[cyberspacegenie]

Hi all,

I recently built a new system based on the Q6600. I am using Transcend RAM DDR2-800 (5-5-5-12) - model no - JM2GDDR2-8K. I have overclocked the system to 3GHz and all is stable, but since I am running a 1:1 ratio the ram is running slower at approx 667Ghz.

Is it worth doing either of the following:

1. running at a 4:5 ratio so the RAM runs at 800GHz

2. staying at 1:1 ratio with RAM at 667 and changing the latency to 4-4-4-12 1t. The RAM voltage is 1.8v. If I keep the voltage this low with lower timings, what is the best way to confirm whether or not the system is stable. Is it just whether or not it boots ok or should I run memtest for example?

Or is it just best to leave it as is.

The ambient temps here get super crazy in the summer (up to 38c a couple of weeks ago) so I have no plans to overclock the cpu any higher than 3GHz as I dont want to increase system heat. As such I also want to keep the RAM voltage down for the same reasons, hence wanting to keep it at 1.8v if possible. On Newegg in the reviews people have said they have run with latencies of 4-4-4-12 but with voltage or 1.9-1.95. I changed the timings briefly to 4-4-4-12 1t and the sytem booted fine with a ram voltage of 1.8v, but I wasnt sure how to confirm RAM stability so set them back to 5-5-5-12.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[SocialWarfare]

To stress test your RAM download Orthos from the download section here, run it for and hour making sure you select Large, in-place FFTs - stress some ram
You can also check the overall stability of your computer with this program

[cyberspacegenie]

Thanks for that.

In terms of the above configuration options which do you think would be the best or is it likely that they will both give pretty much the same result?

[SocialWarfare]

I would say running it at 800Mhz would be better as hardly any heat will be produced with them running at those voltages anyway
Also what program are you using to measure your temps?
TAT is the right one to use, you should run Orthos for about 8hrs to assure complete system stability using the blend option

[cyberspacegenie]

When I did the overclock I ran Orthos (Small FFTs) for a few hours without any issue and have been running at 3Ghz for a couple of weeks without any significant probs (not related to the overclock anyway!). The RAM is rated at 800Mhz anyway so I would only be running it at native speed so wouldnt foresee any issues running at a 4:5 ratio in this sense. But I'll run Othos with the setting you suggest again after I change the ratio.

Do you think it would be worth doing both - running at 800 and experimenting with lowering the latency? i.e. 800Mhz runinng at 4-4-4-12 latency

In terms of temps I use a combination of things - TAT, Coretemp and RM Clock for the CPU temps and PC wizard for the Hard drive and Graphics card temps. The ambients have been really high here recently so I was monitoring temps very closely especailly while running Othos after the overclock. Running Orthos core temps maxed at 65 with ambient of 35c. Thankfully temps are slowly going down again - I am happy to see autumn coming!

[SocialWarfare]

I don't think you will be able to get a lower stable latency considering that 5-5-5-12 is stock, well maybe if you increase the voltage to 2.0.
Your temps are quite high under load, do you have a stock HSF or aftermarket?, but if you are happy with it running at those temps its up to you, Heat=decreased lifespan but you probably wont want that cpu in 5 years time anyway lol

[cyberspacegenie]

Heatsink is a thermalright ultra 120 extreme, using mx-2 thermal paste with a stock hsf I think the computer would have melted!. The temps are high but also the ambient was pretty high too (35c), and seems to have a significant effect on the all the temps not just cpu. Hard drive drive was running in late 30's and the Mobo was running in mid -high 40's (P5K series seem to register higher mobo temps anyway because of sensor location). At an ambient of 38c the cpu idles at 47c but when the ambient temp drops so does the cpu temp. as I write this the ambient is 29c and the cpu is idling at 40c. if i ran othos now it would max out at about 60c or less. when its really hot I dont put the computer (or myself) under load!

I did look around for average quad core temps and the range seems to be mid 30's - 40's idle with ambients of 25c or less. Was I wrong about this?

[SocialWarfare]

I must be because of bad airflow or you could try replacing the paste with some as5, I use it myself and my temps dropped by about 4-5 degrees C

[cyberspacegenie]

Thanks social welfare,

originally i was going to get AS5 but Arctic Cooling MX-2 was coming out better in reviews. I've only seen one where it didnt come out better than AS5, so thats why I went with this. The instructions for application were pretty terrible so I suppose it is possible it didn't spread out enough over the cpu.

My cable management was a mess when I first built the rig - I think I actually put a pic up somewhere, doh! - but I have since sorted it all out. The case has 4 fans, 3 directing the airflow front to back (front, cpu, and rear) and a one blowing on the Voltage Regulator Module so hopefully airflow shouldnt be too bad.

current ambient is 26.5c (finally getting cooler- hooray). idle temp 37c. load (running orthos) 54/55c

I'm curious as to why you think my temps are high, what kind of temps do this think I should be looking at. most temps I've seen on boards are around this kind of range, obviously I have come across a few much much and a few lower.

My vcore is 1.30, unfortunately I cant get it stable under this - get errors in orthos. It was originally at 1.315 but yesterday i managed to get it stable at 1.30.