OC & Modding Imp facts you need to know about DDR2 overclocking

Darklord

Skilled
Was thinking of starting this thread for quite some time now.I guess its high time i did so.

The time has come when everyone is seriously thinking of upgrading to C2D platform.This indirectly means transition to DDR2.

Although many senior members @ TE have already moved to C2D or DDR2 in general some time back,i think it is important for others to know the crucial facts before jumping to DDR2 bandwagon and start OC'ing the shit outta their New PCs.

Ok without wasting much time,let me get to the main thing here. :p

Well many who visit XS regularly must have already read this, so if you read this,don't start bashing me up with, 'Bleh its already discussed on XS' or 'yeah yeah we know' kinda stuff.This stuff is not for the Gurus n Pros @ TE lol :bleh:

Its for the General Member.

Anyways many of you are aware that DDR2 chips are getting better day by day,clocking insane speeds with extreme voltages etc.

What we dont know is that when we get adventurous and push volts through the RAM to make it clock higher or run at tight timings, there is something that happens which MIGHT not be a good thing.

Consider this Scenario,

You just purchased Transcend DDR2 667 2GB Kit and luckily its Micron D9 based chips,yaaay ! lol

it runs rock solid @ 533MHz 4-4-4-12 or 667 @ 5-5-5-15 or something at stock volts.

Now everyone knows Micron D9 is THE thing for DDR2, so you get greedy and start pushing volts to clock it

It clocks 800 @ 5-4-4-8 @ 2.2V or so,you get excited, push 2.3-2.4V through it,add a fan over the stick to cool them, they do 900 @ 5-5-5-15, awesome !

BUT

what happens is,

The same RAM which ran @ 533 @ 4-4-4-12 @ 1.8V happily n merrily isnt stable at these settings !

you are like WTF ! what happened ? Is my RAM dead,no your RAM isnt dead,just that NOW that it has tasted some insane volts,it has developed liking for it,meaning it will need like say, 1.9 or 1.85V to run stably.:(

Nothing to be scared of but definitely a thing to think about.

So be careful while pushing volts through the sticks and Happy Clocking,

below i have attached some important statements made by people like Tony etc..

Tony,

2.5V is right on the border of being safe...run more and you will kill your dimms in under a week.



Dumo,


Above 2.5V (extended use) and your ddr2 ram will degraded overtime, it Will needs more and more V just to run stable.

Tony,

Infact its not the voltage that kills it, you need the increase in voltage to get the memory switching faster, but a by product is more heat and an increase in current used. The increase in current is what kills it as its quite easy to control the heat.

Kunaak,

while I've obviously went above and beyond the call of duty when overclocking my ram...

I know 1 thing... 2.3 volts on DDR2 is alot, and gets hot fast.

I keep it below 2.25 everyday no matter what.

And many more here,

DDR2 and Extreme Voltages thread by Tony aka Bigtoe @ XS
 
High voltage can lead to electron migration in the chips which cause permanent damage. Some of this "could" potentially be reversed by freezing the RAM for a week but there are no guarantees. Its advisable not to go beyond 2.3V for regular 24/7 use and that too at 2.3V definitely give active cooling to the ram or else it'll be dead in no time. Heat accellerates electron migration so better put a fan on top of it to avoid the effects of heat for anything more than 2V.

PS: Awesome article darkie.
 
"Electromigration takes place on the actual silicon chip of your CPU, in areas that operate at a very high temperature, and can cause permanent damage to the chip. Before you start to panic, you should first realize a few things. CPUs are designed to run at temperatures between -25 and 80 degrees Celsius. To give you an idea, 80 degrees Celsius is a temperature that nobody is able to touch for longer than 1/10 second. I have never come across a CPU at this temperature. There are plenty of ways to keep the CPU case at less than 50 degrees Celsius, which increases the probability of keeping the chip inside at less than 80 degrees. Also, electromigration does not immediately damage your chip. It is a slow process, which more or less shortens the life span of a CPU running at a very high temperature. A normal CPU is meant to live for about ten years. However, in ten years nobody is going to be using a CPU with today's technology. I won't even use my CPU anymore in 2 months. If you want to be kept free from this electromigration scare, you have to do as much as possible to cool the CPU. Cooling is the Numero Uno Oncho in overclocking! Never ever forget that!"

Overclocking Guide Part 1: Risks, Choices and Benefits | Tom's Hardware
 
i was using 2.45v with a 18C controlled enviornment n 2 fans on it, i did benchmarking for 2hrs. N the RAM didnt break a sweat.

infact 2.4-2.45 is on the edge of being safe. But being below 2.3v is the safest
 
2.45 24/7 will kill the ram in a few months. Only RAMs with 8 layer PCBs can take 2.45 on a regular basis. On the normal 6 layer, it'll die! I hope you have a fan on top of the ram.
 
hmm...how much of a performance gain does ram overclocking give?

is the advantage seen in gaming or office apps or just benchmarks?
 
nukeu666 said:
hmm...how much of a performance gain does ram overclocking give?

is the advantage seen in gaming or office apps or just benchmarks?

nothing much.....

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X-bit labs - Articles - Choosing the Right Memory for Core 2 Duo Platform - Part 1
 
Darklord said:
Performance boost is there but it shouldnt be only RAM OC ,CPU n RAM both shud be OC'ed to experience the difference.

ya correctly said....if one over clock the mem only then there will be hardly any difference....like if a 667 ram is overclock to 800 then the differnce is very less so it should be of no use...
 
You'll see a performance boost at the same CPU and Mem clocks if you just overclock the FSB. Not putting the unchangeable strap of P5B Deluxe into the picture, in general higher FSB with a lower multi will yield better performance than stock fsb and default multiplier. This is because the memory subsystem of C2D and Pentiums is completely dependent on the FSB speeds. Getting DDR2 1000 memory and running at 266 FSB is of absolutely no use since the memory will be sitting idle most of the time cos of an FSB bottleneck. Why intel didn't implement an on die integrated memory controller into the cpu is beyond me :p. The best solution is to run 4:5 at tightest possible timings and then push FSB as high as possible without landing into strap issues.
 
Chaos said:
Why intel didn't implement an on die integrated memory controller into the cpu is beyond me :p.

Maybe cos its AMD innovation ? That apart,its one of the best technological innovation i have seen in the recent times.Never had i imagined in my wildest dreams that this could be done ;)

And cos of that,even though AM2 lags behind C2D, its THE platform to see some mind boggling memory Clocks and insane bandwidths :p
 
It seems some future native quad core revision of intel cpus might have an on die mem controller. What beats me is why did they do it with c2d itself :p. Its true though that AMD clocks memory way better than intel :p. However the 680i mobos are doin better than the rest.
 
I'm sure AMD has patented the technology and waiting for Intel to follow suit to then sue them for what they're worth.
 
Naa I don't think they can patent the tech. Integrated memory controllers have existed on embedded processors for ages now ;). They might have patented their implementation though.
 
I think Intel has tried everything.... In their LABS offcourse. Just didnt want their [chipset] business to suffer coz of a swanky-feature... [Remember its got like 10 to 50 acers of Silicon waffers almost monthly]. If I am in command, it works for me too... Moni from everywhere :D Tech onboard or No Tech... and I still remember I saying Intel got killed when AMD & On-Board Mem-Controler thing came out... but they did it again with a better performing CPU and tweaked chipset!!

Also That Israel Team is always onto something to keep AMD & all of us on our Toe... I guess :D
 
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