[cheesepuff]

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...Number=6790045

ok, to clear things up before hand, 1 DVD drive is ROM so i reads fast, the other writes fast. I have 2 250GB drive (one for vista, one for XP) i do this for many reason that have proved to help me over the years. I have done some research on the motherboard and found it has EVERYTHING an overclocker needs. the RAM i find will OC well. the CPU I want to reach at least 4GHz, and hoping to get to 4.5GHz (with a lot of tweeking of course) I have not yet decided on what case i want. I have a raidmax Smilodon darktooth and i have to say it is THE MOST WELL DESINED CASE EVER TO HIT THE MARKET!!! but sadly it only has 1 120mm fan in the front and the back, and even though it has a special 80mm fan to cool the northbridge and another to cool HDD's, and another to cool the motherboard ,it presents limitations,and i need more airflow to keep up with the new components heat. I do however also have an Antec 900 and it has served me well over the years and has better cooling, but i think its time i found a case that has the amazing functionality of the Raidmax Slimodon and the cooling of an Antec 1200. If anyone knows of a case like that, please tell me. otherwise, it looks like i might stay with my Antec 900 or have to go with the Antec 1200. But anyway, what do you think of my build?

[serverguy]

You'll be happy to know that I will say that that is a very good build

Not much I would change. You may want some faster RAM if you plan on serious overclockage. You may be able to hit 4Ghz with 800Mhz RAM but you will have to give it some serious juice and it would be better to just get 1066 stuff.

You'd have to overclock the memory by nearly 100Mhz to hit 4Ghz on the clock.

[cheesepuff]

thanks. at what speed do you think the RAM will hit before it max's out?

[serverguy]

It depends, and you can just get a good set, but TBH I don't think it will go as far as you want.

Get some faster stuff. I'd break it down like so:

Your getting an E8400, multiplier 9X

If you went with DDR2-1000 RAM then you get 500MHz at real speeds.

Wthout even overclocking the memory you are good to go as far as RAM is concerned up to 500MHz if the FSB = 1:1.

9x500 = 4500MHz which is what you want to achieve.

So...Unless you are planning on running over 4500MHz, and you won't without chilled water or colder, and 1000 stuff would be a fine choice since it is cheap, won't limit your clocking of the CPU, and so far has been found to be very solid.

Anything over DDR2-1000 really is a waste of time/money for a daily rig. Gains are minimal and trying to clock DDR2-1000 or higher can be very troublesome on some motherboards (probably not yours to be fair.)

[cheesepuff]

but cant you change the multiplier to 12x instead of 9x for the CPU? and as for the RAM, from what i read, i can get stable speeds up to 1200MHz (when in DDR), and in reality, for a modern CPU like the E8400, a1.5GHz jump above stock speeds really isnt too much now a days. My E6300 got from 1.84GHz to 3GHz just fine, and as for the front side buss settings, couldn't i just lower the FSB ratio like i did before to help compensate for the overall speed?

edit- so if i go by the 12x multiplier,

4500 / 12 = 375 (the RAM speed on 1:1)
375 x2 = 750 (the speed when you calculate as DDR)

tell me if im doing the equation wrong. But IF i do happen to have this right, then the RAM i chose will be more than enough. then again, like i said, i dont know if i set this up right. Be so kind as to check for me?

[serverguy]

Originally Posted by cheesepuff

but cant you change the multiplier to 12x instead of 9x for the CPU? and as for the RAM, from what i read, i can get stable speeds up to 1200MHz (when in DDR), and in reality, for a modern CPU like the E8400, a1.5GHz jump above stock speeds really isnt too much now a days. My E6300 got from 1.84GHz to 3GHz just fine, and as for the front side buss settings, couldn't i just lower the FSB ratio like i did before to help compensate for the overall speed?

The Multiplier is locked on the E8400.

1200Mhz? I don't think so. DDR2 is DDR2, no changing back.

No its not a massive jump, but it'll still take some patience and skill.

You can only make the RAM run faster, not slower.

[thingie2]

I got some reaper PC2 9200 (1150MHz) stuff, but that was because it was only 10p more than than the PC2 8500 (1066MHz) stuff. However I seemed to hit a wall with my OC, but I don't know why, because my CPU should go higher, I had a thread about it somewhere if you want to have a look. I just thought I would mention incase you think it's the RAM that's causing it, as that would mean you wouldn't get very far.

[cheesepuff]

i have read when Over volting to 2.3V, and adjusting the timings it can achieve a max stable speed of 1200MHz. Im not sure how true this is, but as for the E8400, I was under the impression that it had from 9x to 12x multiplyers. I did not know it was locked at onl 9x. that could present quick a pickle of a situation. and as for not being able to make RAM run slower, I have done this with my last build. I ran the RAM a 730MHz or so when it was 800MHz stock speed RAM. By taking the FSB x CPU multiplyer i was able to get to a setting where the RAM was "underclocked" so to speak. This was possible since, unlike the CPU multiplyer, the FPS # has a vast variety of numbers you can set it to. set it to a low number, and the RAM runs at a lower speed than it is advertised to wrok at.

[serverguy]

Originally Posted by thingie2

I got some reaper PC2 9200 (1150MHz) stuff, but that was because it was only 10p more than than the PC2 8500 (1066MHz) stuff. However I seemed to hit a wall with my OC, but I don't know why, because my CPU should go higher, I had a thread about it somewhere if you want to have a look. I just thought I would mention incase you think it's the RAM that's causing it, as that would mean you wouldn't get very far.

Did you try upping the voltage? Lowering the multiplier and raising the FSB a load... You'd need to up the FSB voltages as well probably.

2.8Ghz isn't bad for that chip.

[thingie2]

I thought I upped the voltages, but whatever I put the voltages to, it seemed to work better on auto voltages,didn't try lowering multi and upping FSB, I might try that tonight. I'll post the results in my original thread (link in my sig)