Athlon x2 4000+ OC,ram bottleneck?

[Impheatus]

hey guys,I have successfully OCed my cpu to 2725mhz(260fsb)

My ram is DDR2 800mhz,cpu-z reporting 390mhz(780mhz).I set it to 667 in bios.

FSB:DRAM is currently at CPU:7

With this setup I get Average 40fps in Dirt2,on ultra graphics.

 

Now the problem!

If I lower my ram to 400 in bios,it will run at around 270 in cpu-z.

Still my cpu is at 2725mhz,but I get Average 30fps in Dirt2????

Can somebody explain how is this possible,why my ram bottlenecks so hard.How do i find the point at where i will clear the bottleneck

[Antinomy]

You'd better increase the Trfc timing. It can give you more memory frequency and let to overclock further without the need to additionally lower the memory frequency. You won't get more speed with 400 memory, the FPS lowered to much. Keep 667 or 533. But you can try 400 to check out the potential of the CPU, the required voltage and run stability tests.

 

When you upper back to 533 and 667, the errors you get will be memory problems almost for sure. So push timings and memory voltage.

[Impheatus]

I dont have Trfc timing in bios.

This is the reason i lowered my ram to 400,it was only temporary while i was ocing the cpu.It is running absolutely stable at 667mhz now.But why my fps lowers so much if i lower it to 400?Its like cpu is not overclocked ..even tho it shows 2725mhz.I am wondering if I overclock my ram to 1ghz,maybe i get even 50 fps ?

What is causing that performance impact.I didnt expect even 1 fps less when clocked to 400..but it lowered it from 40 to 30!

[Antinomy]

Two reasons -

1. CPU overheated. Run Throttlewatch or RMCLock to see if the CPU is throttling

2. Your videocard doesn't have enough videomemory and the game is memory intensive.

 

These are the only reasons I see. What's the MoBo? You can change timings via Memset in Windows and overclock a bit further too.

[Impheatus]

My cpu temp is fine,around 45c on Prime95.

My mobo is k9n nforce 570 sli(the red one,not platinum)MS-7250

 

I ran that Throttlewatch and it shows 1-2% cpu usage,2729mhz,1.350v...I dont see anything wrong in those numbers,except that the cpu speed jumps to 4,5ghz from time to time

Also,just to clarify

The only thing I change is ram from 667mhz to 400,and my fps drops by 10.

this is cpu-z pic

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn104/trsparrot/Untitled.jpg

Edited December 28, 2009 by Impheatus

[Antinomy]

Well, the Throttling is being monitored under load because it's when the heat is at the max. So it looks like the game is memory intensive indeed. Or the MoBo is buggy, which I believe more - it's an MSI!

So get 533 or 667 and be happy. You can run the Everest FPU tests to concern that the CPU is not getting slower, only the RAM.

[Impheatus]

ok,now dont say im crazy ,but I have run 3dmark and i have more cpu score with ram at 667 then at 400.Also Winrar shows 750kb/s with 400ram,and 1020kb/s with 667.

Shoot me! All in all,downclocking my ram to 400 from 667 decreases my CPU power by around 30%

 

Just to ask,cuz i will make a little test.What is safe to overclock my ram to? just to test if my theory is right,more ram speed,more power .I am going for 800+,will 900 be safe.Its running at 1,9v default(selected by my mobo)

[Antinomy]

It's OK. My DDR2-667 takes 1200 easily an can go about 1300 or more on higher voltage. And you can't kill your ram with overclocking at 2.0V. If it dies it's not the o/c to be blamed. But if you give 2.6V or more - then you are the one to be blamed

 

Winrar is normal. And the fact 3DMark CPU test increased is too. It's not 30% in case of 3DMark, right? Run a pure FPU test like Everest. It should show about the same result for both memory frequencies. And then test the difference in memory speed. For example - Pifast and Superpi32M are CPU tests but will show you a great difference because they are memory intensive and sensitive.

[Impheatus]

OK,im finished with the testing...and my theory is right!!! overclocking my ram gives me more performance than cpu!! wow

RAM

553(341cpuz) winrar 900kb/s 30fps in dirt2

667(390cpuz) winrar 970kb/s 38fps in dirt2

800(455cpuz) winrar 1060kb/s 40fps in dirt2

its running at 2v now,havent tried lower voltage,but i think 2v is ok.

Bad thing is,the max i can get the ram to is this.For more i have to lower multiplier and increase fsb,but after 260 fsb(my current with max multiplier)I get insane instability,sometimes pc cant even boot and never gets to windows

 

So thats it 910mhz

[Antinomy]

I'd try the Memset+nTune.

[the begginer]

i think that's overheated and some voltage error. trying clear cmos and start ur oc with standard timing and go ahead....

 

i get 3000Mhz on my 4000+ with fsb 300x 10 multipler Vcore 1,39v

 

just running ur procie....