CPU and RAM running in sync

[shenlingstyle]

I've been reading around in this forum and I'm getting more confused than ever.

1) I've read that it's good to have ram and cpu run at the same frequency, mine currently runs at 200mhz:200mhz

2) I've also read that dual channel ram, which I have, theoretically doubles the bandwidth? meaning pc3200 dual channel is running at a higher speed and possibly close to pc6400? Not very sure about this one

3) if the above case is true, then shouldn't one be trying to get the cpu to run at 400mhz in order to be in sync, so basically getting a 2:1 cpu to ram ratio?

Probably a stupid question, but any help is appreciated

 

[brady]

Yes it is good to have your cpu/ram running close to eachother in MHZ.

As for (2) the doubling rate of your ram is talking about the speed of it...So, when it shows running at 200 Mhz its really running at 400 Mhz. Its bus speed.

 

[idiotec]

1. It depends on the system. 1:1 is still fairly important on the Intel side due to them still using a FSB. On the AMD side, it is not that important due to the onboard memory controller.

2. Dual channel has no effect on the "speed" of the RAM. DDR400 will run at 200MHz whether in dual channel or not. In the real world, dual channel comes no where close to doubling bandwidtch, although it does increase performance. Dual channel just basically allows the system to access both sticks at the same time.

3. NO, like I said before, it does not effect the speed of the RAM.

 

[Flanker]

I've been reading around in this forum and I'm getting more confused than ever.

1) I've read that it's good to have ram and cpu run at the same frequency, mine currently runs at 200mhz:200mhz

2) I've also read that dual channel ram, which I have, theoretically doubles the bandwidth? meaning pc3200 dual channel is running at a higher speed and possibly close to pc6400? Not very sure about this one

3) if the above case is true, then shouldn't one be trying to get the cpu to run at 400mhz in order to be in sync, so basically getting a 2:1 cpu to ram ratio?

Probably a stupid question, but any help is appreciated

1.) Only important if you're using an Intel CPU. For AMDs it doesn't matter whether you have it at 1:1 or any other divider/ratio. You won't lose ANY performance, except the performance that you'll lose from your memory not being overclocked. But there will be no performance loss directly related to the memory divider.

2.) You don't HAVE Dual Channel RAM, you motherboard just supports Dual Channel RAM. And like Idiotec said, Dual Channel has no effect on the clock speed of the memory, DDR400 will be DDR400, just the CPU will be able to talk to the memory faster, thats all. It can be pretty beneficial in some cases.

3.) #2 that YOU posted is not true. My #2 is true.. And why would you want to run the CPU at 400MHz? For that matter, why would you want a 2:1 ratio? I don't know how you logically explain that...If you want the CPU to match the memory, why not run it at a 1:1 ratio? But you don't do that anyways...that was a stupid question from you, sorry.

 

[alecjahn]

Angsty.