ThePotsy

Just a little build I'm doing, mainly for a racing sim setup I'm going to be building. Nothing too crazy, although I do want some room to upgrade if I ever get back into PC games like I used to be. My main concern was RAM compatibility with the MB.

Also, I would like HDMI out from the video card as I will be using this with my flatscreen.

MB: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz

Video Card: ASUS EN9800GT

RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB DDR2 1066

PS: Thermaltake Purepower 550W

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200

Optical Drive: Samsung

OS: Vista Home Premium 64-Bit

Case: LIAN LI PC-7B plus II

So thar it be. Nothing to crazy, and I believe I've got some room to upgrade in the future. Should run the sims with no problem I believe.

Thanks in advance.

Tumbleweed36

Thermaltake Purepower = Cheap junk. Try a 750 Corsair in there.

Jtsou

Are you a pirate...?

Hehe kidding.


The only problem i see is the power supply, it isn't powerful enough for that graphics card. I'd go with a quality 650W or 700W power supply.


Edit: The 750W corsair is only $10 more and and a WHOLE lot better value

Tumbleweed36

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

ThePotsy

Ok, RAM is really confusing the hell out of me, I've looked around and read a bunch of stuff, but it's still...really confusing.

The RAM I was thinking of getting, DDR2 1066, has a CAS of 5, and timings of 5.5.5.18.

Now, looking at DDR2 800, CAS of 4, and timings of 4.4.4.15.

The memory standard of the motherboard I'm looking at is DDR2 1333, which doesn't seem to exist as far as I can tell.

Now, to me, the 1066 is faster even though the timings aren't as tight, 8500 vs 6400. Right?

And each one is running at 400 and 533, but can be overclocked to achieve it's advertised clock speed, which is 800 or 1066 respectively.

And what about the MB memory standard?



Thanks in advance for your input.

wrench97

Lets start at the speed ratings DDR2(Double Data Rate Version 2) so double the speed it runs at to get the rated speed for example memory buss runs at 400 so with ddr that's DDR2 800 no OC necessary.

With Intel the FSB and Memory buss are 2 different buses, if the memory buss runs at 400 with DDR2 and in dual channel for 2 pipe lines at 800 the FSB from the memory controller on the board to the CPU at a single pipe line at 1333 you will not over run the memory until you OC the cpu speed up to near 4.0 so what this over simplified explanation means is you will not see a big advantage to DDR2 1066 over DDR2 800 so pick which ever is cheaper using a memory configuration utility like the one at www.corsair.com/configurator/default.aspx or www.crucial.com

ThePotsy

So...

The FSB and memory bus are two separate buses, on that Gigabyte MB they are 1600mhz and 1333mhz respectively. I would have to sticks of 2gb each running in dual channel @ 1066mhz, and with the memory bus of 1333mhz which is a single channel, it would not be overloaded. I could overclock the RAM to a maximum of 1333mhz?

Guess I'm still a little confused. I see you mentioned OC'ing the CPU and that would overload the memory, how does that effect the RAM? What would be the advantage of the 1066 over the 800?

I went ahead and ordered the 1066 since it was the same price with the rebates and sale, just trying to understand the logic and science/voodoo behind it.

wrench97

IF it's the same price your good, you will not see any advantage to 1066 over 800 unless the CPU runs fast enough to process the Data faster then the memory buss can deliver it.
The sticks don't run at 1600 they run at 400 but have a larger pipe to put more data in between the ram sticks and the memory controller(Northbridge chip), the pipe between the memory controller and the cpu is smaller but has a faster speed(more pressure in pipe terms).
No you can't OC the ram to 1333Mhz

ThePotsy

The CPU I picked up has a FSB of 1066, so the RAM I bought is the highest speed I can put in before it no longer sees a performance gain. I would need a CPU with a higher FSB to take advantage of any RAM running higher than 1066.

And you're saying that the pipe between the RAM and the Northbridge is running at 1600mhz, and the pipe between the Northbridge and the CPU is running at 1333mhz, or do I have it backwards?

wrench97

If your CPU has a FSB of 1066 like the older Q6600 you will see no gain from 800 to 1066 speed memory there is not a direct connection between the 2 like their is on an AMD chip
I'm not saying the ram or anything else runs 1600 I'm saying the ram runs 400 and has the ability to send more data through the circuit the the cpu can handle at 1066 or 1333 the speed correlation and the amount of data the two buses can handle are two different things and work differently otherwise you would want to match the fsb/cpu speed and the memory speed, in the case of Intel you need to.

ThePotsy

Sorry, I was just quoting the specs from the motherboard, that's where the 1600 and 1333 came from.

And I did match the speed of the memory with the speed of the CPU FSB which is 1066, right?

wrench97

It does not matter with Intel, the cpu will never run faster then 800 if you got 1066 for the same price fine it will work just fine but so would 800 and if it was cheaper then that would be the one to buy.

ThePotsy

Ah, I thought you had said that you have to match them with Intel, must have been a typo.

wrench97

Yea it should read "in the case of Intel you don't need to." Unfortunately I think faster then I can Type.

ThePotsy

Just out of curiosity, what causes the RAM to be limited to 800mhz? Are all the Q6600 chipsets limited to 800mhz.

wrench97

It's limited it just that the FSB can only pass data to the cpu so fast and the cpu can only process it so fast, the ram at 800 and the size of the bandwidth can pass data faster then the CPU can process it.