OCZ memory and performance overclocking - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Deltona Couple · 11-14-2006, 07:06 AM

I was curious about other expert opinions out there. I am old school, been building computers and acessories since my first TI99-4A and 286sx16 with 2 meg of ram and a 40 meg harddrive...lol.

Here is my question. I have always built systems at specs in the past SEVERAL years. Now I know when you are upping performance, processors are pretty much clocked at their max rates for stable oeration. Most everyone that I have talked to is saying that memory overclocking is the new "speed boost" but It MUST be done in small baby steps. I have done tons of research on memory overclocking, and I already know the downsides and dangers. I also know that if you ARE going to overclock, you can get memory that is higher rated than the board supports (i.e. the board will WORK with the memory, but is not able to run the memory at full speed of the mem chip) And from there, most gamers are going into the BIOS and changing the Latency, and other settings to increase the chips, as well as changing memory chip voltages. My question is how many people here have actually SUCEEDED in overclocking memory, and actually able to SEE a difference in game performance, WITHOUT the problems of freezes and game crashes? The memory chips that I am looking at specifically are OCZ brand, platinum edition, with CL2 rating, and a 2.5 operating voltage. I don't have the spec sheet in front of me, but if I recall the settings properly it is a 2-5-5-15. Any help out there?...

Dilbert1234567 · 11-14-2006, 07:35 AM

I took my 2.0 to 2.5 and to 3.0, and the speed difference is not really noticeable, if you want faster gaming, more ram, get rid of the page file, ret a raid 0 or 5 for faster load and save times.

cyrnel · 11-14-2006, 12:11 PM

Memory is just one bottleneck.

What processor, what board, and what chipset? And of course, what video card? Have you benchmarked it with the usual pc/3d tests and game clip simulations? It's tough to know what to target without knowing the problem. I know you want to work on or learn this area but keep in mind memory performance may not help a great deal. It certainly isn't the simplest thing to start with. Start by measuring, and then targeting the easy pickings. Get your measurements first.

Dilbert's suggestion of storage points to a different area, but long pauses to page in new map areas can be worse than low frame rates. Depends on your system and your pet peeves. For myself there's nothing quite as joyous as wildly fast storage.

Ack, we should cover programs and the timings more but I'm late. Back at this later.

Dilbert1234567 · 11-14-2006, 03:23 PM

4, 80 gig SATA 7200.9 seagates in a RAID 0 was my best investment EVER for my computer, the thing is bloody fast. ~250 MB/s.

Martel · 11-14-2006, 07:21 PM

Tweaking your RAM settings really isn't going to have much if any effect on frame rates in games. It can help some with loading times and the like.

In my opinion RAM tweaking is overrated. Going from single channel to dual channel does make a big difference. Going from 4-4-4-12-2T to 3-3-3-9-1T made no noticeable difference whatsoever in my system.

cyrnel · 11-15-2006, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dilbert1234567

4, 80 gig SATA 7200.9 seagates in a RAID 0 was my best investment EVER for my computer, the thing is bloody fast. ~250 MB/s.

mtbf? backups? Just sayin'...

So much about memory tweaking depends on the board. If your board doesn't provide the settings you will not get everything out of the memory. Sometimes the best you can do is crank up the clock (maybe with voltage) and try to keep everything else working.

But it may already be doing well. Compare your GB/s and latency results with similar platforms, then decide if it's worth your time.

Dilbert1234567 · 11-15-2006, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyrnel

mtbf? backups? Just sayin'...

everything important is backed up to my 3 TB server, and i'm running over a 95% data recovery ratio. i feel secure.

cyrnel · 11-15-2006, 08:23 AM

I should have assumed.

Hate to threadjack, but does 95% include striped volumes? Knitting an array back together is like playing Twister on one leg.

Dilbert1234567 · 11-15-2006, 08:31 AM

well, I’ve only done one, but it was 100% successful, the sample is to small to call anything.

Deltona Couple · 11-29-2006, 04:24 AM

Well as an update, Got the MB and memory installed. The MB is a MSI Neo-4 board, with AMD 3700+, and from research, the memory I got is top of the line. I actually purchased OCZ Platinum Ver2 with CAS2, and 2-2-2-5 timings. Ran basic installation and was benchmarking well above an Intel 3.4 GHz. Ramped up the voltage from 2.8 to 3.4 ( in .1 incriments) and rebenched above an Intel 4.5 Ghz. Frame rate was 32fps according to the benchmark. I can't remember the name of the program, but I got it from ZDNet, and I have always trusted stuff from them. All ran great until for some reason the video card took a dump, now I gotta find out why, and then replace it...lol. RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME! it sucked!

Dilbert1234567 · 11-29-2006, 08:24 AM

did you change your clock settings on anything, or just the voltage? and why would you increase the voltage on the RAM if you did not increase the clock speeds.

Lasereth · 11-29-2006, 02:09 PM

I hate to crash the party but if you want some serious advice from someone who has been through the ups and downs with OCing, take it: don't OC. Just buy better components. You'll get nothing but BSODs and CTDs and soft resets from OCing, all with a marginal increase in power. A very small amount of OCs are stable, and even those that are stable usually don't increase actual game performance that much. If you want your PC performance to go up, there are better/less annoying/safer ways to do it. Keep in mind that having MORE ram will always make your PC faster in games than faster RAM, even when using ram that's underclocked for your CPU FSB. A fast hard drive (like a WD Raptor, etc.) will make games load faster. Make sure your videocard doesn't suck (by reading my guide at the top!!).

Dilbert1234567 · 11-29-2006, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lasereth

I hate to crash the party but if you want some serious advice from someone who has been through the ups and downs with OCing, take it: don't OC. Just buy better components. You'll get nothing but BSODs and CTDs and soft resets from OCing, all with a marginal increase in power. A very small amount of OCs are stable, and even those that are stable usually don't increase actual game performance that much. If you want your PC performance to go up, there are better/less annoying/safer ways to do it. Keep in mind that having MORE ram will always make your PC faster in games than faster RAM, even when using ram that's underclocked for your CPU FSB. A fast hard drive (like a WD Raptor, etc.) will make games load faster. Make sure your videocard doesn't suck (by reading my guide at the top!!).

I’m 100% behind you here, with one exception, my old p4 was rock solid (0 failures) at 600 MHz fsb instead of 533 MHz. and I got a nice 33% boost to me render times with 3dsmax to boot. All until act of cat jammed a cooling fan...

However, the extra $ I dropped on extra cooling, could have gotten me a faster CPU and it would be a draw.

11-14-2006, 07:06 AM	#1 (permalink)
Deltona Couple Addict Location: Spring, Texas	OCZ memory and performance overclocking I was curious about other expert opinions out there. I am old school, been building computers and acessories since my first TI99-4A and 286sx16 with 2 meg of ram and a 40 meg harddrive...lol. Here is my question. I have always built systems at specs in the past SEVERAL years. Now I know when you are upping performance, processors are pretty much clocked at their max rates for stable oeration. Most everyone that I have talked to is saying that memory overclocking is the new "speed boost" but It MUST be done in small baby steps. I have done tons of research on memory overclocking, and I already know the downsides and dangers. I also know that if you ARE going to overclock, you can get memory that is higher rated than the board supports (i.e. the board will WORK with the memory, but is not able to run the memory at full speed of the mem chip) And from there, most gamers are going into the BIOS and changing the Latency, and other settings to increase the chips, as well as changing memory chip voltages. My question is how many people here have actually SUCEEDED in overclocking memory, and actually able to SEE a difference in game performance, WITHOUT the problems of freezes and game crashes? The memory chips that I am looking at specifically are OCZ brand, platinum edition, with CL2 rating, and a 2.5 operating voltage. I don't have the spec sheet in front of me, but if I recall the settings properly it is a 2-5-5-15. Any help out there?... __________________ "It is not that I have failed, but that I have found 10,000 ways that it DOESN'T work!" --Thomas Edison

11-14-2006, 07:35 AM	#2 (permalink)
Dilbert1234567 Devils Cabana Boy Location: Central Coast CA	I took my 2.0 to 2.5 and to 3.0, and the speed difference is not really noticeable, if you want faster gaming, more ram, get rid of the page file, ret a raid 0 or 5 for faster load and save times. __________________ Donate Blood! "Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

11-14-2006, 12:11 PM	#3 (permalink)
cyrnel Adequate Location: In my angry-dome.	Memory is just one bottleneck. What processor, what board, and what chipset? And of course, what video card? Have you benchmarked it with the usual pc/3d tests and game clip simulations? It's tough to know what to target without knowing the problem. I know you want to work on or learn this area but keep in mind memory performance may not help a great deal. It certainly isn't the simplest thing to start with. Start by measuring, and then targeting the easy pickings. Get your measurements first. Dilbert's suggestion of storage points to a different area, but long pauses to page in new map areas can be worse than low frame rates. Depends on your system and your pet peeves. For myself there's nothing quite as joyous as wildly fast storage. Ack, we should cover programs and the timings more but I'm late. Back at this later. __________________ There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

11-14-2006, 03:23 PM	#4 (permalink)
Dilbert1234567 Devils Cabana Boy Location: Central Coast CA	4, 80 gig SATA 7200.9 seagates in a RAID 0 was my best investment EVER for my computer, the thing is bloody fast. ~250 MB/s. __________________ Donate Blood! "Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

11-14-2006, 07:21 PM	#5 (permalink)
Martel Insane Location: Sage's bed	Tweaking your RAM settings really isn't going to have much if any effect on frame rates in games. It can help some with loading times and the like. In my opinion RAM tweaking is overrated. Going from single channel to dual channel does make a big difference. Going from 4-4-4-12-2T to 3-3-3-9-1T made no noticeable difference whatsoever in my system. __________________ Anamnesis

11-15-2006, 08:23 AM	#8 (permalink)
cyrnel Adequate Location: In my angry-dome.	I should have assumed. Hate to threadjack, but does 95% include striped volumes? Knitting an array back together is like playing Twister on one leg. __________________ There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

11-15-2006, 08:31 AM	#9 (permalink)
Dilbert1234567 Devils Cabana Boy Location: Central Coast CA	well, I’ve only done one, but it was 100% successful, the sample is to small to call anything. __________________ Donate Blood! "Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

11-29-2006, 04:24 AM	#10 (permalink)
Deltona Couple Addict Location: Spring, Texas	Well as an update, Got the MB and memory installed. The MB is a MSI Neo-4 board, with AMD 3700+, and from research, the memory I got is top of the line. I actually purchased OCZ Platinum Ver2 with CAS2, and 2-2-2-5 timings. Ran basic installation and was benchmarking well above an Intel 3.4 GHz. Ramped up the voltage from 2.8 to 3.4 ( in .1 incriments) and rebenched above an Intel 4.5 Ghz. Frame rate was 32fps according to the benchmark. I can't remember the name of the program, but I got it from ZDNet, and I have always trusted stuff from them. All ran great until for some reason the video card took a dump, now I gotta find out why, and then replace it...lol. RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME! it sucked! __________________ "It is not that I have failed, but that I have found 10,000 ways that it DOESN'T work!" --Thomas Edison

11-29-2006, 08:24 AM	#11 (permalink)
Dilbert1234567 Devils Cabana Boy Location: Central Coast CA	did you change your clock settings on anything, or just the voltage? and why would you increase the voltage on the RAM if you did not increase the clock speeds. __________________ Donate Blood! "Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

11-29-2006, 02:09 PM	#12 (permalink)
Lasereth Knight of the Old Republic Location: Winston-Salem, NC	I hate to crash the party but if you want some serious advice from someone who has been through the ups and downs with OCing, take it: don't OC. Just buy better components. You'll get nothing but BSODs and CTDs and soft resets from OCing, all with a marginal increase in power. A very small amount of OCs are stable, and even those that are stable usually don't increase actual game performance that much. If you want your PC performance to go up, there are better/less annoying/safer ways to do it. Keep in mind that having MORE ram will always make your PC faster in games than faster RAM, even when using ram that's underclocked for your CPU FSB. A fast hard drive (like a WD Raptor, etc.) will make games load faster. Make sure your videocard doesn't suck (by reading my guide at the top!!). __________________ "A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert