Which DDR2 800 for a 4ghz OC on E8400?

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Jaywill

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I'm looking at two kits that have rebate offers right now for a new build that I'm planning around a E8400 when its released.

1) Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $50 at Newegg after Rebate

2) CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $35 at Newegg after Rebate

Now it's been ages since I've thought about multipliers, FSB, and ratios, so forgive me for sounding like the noob that I am, but if I'm thinking things through correctly, in order to get a 4ghz OC on the E8400, I'd need to OC my RAM from 800mhz to 888mhz.

E8400 with its 9x multiplier = 4ghz at 444 FSB speed (4000/9 = 444). So I'd need to get another 88mhz out of the RAM for a 1:1 ration right?

I guess the easy answer is, both of these DDR2 sticks will do it no problem, but I'm leaning towards the more expensive ($15 whoppee) Crucial right now since a 88mhz OC is basically a guarantee.

What's your opinion? I kinda want to act fast on a decision since the rebates expire soon.
 
beurling

beurling

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Crucial is best. I wish they made 2x2gb modules for less than $500.. bleh.....

Shouldn't be too hard to hit 4ghz on the E8400, but be prepared to settle for less.. Not all chips are so amazing. Goin for the E8500 myself for the Free 3.7ghz on stock voltage and then an easy 4.2ghz or somewhere in that neighborhood.

Cheers.
 
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Silverion77

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Go for the Crucial, it overclocks very well.

Try to stick with 4-4-4-12 timings instead of 5-5-5-18
The tighter timings will help with overclocking stability so you can loosen them more if you have to.
 
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JuiceJones

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Newegg has many sets of DDR2-800 Cas 4 at 1.9v or so in the $35~$45 range. Any of these should fairly easily hit DDR2-888 with Cas 4 at 2.1v or so; if not, loosening to Cas 5 would guarantee it, but I would definitely base this decision solely on price, followed by color of the heat spreader :p Certainly no need to pay more for the Crucial.
 
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Gravemind123

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The Crucial stuff is some of the best overclocking ram on the market, anything with Micron D9GMH is.

As for that G-Skill, don't expect to be able to take it much above its rated speeds, 2GB sticks can't obtain the speeds 1GB sticks can yet.
 
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JuiceJones

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That may be true, but 888Mhz is a minor overclock that any decent DDR2-800 should hit.

 
notherdude

notherdude

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Yes, probably shouldn't count on any OC. But running at 1000 stock I wouldn't think you would need to. With a 9.5 multi wouldn't you only be setting the FSB at about 500 max which would yield 4.75 ghz?

 
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Jaywill

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Does the E8400 have a 10x multiplier?

That seems like a more general solution
which does not require overclocking DDR2-800.


Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell
Webmaster, Supreme Law Library
http://www.supremelaw.org
Click to expand...

No the E8400 has a x9 multiplier. So the best CPU OC I could do at the stock memory speed is 3.6ghz. The E8500 has a x9.5 multiplier, but will cost about $80 more. $80 for 200mhz doesn't quite seem worth it from a price/performance standpoint. I guess I could look for some DDR2 1000 memory and not OC it, but the price increase over DDR2 800 doesn't seem worth it. Gskill has a 2x1GB kit of DDR2 1000 on Newegg for $70, but it has slightly looser timings.

Thanks for the advice thus far.
 
notherdude

notherdude

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Gskill has a 2x1GB kit of DDR2 1000 on Newegg for $70, but it has slightly looser timings.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I am wrong but I didn't think the faster RAM timings were having any significant impact on Intel performance on the current generation. I thought the faster timings were desirable only because that gave you OC headroom.
 
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96Firebird

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If we don't plan to OC the E8400 much from stock, will generally any good brand of RAM be fine (2x1GB DDR2 800)? I want to stick with stock heatsink on the CPU, so give me some info here. Sorry for hijacking your thread Jaywill...
 
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96Firebird

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Ok, let me get some quick last opinions since I plan on purchasing tomorrow (today? I stay up too late)...

Looking for 2x1GB DDR2-800 at Newegg, still not sure what to get. Everyone says get Crucial, yet some people say it isn't necessary if I'm not overclocking. I want to try overclocking, but not really sure if I want to buy a seperate CPU cooler. Should I just go with brands like Corsair or Patriot, or go with Crucial anyways? And are lower timings worth it, even at higher voltages?

As you can probably tell, I know very little about memory. Come to think of it, my own memory isn't too great either...
 
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JuiceJones

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This is going to be a really generalized and quick summary, but should help.

The brand of the RAM has nearly nothing to do with its overclockability/performance, it depends on where those companies get the actual chips. As people have said, Micron makes the best and Crucial uses them, but for budget's sake we can look at three other factors for a RAM's overclockability. Rated speed (DDR2-800), latency (4-4-4-12) and voltage (1.9v).

Standard voltage for DDR2 is 1.8v, but to stably achieve higher speeds and lower latencies, the manufacturers will up the voltage, generally 2.2v is the top. If it's already rated high, you know you don't have much overclocking headroom above the rated specs by upping voltage. Upping voltage is the best means of achieving a stable overclock since it incurs no performance hit. i.e. DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 will run fine at 1.9v, but to achieve DDR2-900 at 4-4-4-12, 2.1v may be needed.

The next step is loosening timings, but this may sometimes not be worth the trade off unless the speed jump is substantial. i.e. the same RAM now running at DDR2-900 4-4-4-12 can't go any higher than that without dropping the latency to 5-5-5-15, this isn't worth it to achieve DDR2-925 or so, but running DDR2-1000 may be beneficial.

Basically, set a few criteria, which I've done for you:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147+1052308477+1052416064+1052508081&Configurator=&Subcategory=147&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

And sort by price! If you scan the reviews, while not the most credible sources, there's a common trend of even the cheapest $45 sets or $35 AMR sets that hit DDR2-1000 at 5-5-5 timings.

Edit: And honestly, another reason for staying cheap on the RAM is that hefty premiums on certain "performance" RAMs yield minimal actual improvements. Tightening timings and upping a couple hundred Mhz is only going to net a few percentage points. The actual jump from lowly DDR2-800 Cas 5 to the most expensive set of DDR2-1066 Cas 4 would only be like 5% better anyway.
 
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techmaniac

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>> 2GB sticks can't obtain the speeds 1GB sticks can yet.

Wait.. What?

Won't someone explain how it will be harder to overclock a pair of 2gb sticks of DDR2 800 than 4 1gb sticks?


 
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vagetaqtd

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Go with Crucial Ballistix Tracers PC8500, I'm currently running them @ 1064 4-4-4-12 2.3v and its prime stable for over 8hrs. Fast as fock! I also recommend getting an OCZ ram cooler. Works pretty well if you're gonna up the voltage.
 
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