Hi Everyone,
I'm new to this computer hardware stuff and I was hoping someone could explain to me the relationship between the CPU, FSB and Memory speeds (or possibly provide a source for a good explanation). Please forgive me for my very loose and probably largely incorrect interpretations.. but I hope someone can answer some of my questions.
For Intel (specifically Core 2 Duo):
The non-extreme-edition has a FSB of 1067 (4 x 266). I don't understand why in a lot of the tech articles they test RAM that are faster than DDR2-533. If we have dual channel running, isn't 2 (for dual channel) x DDR2-533 exactly equal to 1067 (ie. FSB:RAM ratio is 1:1)? Why do we even want DDR2-800, or anything greater than DDR2-533 even?
For AMD (specifically X2):
I think I read somewhere that AMD doesn't really have a FSB anymore because of their current architecture, in which case you can basically put in whatever RAM, and you will always maintain the 1:1 FSB:RAM ratio. Is this true? But isn't the true FSB of that chip really 200 FSB (x 2 DDR = 400 FSB)? So wouldn't having really just one stick of DDR2-400 be enough to maintain that 1:1 ratio anyway? why we even need dual channel in this case and why do we need anything more than DDR2-400?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I'm new to this computer hardware stuff and I was hoping someone could explain to me the relationship between the CPU, FSB and Memory speeds (or possibly provide a source for a good explanation). Please forgive me for my very loose and probably largely incorrect interpretations.. but I hope someone can answer some of my questions.
For Intel (specifically Core 2 Duo):
The non-extreme-edition has a FSB of 1067 (4 x 266). I don't understand why in a lot of the tech articles they test RAM that are faster than DDR2-533. If we have dual channel running, isn't 2 (for dual channel) x DDR2-533 exactly equal to 1067 (ie. FSB:RAM ratio is 1:1)? Why do we even want DDR2-800, or anything greater than DDR2-533 even?
For AMD (specifically X2):
I think I read somewhere that AMD doesn't really have a FSB anymore because of their current architecture, in which case you can basically put in whatever RAM, and you will always maintain the 1:1 FSB:RAM ratio. Is this true? But isn't the true FSB of that chip really 200 FSB (x 2 DDR = 400 FSB)? So wouldn't having really just one stick of DDR2-400 be enough to maintain that 1:1 ratio anyway? why we even need dual channel in this case and why do we need anything more than DDR2-400?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
