CPU, Mobo, and RAM FSB questions/problems.

S

Seance

Ok later this year during the holiday season during new product releases and price drops I will be building my new gaming rig that will get me another 3 years of smooth gaming like my current machine has.

Now onto the problems.

First off I have already set my mind on the Q6600(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115017) which I will be OCing to 3.2 at the least. Unless of course the Penryn is released at a decent enough price (not holding my breath on that.)

The Q6600 is running at a FSB speed of 1066mhz. Which means that if I want maximum over clock(ability?) out of my machine that I will also need to match a proper mobo and ram also running at 1066mhz to ensure I keep a 1:1 ratio to cpu FSB speed.

First off, when a motherboard is rated (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131074 for example) at a "standard" of DDR2 800 does that mean that 800 is the slowest or fastest ram that the mobo can handle?

If it is the slowest then basically the next best ASUS (love me some ASUS ^_^) mobo that I could get for my specific application would be the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131071 then correct?

Thanks for any and all help that may be provided, and I will have many more before starting and completing this build :)

-Adam
 
FSB and DDR2 PC ratings are not the most important. Latency and timings also come into play.
Look at the very complete information on this forum about memory selection. Those stickies can be extremely helpful.
Look at the motherboard for the specs for memory.
Then enter that motherboard into the choices at www.Crucial.com.
One of the three locations on the resulting screen will show the maximum memory that will work.
Then go to www.zipzoomfly.com or other memory sellers to see what memory is offered at that speed.
Then do searches for the Latency, and the timings, of that memory.
The latency and the timings, as well as the brand are important.
Carefully avoid any with the word Value in the name or description.
Finally, be sure that whatever memory you order has a lifetime warranty.
It is important to get first tier memory (memory made by the same company that made the memory chips on the module).
It is also important to buy matched sets or Kits, where all memory modules are identical and shipped at the same time.
The most expensive memory is not necessarily the best memory. Usually the price has more to do with marketing than it does with speed or quality.
Stick with Crucial, Kingston, Corsair, and other brands that will be around in a few years. Avoid exotic brands. Remember that a lot of memory brands are rebranded, and may not be the same from month to month. The warranty may not be honored a year from now, so read the warranty carefully to assure that the memory manufacturer and the memory seller both warranty the memory.
 
raybay's advice is sound. Additional memory brands to buy from include OCZ, mushkin, pQI, Buffalo, GeiL and G.SKILL.
 
raybay said:
FSB and DDR2 PC ratings are not the most important. Latency and timings also come into play.
Look at the very complete information on this forum about memory selection. Those stickies can be extremely helpful.
Look at the motherboard for the specs for memory.
Then enter that motherboard into the choices at www.Crucial.com.
One of the three locations on the resulting screen will show the maximum memory that will work.
Then go to www.zipzoomfly.com or other memory sellers to see what memory is offered at that speed.
Then do searches for the Latency, and the timings, of that memory.
The latency and the timings, as well as the brand are important.
Carefully avoid any with the word Value in the name or description.
Finally, be sure that whatever memory you order has a lifetime warranty.
It is important to get first tier memory (memory made by the same company that made the memory chips on the module).
It is also important to buy matched sets or Kits, where all memory modules are identical and shipped at the same time.
The most expensive memory is not necessarily the best memory. Usually the price has more to do with marketing than it does with speed or quality.
Stick with Crucial, Kingston, Corsair, and other brands that will be around in a few years. Avoid exotic brands. Remember that a lot of memory brands are rebranded, and may not be the same from month to month. The warranty may not be honored a year from now, so read the warranty carefully to assure that the memory manufacturer and the memory seller both warranty the memory.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know all of that, taken from another thread "this isn't my first rodeo :)"

My question was when a mobo is rated at a "standard" of a speed of RAM if that means it is the maximum or minimum that, that particular mobo will handle.

I am already looking at 2 sets of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145043 or 2 sets of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146677

My question is only related to making sure that I get a mobo that supports 1066mhz because as I said earlier, when I begin to overclock the Q6600, if I also cannot overclock the ram at the same rate then I will lose my desired 1:1 ratio.

Edit: I know you may ask why I desire a 1:1 ratio so much but I am a firm believer in a computer only being as strong as it's weakest component. When I build gaming machines, I do so in a fashion that will allow me make sure that my machine can handle games that will be coming out in the next 2.5-3 years.
 
Regarding overclocking, any good-quality 680i-based mobo will allow for a lot of OCing headroom.
As for the standard memory frequency, that means that if you put RAM at that frequency in that mobo, it is guaranteed to work. It will also be the speed that it will revert to if you put higher frequency RAM in the mobo. So if you use say 667MHz memory in a mobo with a standard of 800MHz, it might not work as well as if you'd used 800MHz memory. IMO, there is no real maximum with RAM frequency. It all depends on how well you can voltmod and cool the sticks to attain maximum performance from them.
 
Well, not too sure about you, but as far as best overclockers, even tho they are Core 2 Duos, and not Quads, the E6x50 CPUs have probably the highest FSBs out there at 1,333MHz. On top of that, the P35 standard does seem to allow for the newer FSB, so I can see this, Crucial Ballistix RAM, and I personally own a Foxconn P35A-S, but an Asus or Gigabyte would be far more recommended.
 

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