Heavily overclocked machine needs RAM

[Kraynor]

I'm rebuilding my current system, keeping the motherboard and CPU because I've gotten some fairly sweet performance out of both. I have an Asus P5KC and a Q6600 that I've had running stable at 3.6 GHz (left it on for 72 hours with prime95 running, no errors) but now it needs a RAM upgrade. I was running 2GB of Corsair 800 MHz RAM with pretty nice timings (4-4-4-15) but my needs have changed and 8GB is what I'm aiming for.

Before anyone asks: I'm doing a programming course with an emphasis on multimedia, so there's a lot of video editing and dealing with photoshop images 10,000+ x 10,000+ on both OSX Leopard (Hackintosh ftw) and Vista Ultimate 64-bit, 8gb RAM is both hugely beneficial and supported.

I'll welcome any suggestions for other RAM, CL4 preferrably, and has to be PC2-6400 (for 1:1 with my CPU's FSB)

Edit: I don't think the OCZ Reaper X would fit the board, thanks to a warning on OCZ's site saying it wouldn't, convenietly shown to me by my flatmate moments after I had posted the thread. As such I removed that part of the post. So I went back browsing and found an 8GB kit of OCZ Platinum, at 5-4-4-18. Not CL4, but OCZ have a good reputation of being overclockers, does anyone have any experience getting this type of RAM to 4-4-4-15 or lower?

Further edit: link to the kit http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_6400_8gb_platinum_quad_kit

 

[Kraynor]

nobody?

 

[Kraynor]

One last bump then I'll just drop it...

 

[rkowalk]

What is your mobo and CPU?

 

[Kraynor]

Asus P5KC, and Q6600, thought I put it in the original post in an edit...

Edit: Wait, it is...

I have an Asus P5KC and a Q6600 that I've had running stable at 3.6 GHz

 

[rkowalk]

I was looking at that same set up, and was pondering upon getting two sets of these...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145194

 

[rkowalk]

Might i ask what cooler you have on your cpu??

 

[Kraynor]

Looks nice, all I need is to live in the US so postage doesn't cost a fortune... I'll go with the OCZ sticks I linked in my main post

Edit: Just spotted your other post rkowalk - I was using a Scythe Ninja Rev B, and it worked at 3.6, but that was in my workshop. My room is considerably warmer than an air-conditioned workshop, so I bought a Zalman Reserator XT watercooling kit.

 

[rkowalk]

How much did that reserator cost you? I am doing my first build and am trying to make it pretty quiet. But i am never sure of the parts that i want to get ha ha. Only thing i know is that i want atleast 4gb ram and a q6600. Any suggestions?

 

[Zorg]

I think that you might find that any name brand reasonably priced RAM will do the trick. The Q6600 isn't really that affected by a point or two in timings, but you should have fun in your quest.

 

[Kraynor]

Think the reserator cost in the region of €350... The Q6600 can be overclocked to 3.0 GHz quite happily on air cooling, 3.2 if you're lucky and get a nice chip.

Apart from that... to keep it quiet dont use the stock heatsink and fan, buy another one, Zalman make fairly quiet ones from what I've heard. Lord knows my Reserator isn't really all that quiet... the old Scythe Ninja I ran was quieter. Remember: good thermal paste is always a good purchase. Arctic Silver 5 would probably be the best that's around. Small price, great benefits.
If you have any questions about anything send me a private message or post on the forums, everyone on here's helpful and know their stuff. I mostly lurk around the motherboards and memory subsections.

 

[rkowalk]

What do you think of the MK5 past? i heard it was good and already bought some ha ha. I am currently thinking about doing an antec p182 case with a corsair 620 and MSI 9600GT with the Some corsair ram (4gb ddr2 800). And the cpu cooler i was thinking about a 120 extreme tower with a yate loon attatched.

 

[Zorg]

Kraynor, since you know OCing, what is your opinion of my suggestion about the RAM?

 

[Kraynor]

rkowalk - haven't much experience with most of those parts mself, but the ram sounds good, and the 9600GT should do nicely. I'm saving for a 9800GX2 myself

Zorg - pretty sound advice, however a point or 2 in timings can make a rather sizable difference. I read an article on anandtech (I think it was... can't remember and don't have the link) that stated CL4 has a small % difference over CL5, was 2-3% as far as I remember, however when you do the kind of work I do, heavy movie editing, huge photoshop graphics in the region of 10k x 10k and larger (largest I've worked with yet worked out around 80,000 x 60,000), and a lot of TerraGen work, that 2-3% can knock minutes off loading and processing times, especially when TerraGen is involved

And it's important to have fun on a quest ^^

 

[Zorg]

Ok, if a couple of points is that important. then maybe you could benefit considerably more from 1033 RAM. It certainly kills in the benches. RAM benches that is.

 

[leon2006]

Below is the path for 4Gbyte Kit from Crucial (2x2G 4-4-4-12 Timing). Two kits will make 8Gbyte for your board. Its DDR2 PC2-6400..Its from Cricual...

http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=BFB9327AA5CA7304

Curcial module are very reliable. It's own by Micron the company that design and build DRAM chips.

DRAM module companies have memory configurator on its webage (OCZ, Crucial ..etc)


Hope this helps

Kraynor....Let us know once you get your PC running OC with 8GByte...

 

[Zorg]

I still say if tight 800 is that much of a benefit you should go 8500.

 

[Kraynor]

The store I buy from only has 1gb sticks at 8500 that aren't OCZ Reapers (can't fit 4 of them)... but I did some checking around and I found 8000 OCZ Platinum @ CL5, should be easy to bring that stuff down especially with OCZ's policy of a 2.2 voltage not voiding your lifetime warranty...

Thanks for suggesting a higher speed for tighter timings, I have no idea why I didn't think of that since I suggested the exact same thing to someone else last night on the forums ^^;

 

[Zorg]

OCZ isn't the only provider, just a thought.

 

[Kraynor]

Lol true, it's just that this store is doing a special on OCZ at the moment, 20% off, and while they do carry other brands (Corsair and Crucial spring to mind), they provide a wider variety of OCZ than others

 

[Zorg]

Fine, OCZ makes 1033. Are you in the US? What store?

 

[Kraynor]

I'm in Ireland, and it's a store in the city I'm in. Just a small afair with some pretty good deals, no website though :/

 

[Zorg]

I'm in Ireland, and it's a store in the city I'm in. Just a small afair with some pretty good deals, no website though :/

I'm Irish, alas I will probably never see the homeland. I say you should support the local shop, forgotten too long ago in the US. What do they have in 1033? By the way, I want to see your personal experience results with the 1033, which is the way to go. The timings differences with 800 are negligible at best.

 

[Kraynor]

1033... a 2gb kit of 2x 1gb OCZ Reaper X, a 2gb kit of 2x 1gb Corsair Dominator with ram fan... that's it :s

I plan on supporting the local shop anyway, I think I've probably spent... *converts* $7000 in there on various computer builds I've done for myself and for other people in the last 2 years, so I get discounts on things, and get allowed to run up a little tab if I am a bit short on cash if something I have breaks down or if there's a new shiny graphics card I just have to get

I'll probably end up underclocking the 1000 MHz ram, do a 3dmark and memtest, set it to stock, do another 3dmark and memtest, and pick the higher. Yes I know that 3dmark isn't a real-world benchmark but still, that and memtest should give me a good idea as to what setting to use.

I just hope the CPU overclock holds with 2 more sticks of ram. Should be a fun day

 

[Zorg]

It is your mission to build new systems for all your friends and support the local shop. I assume that you have already benched your system nine ways to Sunday. Tell me what you have done and I will give you the links that I have.