Memory possibly slowing down comp?

[DeathScytheVT]

I was reading the overclocking guide, though I'll admit to not being 100% clear on it. From what I was reading however, it was saying that if your CPU's FSB is above the memory's speed, that there's some speed lost?

For instance, I'm running an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2 GHz. FSB is 200 x 11 multiplier, but my memory is DDR333. Since 333 / 2 < 200, does that mean my memory is slowing the computer down? And if so, which would be better, getting newer memory or trying to overclock what I have?

 

[Duvie]

I think all it is poitning out the maximum meory throughput the CPU can handle will not be matched by the memory running at not pc3200 levels...There will be a bit of a bottleneck in the sense a system with PC3200 will likely perform a little better. They would like to see you run 1:1 synch with the fsb for true match....That is all....

System will not slow down it is just not optimal versus same speed with at least pc3200 ram...

 

[DeathScytheVT]

Alright cool, thanks. Now if I wanted to overclock my processor a bit, would I then end up needing to increase memory, or would it not be a huge deal? (Relatively new to this and want to make sure I do it properly)

 

[CheesePoofs]

Memory speeds don't have a big impact on the performance of an A64, so you could overclock with your current ram by just lowering the memory ratio.