How do I get my RAM to run at its full potential?

[nofun]

EDIT: Uping the voltage to 1.84 V seems to be working... so far...

 

 

I'm fairly novice at OCing, so please be blunt. There's probably something small I'm missing.

 

My Setup

Board: MSI 790GX-G65

CPU: Phenom II X4 955

RAM: mushkin DDR3 1600

PSU: Antec Earthwatts 430W

(linked to Newegg listing if you need more specifics)

 

Problem

RAM not running at full potential. DDR3 1600 RAM is running at 1066 MHz before OC with default multipliers. RAM is set up in Unganged mode by default.

 

Attempts So Far

- At stock settings: FSB is at 200 MHz, RAM is at 1066 MHz, multiplier is 1:2.667

- Any increase to the RAM multiplier results in artifacts and crash during Prime95

 

- Jumping the FSB up 10% to 220 MHz gives me 1173 MHz for RAM, but once again trying to increase the multiplier will cause a crash during Prime95 and some artifacts.

- At this speed, CPU is running at 3.52 GHz (220x16), which is about as far as I want to push my CPU (heat is a concern, as well as stability at default voltage). If I attempt to raise the FSB further and decrease the multiplier on the CPU, I get no display and have to reset the BIOS.

 

 

Any thoughts about what I can do to raise the RAM speed up to 1600?

Edited May 28, 2009 by nofun

[r3d c0m3t]

EDIT: Uping the voltage to 1.84 V seems to be working... so far...

 

 

I'm fairly novice at OCing, so please be blunt. There's probably something small I'm missing.

 

My Setup

Board: MSI 790GX-G65

CPU: Phenom II X4 955

RAM: mushkin DDR3 1600

PSU: Antec Earthwatts 430W

(linked to Newegg listing if you need more specifics)

 

Problem

RAM not running at full potential. DDR3 1600 RAM is running at 1066 MHz before OC with default multipliers. RAM is set up in Unganged mode by default.

 

Attempts So Far

- At stock settings: FSB is at 200 MHz, RAM is at 1066 MHz, multiplier is 1:2.667

- Any increase to the RAM multiplier results in artifacts and crash during Prime95

 

- Jumping the FSB up 10% to 220 MHz gives me 1173 MHz for RAM, but once again trying to increase the multiplier will cause a crash during Prime95 and some artifacts.

- At this speed, CPU is running at 3.52 GHz (220x16), which is about as far as I want to push my CPU (heat is a concern, as well as stability at default voltage). If I attempt to raise the FSB further and decrease the multiplier on the CPU, I get no display and have to reset the BIOS.

 

 

Any thoughts about what I can do to raise the RAM speed up to 1600?

 

Right away I might suggest overvolting the Northbridge, er, HTT (what does AMD call it now?) in any case...overvolting that is a possible problem solver being you're increasing the strength of the chip to allow greater bandwidth, i.e. higher clock speeds.

 

Also, there are a number of factors that could be standing in your way. Are the DIMMs operating at their recommended voltages? Are the timings set properly? Are you using 1T or 2T command rate timings?

 

Sounds a bit difficult, but you can wrap your head around the basic concept rather easily...with some patience.

 

How to Overclock

 

Give that a read. Although it's for the Intel platform, the general understanding is the same.