Possible frequency mismatch confusion

[Hodgstar]

Ok, so as some of you know from my "upgrade advice" thread I am planning to upgrade in the near future, however whilst comparing possible components I have noticed a potential problem. To keep things simple I'm opening this new thread to discuss/ have explained to me the potential problem!

I am looking at a: P45 crossfire motherboard,

4gb of good ddr2

Intel core 2 Duo or Quad

When it comes down to the CPU I was looking at getting the newer 45Nm cores, however it seems these run at 1333Mhz.

where as the fastest ddr2 runs at 1066Mhz and most P45 mobo's also max at 1066Mhz.

So does this mean I would have to overclock my memory and motherboard, just to run these CPU's at there default speed?

Don't get me wrong, I want to overclock, but I want to do it to get a performance boost not because i bought mismatched components!!

 

[SiM]

The ram is actually running at 533 (x2 = 1066) and the cpu is 333 (x4= 1333). So that ram will have plenty of overclocking room

PC6400 (800mhz) would take the cpu bus to 400 (x4 = 1600) so that will have a bit of overclocking room too

Even if the ram didn't clock up enough, it doesn't make much overall difference (in most application) if you use a divider

 

[moogle]

So does this mean I would have to overclock my memory and motherboard, just to run these CPU's at there default speed?

Not at all. That 1333MHz is the CPU's rated FSB (4x the FSB, which would be 333). The ram will run at a ratio of that (FSB) which will allow it to run at 1066. If the motherboard says it doesn't support that ram speed then maybe you'd need to overclock (or possibly downclock) the memory.

 

[Hodgstar]

Thanks guys, you have made things alot clearer for me.

now all i have to do is make my final decision as to what parts i am going for!