple, google your ram reviews & copy their numbers & try them out yourself. It's a shortcut.

For e6600, 65'c is too high under load. I'd keep it at 60'c tops.