DDR2 1066 unliked VS. DDR2 800 1:1 (on E6420)

[alpaca007]

I want 2 gigs on my eVGA 680i with C2D E6420.
I am trying to decide between running DDR2 1066 (5-5-4-12) that is unlinked to FSB since I will be overclocking, or using DDR2 800 (4-4-3-5) with 1:1 ratio and the CPU overclocked to 8x400 = 3.2 ghz.

However, I may end up with a more modest overclock of 7x400 = 2.8 ghz, also using DDR2 800 in 1:1. Another question: can I even do this? Can the multiplier on the E6420 be lowered?

THANKS!

Any suggestions would be great.

 

[JustaGeek]

It is the MB BIOS feature, I can lower it on my mobo for E6600, so you should be able to do it, too.

IMHO, linked DDR2 800 configuration is better than unlinked DDR2 1066 with a "funny" memory divider, especially with the lower latencies for the 800.

But check the real bandwidth numbers in web reviews in SANDRA and/or Everest.

 

[BenchZowner]

Check this thread regarding system performance dependency on ram performance
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2067973&enterthread=y

 

[lopri]

Go with the setting that takes less voltages for chipset and memory. If you can run DDR2-800 with 1T for 2.20V or less, I would go with that.