CPU Overclocking/RAM Overclocking on Q9000

Ok so before i get my laptop i would like to comprehend all this. CPU overclocking and the RAM Divider. Here is my knowledge.

My Specs in Signature...

The Q9000 has a 7.5 Multiplier that can't be changed. So to OC, i need to change the FSB. To achieve an OC of stable 2.3GHz, i need 307 MHz FSB. I dont know what the voltage is, someone tell me on a Q9000. Now the RAM at 1:1 ratio should be effectively at 306.666 x 4 = 1227 MHz. Now ive been hearing all this 2:3 ratios and whatnot. Can someone explain that, how it works etc? Also what is the ratio comparing...RAM Speed to FSB?

thankyou, sorry if there is a thread on this, you could post the link here.

 

also...i was wondering about what the RAM speed on the sticks have to do in relation to the FSB. Like if my FSB is 266 and its QUAD pumped, its 1067 MHz rite? then why does it say on my RAM sticks that its DDR2- 800 MHz? Does that mean the RAM is running at 1066 MHz or 800 MHz?

 

Go to CPU-Z and check out the divider to synchronize the memory and FSB. It should be 4:3.

 

i wasnt looking for that, actually more of an explanation to what the Memory/FSB ratio is.

i would actually really like to know about this. My CPU-Z for my current Desktop (P4 630) says i have bus speed of 199.5, rated FSB of 798 (bus speed x 4??? i thought you find the RAM speed via Quad-pump??). Now the DRAM Freq. says 266MHz. Where did that come from (3:4 = 200:266...how do you set the Ratio?) That means my RAM is running at 266x2 or 266x4? 533MHz or 1066 MHz?

 

Ok, well FSB is quad pumped, which means you multiply the bus speed (200MHz in your case) by 4, which gives you a FSB of 800MHz. The memory is separate. Your memory is running at 266MHz and since it is DDR2 (DOUBLE data rate), you multiply that by 2 to get the effective speed of DDR2-533 (533MHz). Your FSB and memory are linked via divider, which is easily changed in desktops but I'm not sure about notebooks. In your case, the FSB:memory would be 200:266 aka 3:4. Hope that is clear and explains things.

 

^ ahh ok so what is the difference between DDR vs DDR2? i thought it was like DDR gives 2x and DDR2 = 4x...apparently i was wrong. So the RAM divider is actually changeable. ofcoures in my dell, its not. How is it changeable in laptop BIOSes? specifically the ASUS G51Vx?

Also, now that i understand this, i have an example. I have teh P4 630 with the 15x multiplier and 200MHz bus speed. The Ratio is 1:1, which is different. Now i put in DDR2-800, what speed is it gonna run at, 400MHz (bus speed x 2) or 800MHz (written on the stick)? thankyou, also what about when im running dual-channel, i heard it cuts in 1/2 or something and that when running different speed sticks, all the RAMs use the lowest of all the frequencise in the bunch?

 

DDR and DDR2 are the same in that they both use double pumping to transfer twice the amount of data when compared to traditional SDRAM. DDR2 is just newer and with better technology, can achieve higher frequency. I believe RAM dividers aren't changeable in most laptops or you need a special software to do it, usually the BIOS options are locked.

For your P4 630, the clock speed is the bus speed times the multiplier. The ratio should change if you put in faster DDR2 memory. If you had DDR2-533 before, you would have a 3:4 divider. Putting in DDR2-800 memory, should switch you to a 1:2 divider (FSB:memory). Your memory would run at the rated 400MHz and the FSB is still 200MHz, so effective CPU clock speed is the same.

Dual channel is something different and doesn't affect your speeds. The simple explanation is that generally if you have 2 sticks, it works faster than if you theoretically doubled the speed of 1 stick. If you use mismatched memory speed, it will default run the faster one at the slower speed so that the memory is now matched. So if you have DDR2-800 and DDR2-533, the DDR2-800 stick will run at DDR2-533 speeds.

 

Can I OC my Q-9000 thru my DDR3 Ram? (HP HDX18)

For instance which program CPU-Z?

Can I tweak my 8gb of 1067 ram to give me gains?

Sorry for the Noob! and / or newbie questions.. but you 2 have me all excited that I maybe able to play with this machine and learn a something at the same time.

Thanks in advance for any answers to the Newbie Noob questions!

Be well, JW

 

you can overclock you FSB with a program called setfsb, check the thread in my sig for more.

 

ahh ok now i understand. thanks alot sgogeta. so basically it depends on what the RAM stick is to get the RAM divider to change? like Putting in the DDR2-533 changes it to 3:4 and putting DDR2-800 changes it to 1:2? So i put in DDR2-1066Mhz, the RAM divider now suddenly changes 3:8? Is that the most simplified version of it?

now for my new computer lets figure it out. Q9000 at stock is 2.0GHz with 7.5 mult. The bus speed then should be 267. The RAM speed in the Computer is DDR2-800. (PS what does the FSB have to do with the RAM speed, its just the bus speed that relates to it rite?) With that at stock the CPU:RAM divider should be 2:3 correct (busspeed-267:ram speed-400) Now i OC the Q9000 to 2.3GHz meaning bus speed should be at 307MHz. Does this mean that ive effectively overclocked the RAM speed as well changing it to 460MHz (the speed of RAM is now 920MHz)? Or when i change the CPU bus speed does the CPU:RAM ratio change? as in when it goes from 267:400 (2:3) to 307:400 (~3:4)?

thanks for all your help....next up is CAS latency lolol

 

You can OC the CPU by OCing the FSB from simply changing the FSB:memory multiplier. You won't OC the memory doing this (you have it correct, just change the multiplier to 3:4). You can OC both CPU and memory by OCing the memory and leaving the multiplier the same. However, for optimal OC you need to know the max memory speed and max CPU speed each component can handle (individually) then finding the optimal multiplier that lets you reach the closest to both. I suggest reading up on an overclocking guide. I wouldn't worry about CAS latency much, it won't give you any additional real life performance.

 

No, you can't. HP has the HDX's locked down at the PLL, the only way to unlock it is with a hardware mod. You can't even overclock the X9000/X9100 extreme cpu's in these rigs.

 

ahh dam so memory doesnt OC when i increase the Bus speed? now im confused again. you said in laptops you cant cahnge the multiplier, meaning that you cant OC RAM in your laptop? When you reference "multiplier", you mean changing the ratio rite? And how do you keep the Ratio the same?

also when strictly talking, it should be Bus Speed: DRAM Frequency rite? Not FSB : DRAM cuz FSB is the Quad-pumped bus speed rite?

srry to be so precise i just wanna be sure.

 

By multiplier he meant the value that is multiplied by the internal clock to output the value multiplier by external clocks.

For example, my P7350 has a stock FSB of 1066Mhz which means that I have a bus speed of 267Mhz. It runs with a multiplier of 7.5 which means that to get my clock speed, I just have to multiply 267Mhz by 7.5 which gives my 2000Mhz, the speed of my CPU.

Some CPUs have unlocked multipliers which means that they can overclock it without even touching the FSB but the vast majority do not, meaning that you have to OC through the FSB route.

 

yes i understand that but i want to know how its possible to OC the memory if the Busspeed : DRAM ratio changes when you overclock the CPU? is it possible or not?

 

you can use a combination of setfsb and spdtool to do it.

underclock the fsb with setfsb and flash a higher frequency into the rams spd.

 

Generally, I believe memory "overclocking" refers to changing the timings on your RAM, not increasing the DDR frequency. Thus, you should be able to do both without having to take into account ratios and such.

(I may be wrong, correct me if I am)

 

^lolwut? @ moral hazard

tevash, im pretty sure you OC RAM via frequency, my friend said he OCed his DDR2 1066MHz to DDR3 speeds. Not really sure what that means cuz im sure the difference between DDR2 and DDR3 is more than just frequency (i know also the voltage difference...).

 

is that at me?

What are you trying to do exactly, overclock the ram without the CPU?

 

Okay....basically scratch what I had said before....kinda confused by what you're asking right now.....

Anyways, DDR2 running at frequencies above 800Mhz are basically worthless since Santa Rosa will only support up to 667Mhz and 800Mhz for Montevina. The northbridge will just bottleneck everything regardless of how ridiculous frequencies you've gotten your RAM to run at.

The reason you get high rated DDR2 RAM than 800Mhz is to allow more CPU overclocking via the FSB route. If the FSB is higher than what your RAM is rated to run at, you will get instabilities.

Long story short, you are somewhat overclocking the RAM by OCing the CPU via the FSB but that really doesn't result in real performance increases. Generally, RAM overclocking of any kind doesn't provide any noticeable results (even with tinkering the timings)

 

what does that mean?

when I overclock my FSB (with santa rosa chipset), my ram goes to 445mhz (890mhz). So are you saying I'm getting the same performence as when I run my ram @667mhz?

 

I believe so since 667Mhz should be the speed that the northbridge is capable of.

Its like trying to improve speeds of an external hard drive which only has a USB port by using a USB to eSATA cable. The eSATA side will have much greater speed (like the overclocking the RAM) but its bottlenecked by the USB (northbridge) so there is really no point.

Again, I might be just wrong and someone much more knowledgeable will come in and prove everything I said was bollocks.......Thats my understanding though

Edit: Some clarifications

It should be of note that the northbridge speed is equal to the reference clock times the northbridge multiplier.

By overclocking the CPU via FSB, you are increasing the reference clock which will increase the northbridge clocks. Thus, the increase in RAM clocks via FSB increase will result in increased RAM performance.

Increasing the RAM clocks without changing the reference clocks, however, is moot since you are not changing the speeds of the northbridge bottleneck

Edit 2:

That essentially means that if you have overclocked your CPU to its maximum stable state, the only real way to get increased RAM performance (unless you swap to higher rated RAM) is to change the timings.

 

ok now im confused...when you OC the FSB you OC the RAM? Isnt it the Bus Speed that you are OCing, the FSB will be the Bus Speed x 4. Say when i OC my Q9000 to 2300MHz, the RAM is also being OCed cuz i increased my bus speed from 266 to 307? that also now means my RAM is at 800MHz still or does it keep the 2:3 ratio? my RAM, if kept at 2:3 ratio means it should be OCed to 920Mhz rite? just tell me if thats the way RAM is oced. Also is it possible to OC a CPU without OCing the RAM?

clarication...is FSB and bus speed the same or not cuz i dont see anyone talkin bout bus speed cept me. When you do OC your CPU, my Q9000 for example, im ocing the Bus speed which is effectively OCing the FSB rite cuz FSB = BS x 4 rite?

 

ok ppl.. i think all of are confused. The moral of the story is simple.. if you wanna overclock your CPU overclock FSB full stop.

 

Use CPU-Z, it'll answer all these questions for you. Tell you what every clock is running at.

 

FSB is bus speed multiplied by 4.

Well in CPU OCing, most people talk in terms of FSB but you're essentially just raising bus speeds.

You cannot OC the FSB without overclocking the RAM since the bus speeds in part dictates the speed of all parts connected to the mobo.

I would stop worrying about RAM ratios and such. Just use SetFSB to OC the CPU and It'll OC your RAM while doing so. Don't worry about RAM timings since it takes way too long to figure out, can be potentially dangerous, and offers no noticeable performance increase.

 

ahh ok now i understand it.

this kinda confused me before, but now i know that its impossible to not OC the RAM while OCing the CPU's "FSB".

anyways its ok now. once my notebook arrives in 3-5 days, i will ask exactly how the SetFSB works. thxs for the help guys.

 

Is the notebook you're getting an HP HDX18T?

 

From his sig, I would guess that it is going to be an Asus G51

 

On desktops you can change the ratio such that you don't need to OC the memory to OC the FSB, guess it's not as easy for notebooks?

 

^yep i guess so. im getting the A1 btw. Nice laptop, bought at 1244USD...pretty rad deal.

 

I believe in desktops the ratios are changed through the BIOS. The vast majority of laptop BIOS's have very limited BIOS options.

The only way you would be able to change the ratio is through software methods which I yet to have seen.

 

Hey how did you get to overclock your Q9000?. i've been trying and can't. what did you use and can you explain how you did it. thanks.

 

What notebook do you have? You cannot OC the CPU in many notebooks.

 

i have the Asus G71G Q2. i heard i can't with this. but it has the Q9000. and i read that some people have done it. but not sure with this laptop though. its quad core.

 

i have the program setfsb but i'm not sure what my chipset is. it says P45/P43. don't know which one it is. and if setfsb has my chipset, which one is it.