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    No 800Mhz RAM Support? Really?!?!

    Discussion in 'Gateway and eMachines' started by FelixTheCat, Aug 1, 2008.

  1. FelixTheCat

    FelixTheCat Notebook Enthusiast

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    Is this for real? I have a 6831FX, and I just purchased a T7500 for the extra speed and for the bump up to a 800FSB, and I was just about to order 4GB of OCZ memory w/ the same FSB and I decided to check for compatibility just in case, and behold, I read that the chipset does not support anything higher than 667. What's the deal with that? I've never heard of a chipset with differing support for CPU and RAM FSB's.
     
    FelixTheCat, Aug 1, 2008
    #1
  2. CeeNote

    CeeNote Notebook Virtuoso

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    It's actually pretty common, don't know why though. The Vaio that i ordered a few days ago only supports 800mhz ram even though it's got a 1066mhz fsb. The new thinkpad sl only supports 667mhz ram despite having a 1066mhz fsb. I guess it's up to the manufacturers to make use of the theoretical ram performance...
     
    CeeNote, Aug 1, 2008
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  3. Zakk

    Zakk Notebook Guru

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    If the hardware is compatible, it will simply be clocked down to the chipset speed. So upgrades like the T8300 processor or RAM that run at 800 will be clocked down to 667, but still work.
     
    Zakk, Aug 1, 2008
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  4. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    It is maybe a chipset limitation. There is not much difference in DDR2-800 and DDR2-667, especially when the CPU's FSB will bottleneck the RAM's peak bandwidth.
     
    Andy, Aug 1, 2008
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  5. johnny13oi

    johnny13oi Notebook Evangelist

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    I am thinking it is for power consumption reasons. Lower FSB = lower power
     
    johnny13oi, Aug 1, 2008
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  6. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    The T7500 processor belongs to the Santa Rosa platform, which supports up to 667MHz RAM.
     
    Greg, Aug 1, 2008
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  7. focusfre4k

    focusfre4k Notebook Evangelist

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    anything more then a 1:1 ratio is a waste of money IMHO

    533 ram to a 1066 fsb is 1:1
     
    focusfre4k, Aug 1, 2008
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  8. TechEnthusiast

    TechEnthusiast Notebook Consultant

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    Isn't that 2:1 considering one is double the other?
     
    TechEnthusiast, Aug 2, 2008
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  9. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    Nope, he is right....PC2-4200 DDR2-533 in single channel [8.52GB/s] = 266MHz FSB (quad pumped) [8.52GB/s]
     
    Andy, Aug 2, 2008
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  10. dtwn

    dtwn C'thulhu fhtagn

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    Facepalm.

    In case you guys didn't realize, the FX series like all other Santa Rosa systems, will downclock 800 mhz to 667mhz.
     
    dtwn, Aug 2, 2008
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  11. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    you mean dual channel RAM ;)
     
    flipfire, Aug 2, 2008
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  12. focusfre4k

    focusfre4k Notebook Evangelist

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    that is what he meant I am sure!


    really memory SPEED is not the bottle kneck of any system these days
     
    focusfre4k, Aug 2, 2008
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  13. CeeNote

    CeeNote Notebook Virtuoso

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    True. 3gigs of 667MHz ram is better than 1 or 2gigs of 800MHz ram.
     
    CeeNote, Aug 2, 2008
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  14. narsnail

    narsnail Notebook Prophet

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    the only thing you will get from higher clocked ram on a limited chipset is lower latencies, which is good,, but not worth the extra cost.
     
    narsnail, Aug 2, 2008
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  15. focusfre4k

    focusfre4k Notebook Evangelist

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    exactly!

    The real bottle kneck of any system anymore on the consumer market is hard drive speed. SSD's are getting there but they are still being proven!

    I was very impressed by the speed some of them bring to the table
     
    focusfre4k, Aug 2, 2008
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  16. Dook

    Dook Notebook Virtuoso

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    Yea, Im looking forward to higher performance, lower cost SSDs.
     
    Dook, Aug 2, 2008
    #16