Overclocking FSB vs multiplier

darkpower45

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Mar 16, 2009
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So I was wondering, when overclocking a computer with a high FSB you increase the rate memory is going from the ram to the processor right? so does that make an overclock more efficient at the higher clock speed that another processor with a higher multiplier? I was thinking about this when i was overclocking my Q8200. I had a e5200 and a Q8200 to choose from for my friends computer, and i choose the Q8200 since i could get a frontside bus of 2000Mhz. That made my Q8200 run at 3.5ghz, where as i could have gotten a 4ghz overclock with the E5200, but only have a 1333mhz frontside bus. Anyone know if it makes a big difference in games that support only 2 threads?
 
Yes, you're right, but in practice the extra memory bandwidth doesn't affect overall speed significantly. That's why you almost always want to go with the fastest core clock, assuming the cache size are the same.
 
so would you guys think having the extra two cores and higher FSB make up for the slower clock speed between the e5200 and Q8200 in all around use instead of just gaming?
 
This was a big, big deal 15 years when we were running on 33,66,133mhz Front Side Busses. An increase in Buss speed would simply blow away a similar setup that was running at merely a higher multiplier, and indeed the goal of many overclockers was pushing buss speeds to the max, and lowering the multiplier as far as needed to achieve huge buss overclocks.
With todays double and quad pumped buss speeds of 800mhz+, the difference is not noticable. The main point is getting the core speed of the CPU up, and whatever it takes to make everything else "play" nice with it at those speeds.