MBP with RAM at 800Mhz?

[Draeconis]

I'm very close to purchasing a MacBook Pro, and I will be sub-sequentially upgrading it with 2x 2Gb After-Market sticks of RAM.

The thing is, on the Apple website, and available from Overclockers, is memory that runs at 667Mhz, but the FSB on the MacBook Pro runs at 800Mhz. Why are the Motherboard and RAM frequencies not the same, and would finding DDR2 PC2-5300C5 200-Pin SoDIMMs that run at 800Mhz work in it and/or make much of a difference?

 

[NickK]

The MacBook Pro first used Intel Core Duo processors, which were replaced with Intel Core 2 Duo processors in October 2006. The Core 2 Duo was Intel's 64-bit dual-core processor designed for laptop computers, which was developed under the code-name "Merom". This processor had an FSB (front-side bus) speed of 667 MHz, and supported Vanderpool virtualization technology. The model refresh on June 5, 2007 features an upgraded 800 MHz front side bus speed, as well as faster Merom processors. On February 26, 2008 the MacBook Pro line was fitted with "Penryn" Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

Source: Wiki

 

[Deleted member 651465]

It has almost always supported 800MHz RAM (June 2007), but no one makes or has stock of the 800MHz chips.

 

[MagicBoy]

It doesn't matter than the RAM runs slower than the FSB if you install the RAM in pairs. The chipset runs the RAM in dual channel mode which effectively doubles the bandwidth.

Early MacBook Pros like mine run fine on a single memory chip and this was the default configuration from Apple. All MacBooks and later 800Mhz FSB MacBook Pros shipped with dual memory chips to enable dual channel mode.

 

[Draeconis]

Thanks for clearing that up