Configuration (continued):
After passing some initial stability tests at 800MHz, 5-5-5-15 timings, and 1.8V, the system was rebooted and the BIOS was adjusted to match the advertised timings of 4-4-4-12. While some online locations reference the voltage as 1.9V, others reference 1.8V - 1.9V, and some just say 1.8V for this kit. I decided to try 1.8V, and was very pleased to see the system boot up. Some more stability testing confirmed that 800MHz with timings of 4-4-4-12 and an operating voltage of 1.8V were acceptable (see image below).
Overclocking:
After some extensive testing at 800MHz, 1.8V, and 4-4-4-12 timings, I began the process of finding the maximum stable overclock. My experience with this CPU and motherboard combination tells me that DDR2 memory can be run as fast as 1150MHz given the right conditions, and I was hoping to get to 1066MHz.
I started off shooting straight for my target speed, just hoping I might get lucky. With the processor speed held constant at 2.13GHz (8x266MHz, 1066MHz FSB), the FSB:DRAM ratio was changed to take the memory from 800MHz to 1066MHz in one step. Unfortunately, it would not boot. A variety of voltages and timings were tried to no avail, and then I tried overclocking via the CPU. I increased the CPU bus speed from 266MHz to 333MHz, lowered the multiplier from 8 to 7, and adjusted the FSB:DRAM ratio to maintain a 1066MHz memory speed. Nothing. These two configurations have worked well for other high speed DDR2 kits, but this G.Skill kit apparently can't reach that high.
The next step was to get conservative and a speed of 888MHz was achieved at 1.8V an 5-5-5-15 timings. OK, at least we're getting somewhere. From there a variety of settings, timings, and voltages were tried and the memory worked its way up to 1000MHz before things started getting flaky again. In the end, a speed of 1000MHz (technically 1002MHz) with timings of 5-5-5-15 and a voltage of 1.9V turned out to be the limit. The screenshot below shows CPU-Z's confirmation of this configuration.
|
|
