Overclocking memory?

[SilentDeath]

it may be the FSB:RAM ratio isnt equal...

[Benjamin]

My 2600+ came standard with a 333MHz FSB but I lowered it to 266MHz so my FSB and mem would be equal. I would have purchased DDR333 but it's not every day a friend gives you 1.5GB of memory for free And last night I managed to put my FSB and mem at 268MHz but it wouldn't go higher

[Rod911]

1.5Gb of memory is 3*512MB sticks? If yes, populating all 3 DIMM slots lowers your memory overclocking opportunities. Do you really need to run 1.5Gb? If not, try running just two sticks and experiment which combination gives you the highest overclock.

[Benjamin]

Yes I have 3 x 512MB. I haven't even used a full 512MB yet Can you have dual channel memory using PC2100? My mobo supports dual channel but I don't know how to activate it.

[Rod911]

Of course you can run dual channel with PC2100 memory. As the name suggests, all you need is at least two sticks to run it. In fact, you populating all three DIMM slots, you were already running it in dual channel.

If you want to run dual channel with two sticks, populate the two blue DIMM slots with memory and you've got DC action. Otherwise, considering DC only gives you a 5% (max) performance differential vs. single channel and you don't even really use 512MB, try just using 1 stick and find the best one that overclocks for you.

[Benjamin]

Alright I have tried with 2 sticks, and I tried with one stick, and I still can't get the memory to go higher than 268MHz.

[Rod911]

So, after increasing vDIMM to 2.8v, relaxing your timings and running with just one stick, you still only get a 1Mhz overclock? Looks like it's for you unfortunately. The only way to remedy this is selling the 1.5Gb and buy a decent, name brand PC3200 if you want to overclock via FSB any further.

[Benjamin]

Atleast I got an extra 16MB/sec of bandwidth from that extra 2MHz