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IVY-E likes FAST ram???

rjbarker

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Well... I did pay $150 for 4X4GB Mushkin Redline 2400Mhz RAM :biggrin:
Why do you find it easier to get HIGH OC's when NOT using the fastest ram out there? Some sort of 'strapping' conflict???

Its easier on the IMC of the Chip when running slower RAM speeds and not populating all RAM Slots, generally easier to reach higher CPU speeds. Takes more tweaking is all with no guarentees.....personally I'd much rather have a system with higher CPU speeds and lower RAM speeds.
 

mattydies

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Its easier on the IMC of the Chip when running slower RAM speeds and not populating all RAM Slots, generally easier to reach higher CPU speeds. Takes more tweaking is all with no guarentees.....personally I'd much rather have a system with higher CPU speeds and lower RAM speeds.

OK... ok. I think I've read that before. Either way it makes sense and I would much rather CPU speed also. With my Gigabyte Assassin2 mobo I could tune the ram seperately from my CPU. So I could easily drop the speed of my ram (Lower than it's rated speed to make it easier on the IMC) without directly affecting the CPU (or the OC). Hense my wondering why slower RAM (Not slower settings) would be beneficial to Overclocking.
 

draemn

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The CPU still handles your RAM and has to constantly talk with it. The more work your CPU has to do "keeping up" with your RAM (i.e. more channels populated, higher speeds) the more it takes away from your over-clocking headroom. This analogy is not technically accurate ofc. Even though you think you can tun the RAM seperately from the CPU, they are still linked in a manner. Also, you run the risk of your RAM causing crashes when run out of spec and making your system unstable.
 

Oversized Rooster

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Its easier on the IMC of the Chip when running slower RAM speeds and not populating all RAM Slots, generally easier to reach higher CPU speeds. Takes more tweaking is all with no guarentees.....personally I'd much rather have a system with higher CPU speeds and lower RAM speeds.

While I disagree with this point "Its easier on the IMC of the Chip", I do agree with your statement that populating ALL RAM slots reduces OC headroom.
 

sswilson

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Moncton NB
Outside of extreme benchers who can benefit from that extra little bump that higher clocked memory can sometimes get them, I've always seen higher spec'd memory as giving me more options WRT bus speeds to bump CPU clocks rather than something that was going to give me a performance boost on it's own. These days we don't run into it as much because CPU clock speeds are mostly controlled by unlocked multi's as opposed to higher bus speeds X locked multi's, but in the past it was often memory limits holding back CPU OCs.

I'm sure the benchers will chime in if they see this thread, but for as long as I can remember, higher CPU clocks almost always trumped higher mem speeds by a wide margin.
 

rjbarker

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While I disagree with this point "Its easier on the IMC of the Chip", I do agree with your statement that populating ALL RAM slots reduces OC headroom.

Open ended, please explain......they my experience OC'ing a "weak" IMC on a CPU immediately rears itself as I progress they OC'ing.....some Chips just plain suck when trying to run say 1866 vs 1600 or 2133 vs 1866.....

Swapping out Chips with the same and low n behold the Chip may handle the higher Memory speed fine.....I figure tapping the IMC as the culprit is a reasonable conclusion ;)
 

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