Ram speeds much faster at 3.3ghz than 3.6ghz

[andrew51]

First ever post, so bear with me.
I have a Q6600 and ive been overclocking for a few months now with the Q6600 and 1066mhz ocz ram. Basically to get to the golden 3.6ghz it took me a VERY long time to get it stable on a xfx 780i. All volts apart from vcore were maxed i.e.
vcore = 1.55v
fsb = 1.5v
spp = 1.55v
mcp = 1.7v
spp to mcp = 1.55v
Ram = 2.3v
and GTLVREF all on auto
my question is why should i try and get a 1:1 ratio when everest is telling me that at 3.6ghz and 640mhz ram(effective) that
read speed is 7032mb
write is 7238mb and
copy is 5527mb
Latency at 95.4. and thats the highest i could take the ram stable.
Now at 3.3ghz, same volts( so i know it will work) and ram at 1066mhz, divider at 11:16 i get
read 9918
write 6658
copy 7319
Latency at only 51.4
which is like a 40% increase in read speed. so should i go back to 3.6ghz which was only 1 hour prime stable or stay at 3.3ghz??? Considering i spent over 100 quid on water cooling???

 

[Shadow703793]

If RAM is stable stay at 3.6Ghz. Either way drop the divider to 1:1. RAM speeds don't make a difference in real life performance.

 

[andrew51]

Thanks for the quick reply, so your saying that the marginal 0.3ghz increase is an overall better performance gain?
Its just that to stay at 3.6ghz i have to max out all my voltages, and system runs hot. Even with water cooling i still get max temps at 70c. but thats because i have to put vcore to 1.55v! also my vid is 1.325v.nothing less does the job. And i forgot to say that cant actually get 3.6ghz stable with 800mhz so i cant reach the 1:1 ratio, only a 5:4 ratio. BUT at 3.3ghz 1:1 is easily reached. So should i just forgot the 3.6ghz idea?? Such a waste on watercooling money
Help much appriciated

 

[andrew51]

also, i can run a higher dram to cpu ratio when at 3.3ghz and this gives me a lower latency, is this not better as ram does run faster than when at 3.3ghz with the 1:1 ratio??
Thanks

 

[Shadow703793]

^RAM benchmarking is all synthetic, it offers negligable real world gain.

Woah! Do you have G0 or B3? Also you would not need 1.5v.

 

[andrew51]

I have read that too before, so i thought it was true but i just finished benchmarking and i got a higher 3dmark06 score with 3.3ghz and 978mhz ram than the 3.6ghz and 640mhz, both are when ram is max speed stable. Forgot to say it is purely a gaming rig with my 8800gts sli. so why does my ram top at only 640 when at at 3.6 but goes all the way to 1000 at 3.3 with the same ram speeds having a faster actual MB rate with a lower cpu clock?? im so confused!
and yeh its a G0, i can use 1.4v upto 3.4ghz but after that it just eats voltage! with 1.5v needed for 3.6ghz!

 

[andrew51]

and latencies are kept constant at 5 5 5 15 2t

 

[cjl]

I'd just stick with the 3.3GHz then.

 

[andrew51]

but i constantly hear of people reaching 3.8ghz and ocasionally 4ghz with water, was it a waste of money then? and am i doing something wrong to not be able to hit 800mhz ram when cpu at 3.6?

 

[Shadow703793]

1. Your vCore is wayyyyy too high. Is it a B3 or G0?

2. What 's your specs for the water cooling?

3. Are you sure the water cooling is bled,etc?

 

[jitpublisher]

It was not a "waste of money". You got what you paid for. The CPU runs at stock speed, correct? What ever you get out of it above that is a free bonus. Not all CPU's will overclock exactly the same.
My 2 cents, use ANYTHING AT ALL besides a lousy nVidia motherboard if you are trying for big overclocks. That is you biggeset problem.

 

[zenmaster]

#1 - Yes, your VCore is Too High.... 1.5v would be as high as I would want to go, but likely would not push that high.

#2 - If you want faster memory at 1:1, you can drop the multiplier so your FSB will need to go higher at a given CPU frequency.

 

[andrew51]

ok, i understand i shouldnt aim so high, but i really want to get the golden 3.6ghz 800mhz OC. To do that, all my mobo voltages apart from cpu are maxed, so all in the red on my xfx 780i. Cpu at 1.525 to 1.55v. Its just that it does run hot, i can deal with that, but its stable enough to play latest games without crashing,(prime stable for about 1 hour) so im happy.
Basically will maxing out voltages on 780i for a few hours of gaming a day kill my system before i upgrade in about 3yrs (when uni finishes), any input is appriciated.
Thanks

 

[kevin28115]

wow. that's amazing that you know so much about computers and how to max it out. i wish i know half what u know. lol that was interesting to read. but the max speed i've ever heard of is 3.2 so how is it possible to push that
? could u tell me please when u see this. by e-mailing me at g_kevin1@hotmail.com. greatly appreciated. thx!!!