I have just purchased an asus P5Q-EM motherboard
'ASUSTeK Computer Inc.'
(http://www.asus.com/Product.aspx?P_I...ecifi cations)

Which supports 1066 but on the Asus site it has in the ram specs listed
as 1066(O.C.)/ I guess meaning overclocked?
It has front side bus speeds of 1600/1333/1066/800 MHz

Ive looked at to ram options to buy but I'm not sure which speed would
be best to get as my CPU is only 800 MHZ bus speed, although i could
overclock in the future if i get a video card at some point but I wont
be upgrading the cpu just yet either.

Here are the 2 ram kits I was looking at.
'Corsair 4GB PC2-6400 XMS2 (2x2GB) - Aria Technology'
(http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=31329)
800mhz corsair with cl4 timmings

Or
'Corsair 4GB Dominator DDR2 PC2-8500 1066Mhz Dual-Channel DDR2 (2x2GB)
- Aria Technology'
(http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=35754)
corsair again 1066mhz but with cl5 timmings

Both are pretty much the same price. What would be the best bet for me
with my cpu only being 800MHZ bus rated?

I'm not to clued up about hardware specifics reallly so any help and
opinions would be much appreciated thanks.


--
greeneggsandham

i'd grab the pc8500s if i were you......

if your board wont run native 1066 as you've stated it will run them
OCed, & the RAM sticks will default to 800mhz if needed.

the faster sicks will also future proof you for greater FSB adjustment
when & if you decide to OC.






SK


--
skunksmash

..........b . .
. . . . . . . . . . . H ' [ i m a g e : h t t p : / / w w w . s i g
n a t u r e b a r . c o m / u p l o a d s / i m a g e s / 1 0 1 4 8 . j
p g ] ' ( h t t p : / / w w w . s i g n a t u r e b a r . c o m / )

. . . . . . . . . / [ S I Z E = 4 ] , [/size]

Hi GreenEggsandHam,

I would recommend the faster PC-8500 1066Mhz sticks as well. In
addition to Mitch's post, double check in the BIOS to make sure the
timings are set to the same as what the RAM manufacturer
recommendations. My motherboard did not have the correct timing of
5-5-5-15 set for mine.


--
Brink

'*MS MVP - Windows Desktop Experience*'
(https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/pr...5-AD617AF3D511)
*There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask
them.*
'*::Windows 7 Forums::*' (http://www.sevenforums.com/) *and*
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*Please post feedback to help others.*

It's abit odd that it states 1066 overclocked when the fsb max is 1600
MHz. I spose the 1066 sticks will be as future proof as you can get in
the hardware market in this day and age. At least for now anyway, so
i'll go with them.

Could I run the sticks at 800MHZ when my current CPU speed is rated at
800 MHZ bus, will this not limmit the ram ratio or something?
Thanks for the responses.


--
greeneggsandham

greeneggsandham;1012341 Wrote:
It's abit odd that it states 1066 overclocked when the fsb max is 1600
MHz. I spose the 1066 sticks will be as future proof as you can get in
the hardware market in this day and age. At least for now anyway, so
i'll go with them.

Could I run the sticks at 800MHZ when my current CPU speed is rated at
800 MHZ bus, will this not limmit the ram ratio or something?
Thanks for the responses.

the FSB has nothing to do with the RAM speed...(as such)

in reality your FSB straps are ..200 / 266 / 333 / 400, when ''quad
pumped'' you get what you listed above....800 / 1066 / 1333 / 1600.

your RAM is also working in ''DDR'' so in reality its speed is 400mhz,
this is then ''doubled'' to give you your effective RAM speed.

it can get quite confusing, just remember (on an intel rig) FSB is
''quad'' pumped & the RAM is ''double'' pumped.

but yes.... running your RAM @ 800mhz will be fine, your board will
work out its own divider to best suit the components, you can play
around with them if need be anyway.





SK


--
skunksmash

..........b . .
. . . . . . . . . . . H ' [ i m a g e : h t t p : / / w w w . s i g
n a t u r e b a r . c o m / u p l o a d s / i m a g e s / 1 0 1 4 8 . j
p g ] ' ( h t t p : / / w w w . s i g n a t u r e b a r . c o m / )

. . . . . . . . . / [ S I Z E = 4 ] , [/size]

skunksmash;1012384 Wrote:
greeneggsandham;1012341 Wrote:
It's abit odd that it states 1066 overclocked when the fsb max is 1600
MHz. I spose the 1066 sticks will be as future proof as you can get in
the hardware market in this day and age. At least for now anyway, so
i'll go with them.

Could I run the sticks at 800MHZ when my current CPU speed is rated at
800 MHZ bus, will this not limmit the ram ratio or something?
Thanks for the responses.

the FSB has nothing to do with the RAM speed...(as such)

in reality your FSB straps are ..200 / 266 / 333 / 400, when ''quad
pumped'' you get what you listed above....800 / 1066 / 1333 / 1600.

your RAM is also working in ''DDR'' so in reality its speed is
400mhz, this is then ''doubled'' to give you your effective RAM speed.

it can get quite confusing, just remember (on an intel rig) FSB is
''quad'' pumped & the RAM is ''double'' pumped.

but yes.... running your RAM @ 800mhz will be fine, your board will
work out its own divider to best suit the components, you can play
around with them if need be anyway.





SK
Ok thanks. Shame I can't afford a new graphics card just yet then I
could overclock a little to get some more performance from my cpu/ram as
the onboard intel gpu will be a limminting factor i guess. Then again i
spose i may be able to use an fsb pre set speed for a faster cpu type
like a 1066 bus speed if it's not to big a jump for the cpu. Then the
onboard stuff wont be overclocked then in essence, I'll have to wait &
see i guess when the ram arrives & i can build this thing.


--
greeneggsandham

By now you must realize that running RAM at that speed is not an automatic
setting in the motherboard and you have to tweak the BIOS settings.

Now for the cold dose of reality: you will not realize any appreciable
difference in how your computer runs even if you set the motherboard BIOS
settings properly, compared to DDR 800 RAM.

In reality, once you get past 2gbs of RAM in hog-butt Vista, the biggest
bang for the buck in running Window is still the processor, the processor,
the processor. Even a faster hard drive will make a bigger perceptible
difference in computer performance than faster clocked RAM.

"greeneggsandham" wrote in message
...

I have just purchased an asus P5Q-EM motherboard
'ASUSTeK Computer Inc.'
(http://www.asus.com/Product.aspx?P_I...ecifi cations)

Which supports 1066 but on the Asus site it has in the ram specs listed
as 1066(O.C.)/ I guess meaning overclocked?
It has front side bus speeds of 1600/1333/1066/800 MHz

Ive looked at to ram options to buy but I'm not sure which speed would
be best to get as my CPU is only 800 MHZ bus speed, although i could
overclock in the future if i get a video card at some point but I wont
be upgrading the cpu just yet either.

Here are the 2 ram kits I was looking at.
'Corsair 4GB PC2-6400 XMS2 (2x2GB) - Aria Technology'
(http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=31329)
800mhz corsair with cl4 timmings

Or
'Corsair 4GB Dominator DDR2 PC2-8500 1066Mhz Dual-Channel DDR2 (2x2GB)
- Aria Technology'
(http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=35754)
corsair again 1066mhz but with cl5 timmings

Both are pretty much the same price. What would be the best bet for me
with my cpu only being 800MHZ bus rated?

I'm not to clued up about hardware specifics reallly so any help and
opinions would be much appreciated thanks.


--
greeneggsandham

In addition to getting advice here, you may find the Asus forums useful (I
have, in many cases). You can read without creating a membership, but a
membership is required if you wish to post. Here's a link to Asus Forums:

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx...Language=en-us

pupick;1012567 Wrote:
By now you must realize that running RAM at that speed is not an
automatic
setting in the motherboard and you have to tweak the BIOS settings.

Now for the cold dose of reality: you will not realize any appreciable
difference in how your computer runs even if you set the motherboard
BIOS
settings properly, compared to DDR 800 RAM.

In reality, once you get past 2gbs of RAM in hog-butt Vista, the
biggest
bang for the buck in running Window is still the processor, the
processor,
the processor. Even a faster hard drive will make a bigger perceptible
difference in computer performance than faster clocked RAM.

Well if i could afford a new cpu right now i would get one, but my
current ram is not compatible with my new motherboard. So i have to get
some new ram first. Not really "the cold dose of reality" i just need
some ram first to get my new setup up & running.

My new board i found out apparently will run the faster 1066 mhz ram
without an overclock if i was to get a CPU with a 1066mhz bus speed and
set the ram divider accordingly. With a 800MHZ or 1333MHZ CPU bus speed
I would have to overclock the bus to get the ram up to it's rated speed.
It's the way intels chipset has tied the front side bus to the ram
divider according to Asus.

As the 800mhz ram is the basicaly the same price as the 1066mhz ram kit
i might as well get the faster kit as it gives me more upgrade options
when i get some more cash together. So it's not really a loss for me to
get the faster ram.


--
greeneggsandham

Ddr2 ....


--
chemicaluser