AMD processors limited to 1066MHz memory speed?

[Rich108]

Can anyone tell me what this means I am thinking of buying a new pc and am not confident enough to build it myself. Have been looking in the usual places that people who build there own rigs probably disapprove of, when am looking at a certain pc from dell it says this

The memory speed of 4 DIMMS configuration will be limited at 1066MHz with Athlon II X4 630 and Phenom II X4 820 processors. ...

If the memory works at 1300 Mhz and the Processor only supports 1066 Mhz what does that mean ?

 

[nissanman]

AMD CPU's have the memory controller built into them. Faster memory will just have the speed of it set to what the memory controller can support.

So if the memory works at 1300Mhz, but the controller only supports 1066Mhz, then the 1300Mhz memory will just slow down to 1066Mhz.

But Dell only says that the speed of the memory will be limited on those CPU's only if all 4 ram slots are filled with memory. Unless you will be upgrading the memory in the system when you get it, you dont need to worry about it.

Hope this helps.

 

[Rich108]

Thanks for the reply, I lost my original thread because I think it was moved to a more suitable place than I originally posted it I am now been seduced by waiting twenty days to maybe get a sandy bridge processor instead maybe an i5 -2500 do you think that is better than the amd processors that I orginally posted about ? I dont really play games on my pc but want something that is capable of showing two hq streams at the same time on different screens. Or able to be showing a stream or a movie on one display whilst I am using the web on the other display. I want a processor that is going to last a while , I know that I will definitely need at least 4 Gb of ram but I am always interested in the views of more knowledgeable people than myself

 

[nissanman]

if you have an amd system now and want to upgrade to intel, you will need to buy a new motherboard aswell as intel cpu;s cannot be used in amd motherboards and vice versa.

If you are going to buy a pc from a company such as dell then yes, the intel i5 and sandy bridge cpu's are much better then the amd cpu's you posted about.

 

[Rich108]

Thanks for your advice