Question Any way to overclock DDR3 1066 RAM to 1600 with a Xeon X5680?

[Crazyy8]

I have an old computer, full specs:
Intel Xeon X5680, slightly overclocked
EVGA X58 SLi3
1 8gb stick of DDR3 1600 (G.skill)
4 4gb sticks of DDR3 1066(16gb total, some sort of random OEM Dell RAM)
(The above RAM is combined, mix n match)
GTX 1080
Cooler master Hyper 212 evo
misc 750 watt PSU
misc hard drives/SSDs
I currently run my RAM at 1066, and I want to know if it's possible to overclock my slower RAM to 1600. I looked at the Intel website and such and it seems the X5680 only supports up to 1300. Can I get it up to 1600 with my CPU? I overclocked my CPU to ~3.7 Ghz.

 

[Lutfij]

1 8gb stick of DDR3 1600 (G.skill)
4 4gb sticks of DDR3 1066(16gb total, some sort of random OEM Dell RAM)
(The above RAM is combined, mix n match)
A mixed set of rams will never grant you stability, regardless of what you do with them. Might want to invest in a ram kit, which are pretty cheap on Ebay. Also, make sure you're on the latest BIOS version prior to performing any overclocking.

misc 750 watt PSU
Might want to mention the make and model of your PSU as well as it's age.

Moved thread from CPUs section to Overclocking section

 

[Crazyy8]

1 8gb stick of DDR3 1600 (G.skill)
4 4gb sticks of DDR3 1066(16gb total, some sort of random OEM Dell RAM)
(The above RAM is combined, mix n match)
A mixed set of rams will never grant you stability. Might want to invest in a ram kit, which are pretty cheap on Ebay. Also, make sure you're on the latest BIOS version prior to performing any overclocking.

misc 750 watt PSU
Might want to mention the make and model of your PSU as well as it's age.

Checked, it's an Antec Earthwatts 750, a bit old. got the latest bios, it's %100 stable unless I try and overclock the RAM.

 

[Lutfij]

How old is a bit old ?

As stated, look for a ram kit off of Ebay, that's on the QVL or any ram kit that's advertised to run on the X58 platform at DDR3-1600MHz.

 

[Crazyy8]

How old is a bit old ?

As stated, look for a ram kit off of Ebay, that's on the QVL or any ram kit that's advertised to run on the X58 platform at DDR3-1600MHz.

About 11 years old, I bought it in 2013.
I'm assuming it's Ill advised to try and overclock the 1066 sticks?

 

[Lutfij]

You assumed right. Also, I wouldn't overclock anything with an 11 year old PSU, unless your PC innards are expendable.

As for your ram, you could look into this ram kit;
https://www.ebay.com/itm/196717752064
but in 2024, you'll struggle to operate with 12GB's of ram.

 

[faalin]

When i had a X5690 in my Asus rampage 3 extreme board, i could not get the ram to run over 1066Mhz if i rememeber correctly i dont think it would even do 1333Mhz, ended up buying a 980x and the ram was able to do 1600Mhz again. Same ram on my 950 could do just over 2100Mhz, its been a long time since playing with it so dont remember the exact numbers that my 950 could hit on the ram.

 

[geofelt]

Not likely.
All ram is binned.
If your 1066 ram were capable of higher 1600 speeds, it would have been sold as 1600 speed ram for more.
You could get lucky. but don't count on it.
Then, also your ram is not matched and will run at the lowest common denominator if it will run at all.

 

[lolvatveo]

1066mhz ram can easy overclock up to 1333mhz, same timing. better just don't mix ram have differ manufacturer and speed

 

[faalin]

1066mhz ram can easy overclock up to 1333mhz, same timing. better just don't mix ram have differ manufacturer and speed

I would say that is around 95% true.... some ram just cant overclock.

But even if true its not up to the ram fully to overclock, you also have to take into consideration the memory controller on the CPU. Being the first time Intel released triple channel ram, fill all 6 slots put a strain on the memory controller.

When i first build my X58 system it was with a i7 950. I could do 4.6GHz 24/7 and during the winter up to 4.9Ghz on a full water loop on the CPU, MB, and GPU's. Ran 2 480mm radiators for CPU and GPU's and a 240mm for the motherboard, all radiators were push pull with 20 Scythe Ultra Kaze fans (3000rpm, 46db, 133.6cfm) yeah it sounded like a jet engine.

Ram of choice was 2 kits of Mushkin Blackline Ridgeback 3x2GB 6-8-6-24 1600Mhz and on my 950 could hit over 2100Mhz on them. Move forward and pulling the board off the shelf 7 years later dropped in a X5690 and that ram no mater how hard i tried could not get over 1066Mhz. I got tired of trying and replaced it with a 980x, overclocked to 4.2ghz and left ram at 1600Mhz