Do I have to overclock my RAM to overclock my cpu ?

[lorthus]

I'm building a $700 budget system next month and I was wondering if there's anyway I could overclock my system and actually get results that are worth the $$$$.
My friend gave me a Gigabyte DS3 which I think is a decent board for overclocking.
I don't understand why some 2GB sticks of RAM are so expensive like more than double the price of the cheaper ones, do you really get your $ worth in performance ?
Also If I had about $120 budget to spend on my processor and heatsink(havent decided which ones yet) would I be able to overclock it and actually get performance of let's say a $180 processor ?
Do I need to get a good brand name RAM ( like those expensive OCZ etc..) or Can I just get a regular cheap ram since I will only be overclocking my processor ?
Also on stock cooling for video cards when you overclock them do you get your $$$ worth it? I mean can you actually get a $150 card to have $225 + performance ?

I mean I've been trying to read a little before I try overclocking but It seems that for me to overclock I have to buy everything with a brand new and pretty much pay more for everything and then overclock it, it just doesn't seem like it's worth it. But then again everyone else seems to be overclocking...

I appreciate all the help I can get
thank you

 

[TSIMonster]

For the CPU, I would get an E2140, those overclock well and is within your budget. A good cheap cooler is the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7. That should enable you to at least get 2.8Ghz out of the CPU (higher if you get a good cpu). That will give you a good performance increase and you get to pocket a little money.

E2140: $74 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116037

AC7: $22 + shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

I would get this RAM, it should suffice: A-DATA DDR2 800: $47 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066

 

[TSIMonster]

Oh, for overclocking, the default multiplier on the E2140 is 8 I believe. So, use that as your guide. Most people are hitting just under 3.0Ghz with 1.325 Vcore. I would start at 300Mhz and increase by 10 and check for stability. You will probably hit a FSB wall at 370Mhz, but that is a good overclock. Also, set your memory divider as low as possible for the initial overclock to make sure it doesn't get in the way. Once you rech your desired overclock, up the divider to get as close to 800Mhz has you can.

Test it out and post back with your findings.

 

[KekaiGenkai]

The performance of video cards has much more to do with architecture than it does with clock speeds. What's more, there are very few cards that will overclock more than 10-15%.

To prove the point, take a look at cards with the same gpu manufacturer, but different series. An 8800gtx will run stupid circles around a 8600 gts, even though the 8600gts is stock clocked at 75 mhz faster. This means that the card will experience significantly more performance limitations in its architecture rather than its clock speeds. The best you can probably expect to do with an overclock on your graphics card is 5 to 10% real-world performance, which isn't nearly enough to cover a 50 to 100 dollar price gap.