Does my DDR2 RAM need to exactly match my FSB speed (x 2)?

[Rand3000]

I'm buying a C2D E4300 with an Asus P5N-E motherboard and 2 GB of DDR2 800 RAM. I know that the DDR2 speed is higher than is needed by the E4300, but I found it to be about the same price as the DDR2 667 RAM. I'm planning on overclocking the E4300 to around 350 Mhz clock speed, which should take it to around 3.15 Ghz.

This would mean that I need DDR2 700 so what I'm wondering is am I ok buying DDR2 800 and will the motherboard be able to keep the RAM at 800 Mhz or will it will it just automatically go down to the DDR2 700 speed or will I have to manually set it to 700 for the system to work? I've also heard that the Asus P5N-E motherboard has independent overclocking for the CPU and RAM....

Thanks for the help.

 

[Shimmishim]

Yes, you should be able to set a 350MhZ fsb while putting your mem speed at ddr2-800.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
Yes, you should be able to set a 350MhZ fsb while putting your mem speed at ddr2-800.

Yes, that board like the 680i based boards offers UNLINKED mode. Use this and set the memory speed to whatever speed like as long as it is stable, etc.