Is PC8500 worth upgrading from PC6400?

[Summer Leigh Castle]

Currently have G.Skill 5-5-5-15 PC6400 DDR800 RAM. I'll be moving from an A64x2 to a Phenom II 720x3 CPU. My AM3 compatible motherboard supports up to DDR 1066. Is PC8500 worth it if I plan to overclock the CPU to say 3.4ghz?

 

[gkay09]

Well i think u can easily overclock the DDR2 800 higher...so its not worth to change ur RAM unless u plan to overclock even higher...I feel 800 is enuf...But still see wat others say...

 

[JDocs]

Not really. DDR2 800mhz ram is ample for most processors. You might get 2 to 3% more according to some benchmarks I've seen but not worth upgrading your memory over.

 

[Summer Leigh Castle]

I only asked because I've seen very impressive articles already with people overclocking the 720 x3 to 3.6-3.7 ghz on stock air but most were using PC8500 or the faster DDR3 on their systems.

@zipzoomflyhigh: The 720 x3 is a BE with unlocked multipliers so I'm not sure if I'll be messing around with the FSB. I think at most 3.4ghz is my goal (200 mhz x17 multiplier). I guess I'm just a little confused about the whole 1:1 ratio thing.

 

[4Ryan6]

@ Summer Leigh Castle

The GSkill may very well already be able to run at 1066 with enough voltage applied to it, [Its Max Safe Acceptable Slot Voltage, Check the GSkill Website], I have some OCZ 800 that runs at 1066 using its EPP limit, [Extended Power Profile].

1066 actually is 800 thats been tested and confirmed to run at the 1066 speed.

So you may already have 1066 capable memory in your possession and don't realize it, and 1066 won't become available until you put the Phenom II in the system, the 1066 run feature is only available to the Phenom and Phenom II.

The DDR2 slot voltage is very important in getting the 1066 speed out of the 800, its got to have enough voltage to run at those speeds, the GSkill forums should have others doing the same thing, you may want to compare notes on the GSkills capability, and what others have run theirs at.

You may actually be able to keep your same timings or maybe go to 5-5-5 18 and If the 800 memory runs at 1066 for you you'll probably need to do your OCing by raising the CPU multiplier and leaving the FSB at 200, because you'll already be OCing the memory running it at 1066.

 

[Summer Leigh Castle]

@ 4ryan6

Thanks for the help. You're the best! Everything should be coming together next week. I wasn't able to find much information about my RAM so this was the best I could do.

http://newgskill.web-bi.net/bbs/view.php?id=g_ddr2&page=5&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=95

The stock voltage for DDR2 800 is 1.8-1.9v so I'll try to up the voltage to see if I can get to 1066. :Fingers crossed: I'll keep everyone posted!!!

*EDIT*: Just an observation but I just checked the PC8500 for the same RAM model and the only difference appears to be the voltage settings. 2.0-2.1v. These guys... so tricky.

 

[4Ryan6]

@ Summer Leigh Castle

Check this out

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr2-ram-memory,2079-6.html

 

[drdeathx]

To me GHz means nothing TO ME. You can sacrifice a lot to get higher core speeds but sometimes CPU performance is sacrificed. 3DMARK is a great tool. It gives a CPU score and that what overclocking is about. PERFORMANCE. I can hit 3.3GHz but I need a lower NB, HT amd memory fequency. My performance is the same at 3.3GHz as 3.2GHz so I will stay with 3.2. My new 3DMARK06 score raised to 16,100.

Ok here is 3 screen shots: Pay attention to CPU score and FSB and memory changes. The 2nd screenshot is with 667 as memory in bios, second is with 800. My multi is 15.5 with 206 as fsb. 1ST is 15 as multi with 217 if I remember. Notice the hypertransport and NB higher with 3rd screenshot giving me a huge jump in CPU score and total score. The OC on GHz is only .3GHz higher but the performance gain remained though mainly Hypert, NB and ram set to 800.

Click on screen shots for larger view.

THERE WAS A 50 POINT JUMP IN 800MHz from 667MHz which is only about 1% but with new Ram of 1066 I bet the performance gain will be about 2-3%. Now remember you may be able to get 2-5% better overclocking so your total performance gain could be up to 10%.

 

[Summer Leigh Castle]

Just an update. The G.Skill were not stable at 533/1066 even though I increased the voltage to 2.0 so I decided to buy some OCZ Reaper 1066. There's NO distinguishable difference in terms of performance. I didn't have 3DMarks to compare but I did run SuperPI and AOD benchmark and there's very little improvement.

Other info: I don't recommend OCZ Reaper HPC 1066. I had occasional system hangs and program crashes after I did the install. I did a Memtest86+ on the RAM and had multiple errors. OCZ forum confirmed my findings. Apparently a lot of people are having memtest86 failure like it's the cool thing to do. RMAing is going to be dreadful. Expensive RAM doesn't always translate to reliable hardware. Good luck and thanks for the help!

 

[computabug]

Noo!!! I'm too late. If you just bought that ram to OC, it was a complete waste of money. Just raise the #!%$ multiplier! It has nothing to do with ram, you have an unlocked multiplier! Or do I not understand the situation correctly? :S

 

[caniba]

Total waste.

computabug is right.

 

[Summer Leigh Castle]

Sorry guys!

I was just inquiring if there was a big difference in performance between 533/1066 (PC8500) and 400/800 (PC6400) RAM... not if I needed PC8500 to overclock my computer.

 

[caniba]

Almost no noticeable difference.