Rob: RAM Question

[tumbleweed357]

On your MySuperPC site if you choose either of the Athlon 64 X2 4200+ or
theX2 5200+ processors and go to the Newegg site and under each of
the processor's specifications they state: 'supports unbuffered DDR2
memory(up to DDR2 800).
Now DDR2 800 is PC2-6400 but you recommend PC2-8000 which is DDR2 1000.
Any idea why you are recommending going to a faster RAM than
what the processor specs call for?

I will be building another SuperPC very soon, for my wife this time, and
I'm just going through the components list to buy. Maybe this is a
nit-pick question, but I'm holding off on the Proc & RAM until I hear
something back. Thanks

[Rob]

Maybe I'm just overlooking it, but I couldn't find where that's mentioned. Can you post a link?

[tumbleweed357]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103771


It's mentioned in the 2nd paragraph on the right column.

[Rob]

Oh, yeah, I see it. I checked several Newegg AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor model descriptions, but that was the only one I came across that mentioned a FSB speed with the processor.

Anyway, Athlon 64 X2 processors don't have a FSB connection like the Athlon processors did. So you don't need to be mindful of getting a FSB processor that matches the FSB of the RAM to get the most out of it. The faster RAM still provides a performance benefit as long as the motherboard supports it.

[jdh79]

DDR2-800/ PC2-6400 is 800 MHz RAM, and is generally the standard. A lot of boards don't support the 1000 MHz RAM, and it is generally aimed at the enthusiast/overclocking market. Because the memory controller is integrated in the Athlon 64/X2 processors memory speed is not as performance dependent as it is with Intel processors anyway.

[tumbleweed357]

Thanks guys for the info.