I have this computer: http://www.gateway.com/retail/gt5404.php its supposed to have an 800 mhz fsb, but only has ddr2-4200 ram. I read at http://www.crucial.com/support/memory_speeds.aspx that 4200 ram is for systems with a 266mhz fsb,5300 for 333MHz, etc. Is this true? Am I missing something? Thanks!
If you open up CPU-Z and compare the CPU and Memory tab, you will see that your CPU FSB is not at the same frequency as your ram's frequency. This is because your ram is desynchronized (I hope I got the right word there... it is the one we use in french for this context). It is possible for the motherboard to 'force' a lower FSB between the processor and the RAM than the processor's native FSB. It is commonly used in brands pcs and laptops (my laptop has that as well). It's also common in overclocking to change the fsb ratio to obtain higher processor FSB frequency without stressing the ram as much excuse me if that wasn't clear, I should be heading to bed
Yup, that makes sense. The memory's speed is not (always) the same as the processor's FSB speed. Now the real question: is there a safe way to change this? I don't want to have to water cool my system and hope for the best (I'm too poor/too much of a wimp to overclock)...Is it some sort of software or bios or jumper setting somewhere, or would I need a new motherboard to ran my ram faster? Looking online, it looks like both my processor and chipset should be able to handle it. Not really sure what else is important. Thanks so much. Sorry if these are newbie questions...I used to know a bunch about computers (or I thought I did), but I sorta fell out of the loop. Things have changed so much!
Well the ram thing has been the same for years now so you don't have any excuse . No biggies, don't worry about 'newbie questions' Considering your ram is slower than what you processor needs, it would be overclocking to actually push it (the ram) to 200mhz FSB (or DDR 800) to match your processor's FSB. It's really not about cooling here. Your ram would not make it no matter how great the cooling is. If your PC runs fine for you, don't do anything. Desynchronization doesn't hurt much performance wise unless you really want the MAX of your PC, and by that I mean, for example, 13 secs for SuperPi 1M instead of 14.5 Secs ...
Yea, thats what I was saying, I don't want to do anything hacky, don't need that extra ounce of performance, but I plan on adding more memory, and I was wondering if there was a legitimate way to get it to run faster, too. I wanted to know if I should buy the 4200 or 5300 (although it looks like 5300 is cheaper and backwards compatable, so I'll probably go for that anyway). So I was able to find the manual for my motherboard: http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d945gcl/sb/d6742003_en.pdf On page 14, it has a nice little table which leads me to believe that 800MHz FSB on the processor+667 MHz memory (5300)= 667 MHz memory...it seems like making the memory run faster is as simple as plugging in new memory. Thanks so much for your help :-D.
Yes just buy whatever is the most affordable. Ram is extremely cheap nowadays anyway but since it's a brand PC, you should check how many free ram slots you have. Your system currently runs on 2x512mb chips. If ever you have only 1 free slot of memory, I think it would be worth it to buy 2x1gb and use it to replace your current ram completely. If you do have 2 free slots, give it a shot and plug the new ram. If ever the pc doesn't boot try with the new ram alone. Dual channel might be a problem if you mix the ram That's absolutely right but once again, it would be overclocking to push your current ram at 800mhz no problemo
