ram divider? wtf is that?

[squishyfire]

hey all, i keep hearing talks about ram dividers...
i have a 3200+ @2.5 GHz and 1 gig of corsair xms ddr400...it has to be set to 166 not 200 even for 2.4 ghz...i KNOW this system can go higher than that, and i know from messing around with settings its the memory holding me back...but at this point no matter what i do to the timings it wont go higher than 250X10...LDT is at 3x, so i KNOW thats not the issue...help?

(i personally would love to be able to run the ram at ddr400 instead of ddr333, any ideas on how to do that would be appreciated too)

oh, my mobo is an abit AV8...old i know, but its reliable and has served me well...

[BLOODUK]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

Go into DRAM settings, and go through manual settings that is the ram
divider ie you have 400 , 333 , 266 , 166 e.t.c for me im running at 266
which means my ram is running at 183mhz because im waiting for my ballistix
to come back from exchange. That was running at a divider of 333 - 237mhz

[squishyfire]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

but wouldnt running it at a lower number(266 instead of 333, etc.) decrease performace, possibly drastically? or am i just being an idiot?


oh and one other thing, what kind of performance difference could i expect from upgrading from a 3200+ venice (keep in mind im running at 2.5) to a 4000+ san diego running at stock 2.4 speeds? i plan on changing the ram and mobo, but slowly, not all at once...

[imported_Wreck]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

At 250mhz x 10 and your ram at a 166 divider you are running the ram at DDR 416mhz. A divider does not hurt performance since on an AMD your ram is always running on a divider. Just to rule out the ram try a 133mhz divider and see how high you can get your CPU to go.

What is your current CPU voltage?

The Abit AV8 isn't the best board for overclcoking as mine maxed at about 270mhz. Alot of people find it hard to reach over 260mhz on that board. Also Try putting some AS5 on the chipset cooler.

[squishyfire]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

the voltage is sitting at 1.525 (stable for 24 hours in prime95, raising it even to 1.575 did nothing for stability past 250) im gonna try lowering the divider further, i just didnt want to because i didnt know if it affected performance or not...i know its not great for overclocking as far as mobos go, but hey...500MHz boost over stock using a Silent K8 cooler running at 52 degrees celsius under full load...im not complaining even if i cant go further:)

[whofriggincares]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

You want your memory to run as high as you can. That's where the biggest gains are made with AMDs. You find the highest frequence your memory can run, then you find your CPU's limit and then you meet in the middle. Never use a divider unless you must.

[BLOODUK]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

The Abit AV8 isn't the best board for overclcoking as mine maxed at about 270mhz. Alot of people find it hard to reach over 260mhz on that board. Also Try putting some AS5 on the chipset cooler.

280X10 = 2800mhz

Thats what my sandy 4000+ is on :)

[BLOODUK]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

You want your memory to run as high as you can. That's where the biggest gains are made with AMDs. You find the highest frequence your memory can run, then you find your CPU's limit and then you meet in the middle. Never use a divider unless you must.

Actually on futuremark performance test showed memory timings gave
a better performance over ram speeds

[whofriggincares]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

On the same exact rig but running high frequency and loose timings against tight timings and low frequency? I doubt it. You can't compare 2 different computers. Hell, was it an AMD 64 anyways? Go to any overclock forums and you'll see that it's best to have as high HTT as your memory will allow.

[imported_Wreck]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

Let me state it this way. Dividers are they for people who don't have ram that can run a 1:1 ratio to their HTT bus. For instance I have my dual opty at 2.8Ghz, but my ram can't run at 280mhz. So I have it at a 9:10 divdier (DFI only) giving me 254mhz DDR which is totally stable. This does not affect my performance because I am using the maximum speed my ram can reach. So if reach your rams max speed using a divider then it will not affect performance at all. It's perfectly fine to use it until you get some ram that will reach the speeds you need at the timings you want.

Actually on futuremark performance test showed memory timings gave
a better performance over ram speeds

Timings from 2-2-2-5 to say 3-3-3-8 are equal to about 20mhz in speed. Not very much imo.

[Eddy01741]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

Let me state it this way. Dividers are they for people who don't have ram that can run a 1:1 ratio to their HTT bus. For instance I have my dual opty at 2.8Ghz, but my ram can't run at 280mhz. So I have it at a 9:10 divdier (DFI only) giving me 254mhz DDR which is totally stable. This does not affect my performance because I am using the maximum speed my ram can reach. So if reach your rams max speed using a divider then it will not affect performance at all. It's perfectly fine to use it until you get some ram that will reach the speeds you need at the timings you want.



Timings from 2-2-2-5 to say 3-3-3-8 are equal to about 20mhz in speed. Not very much imo.

So, would u reccomend 9:10 divider to me? I have a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D, right now mine is on like 2:3, at 133mhz (actually 266mhz). Should i change to 9:10 for better OCing?

[imported_Wreck]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

So, would u reccomend 9:10 divider to me? I have a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D, right now mine is on like 2:3, at 133mhz (actually 266mhz). Should i change to 9:10 for better OCing?

Well it all depends. That divider on the DFI gives you the least underclock. I think it would be represented by 180 or DDR 360mhz. What is your overclock currently? What type of ram?

[Flanker]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

A lot of useless crap comes up in these threads and the base question rarely gets answered.

I also have the Avit AV8 and contrary to what Wreck says, I've been able to hit 2.95GHz on this motheboard. I also run with a memory divider on my 24/7 settings, mine's DDR266, giving me a memory speed of 180Mhz at 270HTT.

Its funny that you should ask what a memory divider is when you're already running one one...That DDR333 that you set it to (I know what you did, because I have the same board and same BIOS) was the memory divider. It sets your memory's frequency at a ratio to your HTT.

To overclock your processor past 2.5Ghz, set a DDR266 memory divider. This will take your memory speed below DDR400, its rated speed, and its unlikely that you'll be able to get back to DDR400 unless your processor overclocks to 3.0Ghz (not gonna happen). But the increase in performance from the processor outweighs the negative effects of the slower memory.

Hope that cleared stuff up.

[whofriggincares]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

Where did Wreck say you didn't hit 2.95GHz? Anyway, you don't want to use a divider unless it's necessary. If you got crappy RAM that won't OC or RAM rated at lower speeds, then you'll have to set a divider. That's why people that OC buy RAM that's rated at higher speeds. They are the ones that get better performance because they don't use dividers. The higher the frequency your memory runs, the more memory bandwith and that's one of the things that sets AMD apart from Intel. So why take one of the positives and make it nil?

[Flanker]

Re: ram divider? wtf is that?

Where did Wreck say you didn't hit 2.95GHz?

He didn't. He said that a lot of people were having trouble getting past 260Mhz with it. I said that there was no problem with getting past 260Mhz with it. This is the quote;

The Abit AV8 isn't the best board for overclcoking...A lot of people find it hard to reach over 260mhz on that board.

The Abit AV8 is one of THE Best overclocking motherboards for Socket 939, and definately the best for AGP-videocard users.