Questions about overclocking etc...

In front-side bus wiki article I read:

I'm confused now, does it mean it's best to keep FSB:RAM ratio of 1:1?
Does it mean in a ratio of 5:4, CPU clock is wasted?
Does it mean in a ratio of 4:5, memory clock is wasted?

 

What processor you have?
Usually in the ole times (Pre-Core i3/i5/i7) you had a core clock multiplier and a FSB. You can tweak the settings until you get the clock you want but remember that after a successful OC you have to test the stability through a software to make sure it won't fail/restart suddenly.

Here is how it goes, i'm gonna use my old CPU as an example:
Intel E2180 @2.0GHZ (Stock clock)
Default clock multiplier: x10
Default FSB: 200mhz
So basically what it does is that the 200mhz FSB gets multiplied x10 times resulting in the stock clock of 2.0GHZ.
You can change any of those values (FSB or Multiplier) to reach your target speeds, remember that you should only gradually change the speeds to avoid any problems, if it's unstable you can try increasing the core voltage by a bit and see if it's stable. It's all about trial & error. Also remember that OC'ing your CPU will make it run a lot HOTTER . . . be careful.


BTW, i'm not into hardware so much as a few years ago that's why im not sure how it works on the newer Intel CPU's.

 

Quite literally changes the answer completely.

Before a certain point OCing was all about FSB. This was abandoned (mostly but not completely) in favor of multiplier OCing.

On modern CPUs you can still OC the FSB but there is little reason to do this as it quickly messes with stability. On modern Intel chips all you really need to do is OC the maximum turbo multiplier and call it a day.

 

My cpu is Pentium Dual-Core E6600 @3.06GHz.

The only way to OC this cpu is to increase FSB, because cpu multiplier is already set at max(11.5), but I don't want the increased speed to be wasted.

So my question is, what FSB:RAM ratio is optimal?

 

Hahahaha yeah, those were the good times, a couple dozen restarts before i had a stable set up.
Very time consuming also.

It depends on your RAM modules speed. Since you have an E6600 it's basically the exact same procedure i described above, you need to tweak the FSB or multiplier settings. First of all you need to set a goal, you can Google it to see what are the most common stable speeds on that specific CPU. Remember that because someone can get 4GHZ does not means that yours will get there too, there are tons of other thigns you have to take into account, such as manufacturing process (Some CPU's go higher, others dont), cooling hardware etc.

So first set a goal, then try to get there by tweaking the settings, you don't necessarily need the highest multiplier to get to your goal, sometimes lowering the multiplier and increasing the FSB is recommended depending on what's your OC goal. You also have a system memory multiplier (Similar to the FSB multiplier) and based on your final results you should use one that is just enough to use your RAM to it's full potential.