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    W530 FSB is only 1333MHz??

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Comal, Jul 6, 2012.

  1. Comal

    Comal Notebook Consultant

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    In the the Thinkpad w530 datasheet (pdf) it says the FSB of the Intel i7 is only 1333MHz (except for the i7-3920XM that costs $800 more!).

    Does that mean it can't take advantage of 1600MHz RAM?
     
    Comal, Jul 6, 2012
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  2. Comal

    Comal Notebook Consultant

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    Did some searching and it seems if you get the i7-3820QM (which is listed as 1333MHz FSB) and you put in 1600MHz RAM, the memory will only run at only 1333MHz and NOT 1600MHz.

    Is that right?
     
    Comal, Jul 6, 2012
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  3. moral hazard

    moral hazard Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    No that can't be right, I have ram running at 1600mhz with a 2630QM.

    Just to be safe, get some PnP or XMP ram.
     
    moral hazard, Jul 6, 2012
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  4. Comal

    Comal Notebook Consultant

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    In the T530 they list the SAME processor, like i7-3820QM but the FSB is 1600MHz T530 datasheet (pdf)

    but in the W530 they list the FSB as 1333MHz.

    Can someone explain why a laptop that cost way more for professionals is getting slower parts??
     
    Comal, Jul 6, 2012
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  5. Comal

    Comal Notebook Consultant

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    Did they just mess up the spec sheet? I saw other brands and the also say the speed of the memory will depend on the processor. I know the i7 supports 1600MHz RAM but what's up with this?
     
    Comal, Jul 6, 2012
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  6. K_Wall_24

    K_Wall_24 Notebook Evangelist

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    The RAM it comes with is PC3-128000 though, which according to newegg, only comes in 1600MHz. I'm not very knowledgable with RAM, but I was under the impression the W530 came stock with 1600MHz. If I'm getting a W530 with an i7-3720QM, will that support 1600MHz? And will it support 1.35v/low voltage? I'm going to need to buy some RAM and I didn't know if this Corsair RAM would work.

    EDIT: Even the Tabook says, under "Memory" for the W530:
    EDIT 2: Realized we're talking about FSB. Don't know what that is. Googling.

    EDIT 3: FSB is over my head. Why would they use 1600MHz RAM if it can only run at 1333MHz? Or am i misunderstanding something?
     
    K_Wall_24, Jul 6, 2012
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  7. Comal

    Comal Notebook Consultant

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    The i7 CAN support 1600MHz RAM. That's not in question.
    The problem is why Lenovo lists the speed of the FSB as 1333MHz. Do they have it locked in the BIOS or something?
     
    Comal, Jul 6, 2012
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  8. K_Wall_24

    K_Wall_24 Notebook Evangelist

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    Editted my post just before you posted that.
     
    K_Wall_24, Jul 6, 2012
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  9. crazy1

    crazy1 Notebook Guru

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    It's probably a typo in the documentation.

    I have the W530 with the i7-3720QM and 4 samsung 1.35V PC-12800 dimms installed. AIDA64 memory benchmark shows that my memory bus is 798.8 MHz, which is about what should be. CPU-Z says the same thing. There are no issues running DDR3 1600MT/s ram on the core i7's in the W530.

    Also, the RAM that shipped with my W530 was 1.5V Samsung DDR3 PC-12800. In case anyone was wondering.
     
    crazy1, Jul 6, 2012
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  10. Talaii

    Talaii Newbie

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    Not sure why it lists a FSB at all - modern processors (as a general rule) don't use one, they just have a bunch of high-speed links (one to PCIe, one to memory, one to the PCH/chipset). You'll note the datasheet claims it supports "Up to 32GB of DDR3 1600MHz", so I suspect 1600MHz RAM will work.
     
    Talaii, Jul 6, 2012
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  11. K_Wall_24

    K_Wall_24 Notebook Evangelist

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    So this RAM would run at full speed?
     
    K_Wall_24, Jul 6, 2012
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  12. crazy1

    crazy1 Notebook Guru

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    crazy1, Jul 6, 2012
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