Bios or cpu determine mem speed?

[Mac29]

Friend says mobo determines mem speed, I say cpu. I read in this forum that w/intel mobo/bios decides. Leaning i5 for a build. I'm thinking even if you can alter FSB in bios, the cpu will have an upper limit baked in. I'd like to use 1866 but I think only i7's will handle ram that fast.

2nd, if I were to wait till next year and DDR4, future DDR4 chipsets will obviously be made for a range of cpus. Or will I be forced to get a newer chip that's compat w/speedier mem?

Of course I want everything running as fast as possible, at stock, to maximize longevity.


Thanks,

Mac

 

[spdfreak]

I think you are right- I built a system with a P3220 and used 1600 memory. I could not even get into the bios because Pentiums are limited to 1333. I put 1333 in and went into the bios and set it to 1333, put the 1600 back in and it still would not even post.

 

[lamedude]

CPU has its max supported RAM speed (its listed on ark, i7 is 1600). If you want to overclock to 1866 you'll need a Z chipset.