Memory Performance

[moosey]

My friend was ordering a computer and was getting online assistance about why DDR-5400 is better than 4200 (non overclocked system, C2D 1.86ghz). The guy was telling him because DDR 5400 has a faster clock speed that it basically makes your system faster and that it has no relation to the FSB or processor, they're separate components. So I think it basically came down to its faster because 667mhz is bigger than 533 mhz.

I thought that the potential speed increase was coming in the possibility of DDR2-5400 having lower latency timings than the 4200. Also, I thought that this really wouldn't matter or make a big difference. I thought it really only mattered if you were to o/c the system (increase the FSB) to push it from 266mhz (pc2-4200) to 333mhz (pc2-5400).

Can someone clarify this?

 

[Ruptga]

The speed increase helps you less than running the memory at a divider hurts you.

You'll see improvements at PC2-6400, but not at 5400. If he's not going to OC, just get 4200 and put the fifty or hundred bucks you save over the 6400 into a graphics card, monitor, speakers, or something else where you'll notice the difference.

If they might OC later, get 5400 and run it at 4200 for now. They say that's fine unless you're going to get fancy on a CPU cooler.

EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_2#DDR2_Memory_Modules