CPU-Z shows faster DRAM frequency while CPU is OC'd?

I was under the impression that even with 1066+ ram it would always downclock to 800, even while OC'd. According to CPU-Z: FSB to DRAM is 4:12, or x3. In other words, without OC the FSB is 133, so DRAM frequency is 133 x 3 = 399MHz aka DDR3 800 (DDR stands for double data rate, 2 x 400MHz = 800). When I OC the processor to 166 FSB, DRAM frequency is 166 x 3 = 498MHz. Is this an error, or does OC'ing the CPU actually OC the ram and we were/I was misinformed? I have 4GB Kingston HyperX 1066 CL5 ram if it makes any difference. Here are some CPU-Z screenshots..

 

off the bat, from what I recall reading, the FSB multiplier makes everything on the bus run faster, so its not just your processor being pushed, everything is upped with it.

 

this is why i had previously asked someone to try perform wei assessment with and without OC and check the memory score result but no one seems to bother. From my understanding faster RAM will help stability with machines that is on OC. However people argue the fact that even if you have faster RAM it gets downclock to 800mhz. I do know it gets downclock but people are also forgetting that when you OC everything else get upclock including the RAM speed

 

Yes WEI is faster when overclocked for CPU, RAM, and onboard graphics.

Kopicha one thing you should consider though is that the ram is still using 800mhz timings.

The 1066mhz ram has an additional speed table entry for 1066mhz at slower timings of 7-7-7 vs 6-6-6 when running at 800mhz. When you overclock the ram is still booting up at 800mhz timings. So whether or not you have 800mhz ram or 1066mhz you are running your ram beyond what its spec'd at. In this case 1000mhz at 6-6-6. As long as you buy decent ram you really shouldn't have an issue running it at 1000mhz at 6-6-6. So it still doesn't matter if you buy 800,1066, or 1333 ram. But of course why not buy the fastest since the price difference is usually minimal (Probably the same chips anyway).

In many cases you can flash the spd table to just add the faster speed entry and turn your 800mhz ram into 1066 or whatever.

 

Without dissecting all the info here I will just say that over-clocking the CPU BCLK frequency over-clocks your memory as well because your memory controller is built into the processor. That does not equal "everything".

 

Maybe it's possible that the people who are reporting problems(won't boot/crashes) with certain OC'd FSB are because of the ram? I've tried quite a few different settings, and now currently always set to 166 which many people had trouble with, and I haven't had any problems.

 

You could put faster (1066) ram in if this is the case. It won't go faster but should run at the OC'ed rate with better timings.

 

Ok i am not a real expert in this particular section. However from what I understand, the chipset that is use in R2 supports RAM up to 1333. Althou it got downclock to 800 due to the FSB from the CPU. Despite the SPD timing in RAM. I suppose that the RAM is already running under spec. So even at different timing that boosted the clock of the RAM, it should still be more stable than a 800mhz ram attempt to run higher.

 

They are both running beyond their official specs.

The spd table for the ram may look like this:
PC3-6400 (800): 400 MHZ 6-6-6
PC3-10600 (1333): 400 MHZ 6-6-6, 533 MHZ 7-7-7, 667 MHZ 8-8-8

The current speed of the ram in both cases when overclocking to 166 will still use the first timing table and be running at 500MHZ 6-6-6. In both cases they are beyond what they are spec'd at.

Now of course not all ram is made the same so maybe the PC3-6400 can't run 100MHZ faster with those timings, but at the same time just because you can run at 667MHZ with cas timings of 8-8-8 doesn't mean you can run 500mhz with tighter timings of 6-6-6.

The reality is that at this point the PC3-10600 is probably the exact same ram as the PC3-6400. They are just marketed differently so they added the extra speed tables with looser timings to the PC3-10600. Its not cost effective to manufacture three different speeds of ram. Just make one and market it differently. Same with cpu cores.

Also just a note the ram that came with my M11x was PC3-10600 anyway (2GB).

 

Yep 1333. Here is a shot of what Everest says about my mine.