Overclocking lowers results?

[Stormcrow]

Alright, so I gave a try to overclocking my processor and RAM, long and boring, restart after restart...anyway, I finally got it stable at 2.4ghz, but now my 3Dmark scores are about 2000 lower. The average FPS on the last two tests were about half what they were at stock. I just ran Prime95 for about 3 hours without a hitch, so shouldn't the score actually increase due to faster RAM and Proc speeds? I know it's just a synthetic benchmark, but still it's kind of troubling as it may be pointing to certain instabilities I haven't caught.

[Capper]

Typically, borked results mean an unstable OC. I'd run Stress Prime and super Pi to 32M to make sure the system is stable

[sean126]

I don't know if GV told me or I read it some place else....but in addition to super pi and futuremark 3dmark05, I ran orthos for a full 24 hours to make sure my cpu oc was stable and for the memory I ran memtest86+ for a full 24 hours.

My first OC I found that I had an error on one of my memory sticks about 11 1/2 hours into it.

I seen or was told that sometimes errors don't occur until the 16th to 20th hour. I don't know if it's a "must", but it sounded good to me and I get the added reassurance.

[RA1D]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

Alright, so I gave a try to overclocking my processor and RAM, long and boring, restart after restart....

i've always found o/c to be kind of exciting. does your board allow you to o/c your cpu and ram individually?

[Stormcrow]

It was only boring cause I use my computer as an entertainment base..so while I was overclocking, I didn't even have any music to play Moving the clocks and seeing how much the proc and RAM could take was kinda awesome. I know my problem is in the RAM, its cheapy budget line Kingston value stuff, until I can get up enough scratch for a pair of Ballistix here sometime in a few months. The proc itself took 2.6 easy and wanted more, its the value RAM thats holding it back. Apparently still unstable somewhere at 2.4. Overclock RAM and CPU separately? Not sure what you mean by that, the HTT Bus controls both, but I can adjust the timings, voltages and all manner of things with the RAM I feel like.

I think I'll drop my settings back to stock until I have more time to run through Memtest and Pi. Thanks for the input about the time needed to run through...and Rich, I snagged a copy of the Orthos Test and it finally stresses both cores.

[RA1D]

some boards only allow you to adjust the fsb which overclocks both the cpu and ram. but other boards like mine give the option to 'unlink' the cpu and memory and i can change the settings independently of one another. this allows me to find my max settings for each without one holding back the other during o/c.

i was going to suggest trying that but since you already know the problem is your memory, there's no need.

[Stormcrow]

Ah, I see. Nope, mine only allows tampering with the HTT Bus, everything else can be changed though.

[qazwsx]

I think I heard that 'unlinked' mode is only avalable on the 680 chipset.

[Yellowhello]

Originally Posted by qazwsx

I think I heard that 'unlinked' mode is only available on the 680 chipset.

Nope, I got it on my old 570 "Intel Edition" chipset as well as my 650i board.

[qazwsx]

Originally Posted by yellowhello

Nope, I got it on my old 570 "Intel Edition" chipset as well as my 650i board.

ahh I stand corrected