Memory

Hi

DDR2 comes in many flavours 533, 667 & 800 etc. A motherboard description will detail what flavour it can have. If a motherboard can have 800 and you put in 533 what will the difference in performance be, and if the motherboard says 533 and you put in 800 again what will the perfromance be.

I am just trying to understand what the difference in performance will be as i dont fully understand what these numbers mean apart from the later will be faster.

Any help would be great

Lee

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Comments

blargoe

It would run at the lower speed, if the motherboard supports it. In your example, 533.

JDMurray

Always use the memory rated for the Front Side Bus (FSB) speed of your motherboard. For example, a motherboard with an FSB of 400MHz would use DDR2-800 memory (the memory speed is double that of the FSB).

The memory will always run at the speed of the slowest memory module. For example, a 533 in with a bunch of 800's will cause the memory to run at only 533MHz. Always use the same speed modules, and preferably from the same manufacturer.

There is no harm in using memory that is faster than what the motherboard is rated for. For example, an older motherboard with a 266MHz FSB can use DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 memory, but the memory will still run at only 533MHz. You can't speed up your computer by using faster memory than what the motherboard is rated for.

tibul

well you can speed up your motherboard to use memory its not rated for by overclocking, aslong as you have the right cooling its a great way of getting more out of your system.

JDMurray

tibul wrote:

well you can speed up your motherboard to use memory its not rated for by overclocking, aslong as you have the right cooling its a great way of getting more out of your system.

Overclocking memory usually only produces instability and overheating. It's better that you have the correct memory timings set in the BIOS with the best possible FSB speed. You'll also get better performance and less instability by overclocking your CPU instead.

tibul

Thats true, although with good OC memory i rarely have stability problems and to achieve even higher CPU OC's you have to eventually higher your RAM's clock and relax ram timings to achieve better stability and quicker speeds, with a good water cooling system it becomes much easier to achieve very good stability with much higher clock speeds than the CPU's standard clock ran many of my pc's for years with high clocks and no problems.