RAM questions for AM2

[Ruhnie]

Well I am not a hardware junkie per se, but do build my own rigs. I've been out of the loop since AM2 came out. I'm starting to configure my next system in my head, and am having a hard time grasping the DDR2 frequencies and what they mean for me. Does anyone have a link to a good explanation of AM2 and DDR2? Basically, I probably will overclock, but I don't know if AM2 mobos have synchronous/asynchronous fsbs with the CPU, and what frequency I should be looking at, etc. TIA for any help.

 

[A554SS1N]

Regardless of overclocking, try and get DDR2 800MHz or greater, if possible get a CAS Latency of either CL4 or better (4-4-4-12 timings), but CL5 will be Ok (5-5-5-15).

667MHz even at low latency isn't quite good enough.

Usually, you can change the RAM speed using a divider or multiplier (depending on the FSB and the frequency the RAM supports); some boards may even allow locking the RAM at a certain frequency.

 

[Furen]

Before you actually buy your RAM try to make sure it actually works with the motherboard you buy, there are some quirky incompatibility problems in certain combinations. Second, there's no suck thing as sync/async frontside bus with AMD's K8s, since the IMC runs at CPU clock and the DRAM ALWAYS has to run on a divider. That said, it also always runs in sync with the CPU because it uses integer dividers to derive its clock.

I'd go for some cheap (Hah!) DDR2 800 or some low-latency DDR2 667, it depends on your budget, more than anything else.

 

[996GT2]

I've got some OCZ Gold DDR2-667 (4-4-4-12). It's some good RAM and runs stock at 1.8V so it will boot up fine on just about any system, unlike the newer XTC models which run off 1.9V and do not boot on some motherboards. will do even tighter timings if forced in the BIOS. Also when overclocked you could do pretty close to DDR2-800 speeds on it; However I haven't kept any OCs on my RAM because I need to update BIOS first and see if it has more divider options.

So I suggest you look to OCZ, either for the RAM I got or for some DDR2-800.

Also OCZ's warranty covers overvolting up to 2.2V, which comes in handy for OCing

 

[Ruhnie]

Cool, thanks for the replies. I may hold off now for a month or so, I just read the Conroe reveiw here and WOW. That 6600 could be my next CPU.