So what really is faster...3.8GHZ CPU but NB at 2000 or 3000MHZ?

[Tony]

A teaser showing what i have been upto...1333 6-6-6-24 1T but with the Nb clock at 2000, 2200, 2400, 2600, 2800 and 3000 with CPU @ 3.8GHZ as this is where the bulk of air and watercooled rigs will land.

Have 1600 tests going on the bench next and then will do the whole lot again looking to see if HT clocking has an effect. I will add 3Dmark vantage into HT clocking also if needed.

As mentioned i have only done ram at 1333 to start, super pi 32m and AutoGK encode DVD FILM 720X480 800MB VOB up scaled to 1280x960 AVI 160MP3 sound 350MB file.

time is converted to seconds for both test, lost the decimal places off PI as they were not needed

TEST WITH RAM AT 1333 6-6-6-24 1T



TEST WITH RAM AT 1600 7-7-7-24 1T




1333 RAM RESULTS:
32M pi 35secs faster with NB clock at 3000 over 2000
encode 47secs faster total job NB clock at 3000 over 2000

1600 RAM RESULTS
32M Pi 36 secs faster with NB at 3000 over 2000
encode 57secs faster total job NB clock at 3000 over 2000

Finally i know now 1333 6-6-6-24 1t is faster for 32m Pi than 1600 7-7-7-24 1t

made life easy for you...shows results a little clearer now adding cas5 1333 And 1600 CAS6-6-6-24 1T now done.



5-5-5-24 1t wins it here for me as its easier to do with most ram.


Now for those thinking HT clocking matters for 3D....i have a shock for you. 3870X2 stock clocks. 3dmark vantage
CPU @ 3.8GHZ, NB@ 3GHZ, RAM @ 1600 7-7-7-24 1t




Decided to do some CPU-NB speed Vs voltage testing, board is the Asus M4A79-T with Vista 64. Note using this OS its much harder to OC, especially once I installed all updates. if you are building a gaming rig Vista 32 or W7 32 maybe be a better bet for easy clocks and low voltages with 4GB ram.

Anyway, specs are:

stock 3.2GHZ at 1.20V on the CPU
2000 to 3000NB
memory @1333 6-6-6-24 1T 1.5V fo all tests kit used was 1600Platinum Animal



As you see voltage scaled linear till i got to 2700 where it needed a massive jump, I got away with 1.4125 on V32 so it just shows v64 is harder on the CPU's.

[demonkevy666]

really nice work.

[Throwed]

really nice work.

Xcellent work Tony!

[Tomasis]

very interesting .. it was the thing i wondered about over many days I guess 2,8ghz NB is good enough for >4ghz

[HeXploiT]

Nice work. Next I'd like to see some memory benchmarks with ram at high fsb and high latencies vs slower fsb and lower latencies.
I appreciate it when people take the time to do this sort of investigation. Very useful information.

[roofsniper]

yea seems to scale pretty linearly.

[Mechromancer]

Great work! Tony seems to be falling in love with his Phenom II. They seem simple at first glance, but are in actually very complex and rewarding to tune. The Northbridge sweet spot was a pleasure to find back when I first got mine in January. NB does just as much or more for performance as core clocking does. I will bump mine from 2.4 to 2.8 on air to see how it handles it soon.

[Oldguy932]

But how fast is your ht-link? You know you want to run it a 3ghz with that nb speed.

Funny story about that though, normally I run my system at about 4.1ghz with the nb and ht-link around 3.1ghz. I came home from college last week and because of space issues I have to run my computer in our office rather than my room. Now these settings worked for an entire semester, 2 months staying at full load with gimps for prime 95. Turns out my computer doesn't want to turn on because it doesn't get enough power from the wall for everything.

But back on topic, good work Tony. I bet if I was running some ddr3 like you I would be hitting like 15gbps in everest for memory bandwidth instead of only 10gbps. Until then I am limited to my "slow" ddr2.

[Mechromancer]

HT Link speeds don't add hardly any performance after overclocking. I keep mine at 2Ghz and that's as much as I need to push it.

[roofsniper]

HT Link speeds don't add hardly any performance after overclocking. I keep mine at 2Ghz and that's as much as I need to push it.

dont even touch mine i havent found a time when overclocking it really ever helped. id rather have more stability.

[chew*]

But how fast is your ht-link? You know you want to run it a 3ghz with that nb speed.

Funny story about that though, normally I run my system at about 4.1ghz with the nb and ht-link around 3.1ghz. I came home from college last week and because of space issues I have to run my computer in our office rather than my room. Now these settings worked for an entire semester, 2 months staying at full load with gimps for prime 95. Turns out my computer doesn't want to turn on because it doesn't get enough power from the wall for everything.

But back on topic, good work Tony. I bet if I was running some ddr3 like you I would be hitting like 15gbps in everest for memory bandwidth instead of only 10gbps. Until then I am limited to my "slow" ddr2.

HT frequency actually hurts performance up high without very very high clocks...

Tony I hope you don't mind me adding to this........

Here we have 2 sets of ddr 3 clocked........one set is using 1.65v........the other set is a favorite of benchers D9's..............using 2.0+v obviously one set is well within safe ranges for 24/7 use and is a 2x2g set so perfect for the daily driver......

The other set is a 2x1g perfect for benching if you like $200 + sticks....... lets see what that extra $120 dollars spent on a set that will collect dust unless benching will net you.....in a synthetic bench.........

Please take not I could not match them perfect and the high volt sticks have a NB frequency advantage which could have swayed results just a little.

Low voltage 2x2g


Stupid voltage

[lopri]

Just what I wanted to see. Thank you, Tony.

A quick question. In the encoding graph between 2800MHz and 3000MHz - I assume the reason performance didn't increase is due to memory frequency? I'd imagine DDR3-1600 with tight timings would continue to improve performance in a linear fashion.

[Smartidiot89]

But how fast is your ht-link? You know you want to run it a 3ghz with that nb speed.

HT Link doesn't matter that much, its the same as back with K8 its overdimensioned. Matters for servers but not desktop users... My HT link currently is 1700mhz-ish something...

OT: Nice work Tony, eagerly awaiting more results! Can't you try out those DDR2 Blade modules at 1200mhz and watch the difference too?

[DistortioniZm]

Great info! Thanks for putting these vs. into perspective for a noob like me

[Zeus]

Great stuff Tony!

[SKoob]

Thanks for the info, going to have a play and see what I can get out of mine when I get home. Interesting about the HTT maybe thats why my scores seemed lower with a higher htt with CPU @ 3.9GHz than with default htt.

[Nedjo]

priceless Tony!!

[FlanK3r]

nice Tony...my idea is NB about 2600-2800MHz.

[Tom128]

OT: Nice work Tony, eagerly awaiting more results! Can't you try out those DDR2 Blade modules at 1200mhz and watch the difference too?

+1 I would also be very curious to see similar numbers for DDR2 since I run 8Gig of it at 1066 atm and am on the fence if I want to switch to AM3.

Glad to see you so active in here btw Tony, thanks for all these numbers!

[Tony]

I will do the DDR2 stuff using the DFI also, for now im concentrating on the AM3 boards as this is what AMD are pushing and i like to keep partners happy

i will have to reinstall on the DFI as I have W7 64 on there now...AM3 is running Vista 32bit so to keep apples to apple work is needed...OR are you guys not bothered?

[Nedjo]

OR are you guys not bothered?

yes we're!

first do 32bit, and afterwards 64bit

[Smartidiot89]

yes we're!

first do 32bit, and afterwards 64bit

+1

64-bit is more interesting imo thou.

[Tony]

so you guys going to fund all this work? each loop takes over 1 hr at each speed...6 loops = 1 whole day.

[Tom128]

I will do the DDR2 stuff using the DFI also, for now im concentrating on the AM3 boards as this is what AMD are pushing and i like to keep partners happy

i will have to reinstall on the DFI as I have W7 64 on there now...AM3 is running Vista 32bit so to keep apples to apple work is needed...OR are you guys not bothered?

I for one am simply curious at what speed for DDR2 (perhaps up to 600Mhz) the NB stops giving much return. I want to clock the NB as high as I can when still getting results, but if it's net result is simply increasing my temps I would rather keep it modest.

[Tony]

Updated to include 1600 results