Quote Originally Posted by rob2k View Post
This is my first Intel and DDR3 system after many years of AMD and DDR2 so anyone please correct me if I'm wrong. The FSB freq is quad pumped so 4x the bus speed where the divider is the FSB to DRAM ratio so half of the effective FSB freq with the 1:2 divider. Then with DDR memory (DDR=Double Data Rate) the memory speed is multiplied by 2 for it's effective frequency which then equals the FSB freq (so yes 1:1 there). By using another divider the memory can be ran slower - and more recently faster (asynchronously). Usually running components synchronously yields better performance. Think of the divider as the fraction of the FSB frequency but then double that result for the memory frequency. Hope i've not made a hash of that and i'm not teaching you how to suck eggs (as the saying goes!). What you have in mind sounds fine and perfectly achievable after binning the HPA.

The 2x1Gb configuration in the white sockets seems to be the most clockable on this board.
Sounds great, Rob2k. One thing I do know, DDR2 is 2 x the FSB (in otherwords DDR2 fetches data twice per clock cycle), where as DDR3 is 4 x the FSB (...or four fetches per clock cycle). I learned this after reading lots of reviews on RAM modules and the overclocking section of the articles.

I understand the FSB divider now, it's merely a way to disconnect the FSB from the speed of the RAM. I suspect using anything except a 1:1 divider will very slightly impact performance of the system as a whole. When you say "synchronously", I think you mean 1:1 ratio with the FSB to RAM.

Great, thanks for explaining! I'm glad my plan sounds alright, my Enzotech heatsinks arrived today, going to start removing the heatpipe assembly and install the Enzotech's one by one. I went with the Noctua NC-U6 Northbridge heatsink, very small but tough device. 3oh6 recommended a fan to install on this but I'm unsure I need one if I'm only running 425 FSB? Maybe I do, as I said, I'm unsure.

Well I may sell my HPA on eBay, but then again I may save it incase I have to send the board back to Asus for warranty claims. I'll get lots of photographs of replacing the HPA with Enzotech copper heatsinks, this is a great thread and I've learned a lot from it. I want to extend this thread by posting more pictures and potentially helping others in the path to lowering temperatures by replacing the HPA with alternatives.

Thanks again.