duo core 2..whats the score?

[ashagplz]

anyone care to get me up to speed on the core 2 duos?

im a bit confused...do these cpus work in dual channel mode like the amds? so memory running at 266 would mean they have a fsb of 1066? thats the native bus speed for the chip right?

i see systems using ddr 800 so that doesnt seem to work.....

so im confused what memory to get for say the e6700....what would be native and what would give headroom for a conservative overclock?

 

[Will_3rd]

im a bit confused...do these cpus work in dual channel mode like the amds? so memory running at 266 would mean they have a fsb of 1066? thats the native bus speed for the chip right?

The FSB is quad pumped so divide by four and you get 266

i see systems using ddr 800 so that doesn't seem to work.....

When you up the bus speed to 400mhz x2 = 800

so im confused what memory to get for say the e6700....what would be native and what would give headroom for a conservative overclock?

Firstly wouldn't get the E6700 waste of cash, you could get PC2-6400 stuff or if you really feel like clocking PC2-8000/8500 stuff

 

[stickroad]

Agree with Will_3rd.

The E6700 waste of money, you could go for the E6600 even the E6420.

And go for this memory:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-088-CR&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=144

 

[james.miller]

you are confused there lol

dual channel mode refers to having two memory controllers that work in parallel, doubling the memory throughput. it has no bearing on the working frequencies of the cpu or ram.

c2d's quad pump their fsb just like the old p4's did. so if you see a cd2...say the e6600... and a quoted fsb of 1066, that's really 266x4 (or 266.66 to be exact). 266mhz is the real fsb speed.

now, on to ram. DDR-II is still double data rate, just like the older ddrI used on p4 platforms and amd boards up to socket-939. ddrI/ddrII transfer two instructions per cycle, hence the name Double.Data.Rate. when you see a ddrII module rated at 533mhz (ddr533, aka pc4200) its really running at 266 x 2.

so.......ddr4200 is the best ram (and just about the cheapest) to run a stock '1066' fsb c2d on since its operating speed exactly matches that of a stock cd2. if you want to overclock, obviously you get something faster. Simple as that!

 

[ashagplz]

which is why i dont understand why systems use ddr 800..is this too conform to the motherboard and so runs asyncronously

 

[Typhoon]

which is why i dont understand why systems use ddr 800..is this too conform to the motherboard and so runs asyncronously

PC6400 (800Mhz) ram are garanteed to run at 400MHz FSB. They wiill also run at all slower speed so they will work just well as well at 266MHz (usually set automatically as your Bios will run try to run a 1:1 ratio by default)

 

[Egon]

Is there any reason why you wouldn't want to push the RAM further and have it working to its limits? So instead of having a 1:1 ratio you have something like a 1:1.5 ratio, the FSB at 333Mhz with the CPU running at 666Mhz and the RAM at 833Mhz (assuming the RAM can handle it) ???

 

[Typhoon]

Is there any reason why you wouldn't want to push the RAM further and have it working to its limits? So instead of having a 1:1 ratio you have something like a 1:1.5 ratio, the FSB at 333Mhz with the CPU running at 666Mhz and the RAM at 833Mhz (assuming the RAM can handle it) ???

Depends, try it and see (run some benchmarks), sometimes the extra delay you insert by making the ram run faster actually slows your system down. If you chip/MD combo can handle its better to raise the FSB to match the RAM and lower you multiple to keep a lower overall clock speed.