FSB Versus Memory speed...

[Larington]

For the past while I've always assumed that its generally best to have the FSB speed and the memory speed exactly the same, but lately I've started to doubt this assumption.

I've noticed that rather a lot of the motherboards will seem to list FSBs of 1600 Mhz and memory 1333 Mhz and vice versa, but not equal amounts.

So I thought I'd try asking folks who'd probably know better than I (IE, actually be aware of facts that back up their viewpoints, not opinions if avoidable).

So, can anyone tell me which is better - A slightly higher FSB Mhz rate, a slightly higher Memory Mhz rate, an equal rating for both, or does it depend on which motherboard you've bought?

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here looking at the Asus P5E3 Premium/Wifi@N Intel X48 board and wondering if its worth waiting for the board (And a 1600 Mhz processor, assuming price isn't ridiculous) to be released as thats the only one I'm aware of that supports both 1600 FSB and memory...

Thanks all.
(Listing for MB I just mentioned: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-262-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1050)
PS, Anyone have any indications when that and the X48 processors are released? Intel are doing a rather poor job of hinting at this atm.

 

[Skeeter]

technically, the FSB is a single number universal to the whole machine.

the difference is just the multipliers they are run through. 4x on the mobo, somewhere between 2x and 4x on the memory, and normally between 6x and 12x on modern CPUs. The memory and CPU multipliers can be adjusted to change them to whatever.

you dont need to have your speeds allt he same:

My CPU - Stock is 266, manually set FSB to 400, through an 8x multiplier gives me 3.2Ghz
My RAM - stock is 800, using the same 400 FSB ive manually set the multipler to 2x, making them run at 800mhz stock
My mobo - fixed 'Quad Pumping' on Intel mobos, so 400 running at 4x gives me a 1600Mhz FSB on my mobo.

They are all based on a single number, and can run at different speeds.

(NB: my mobo only 'officially' supports 1066Mhz, to technically is overclocked)