So i've got a P5Q-Pro motherboard (thx ET) and i'm running a 1066MHz FSB Processor, and 2x1GB 800MHz CL5 RAM. I'm looking to going to 4GB, and should I also go to 1066MHz RAM as well? Is it worth it? Yes the MB can support it.

what are you using the machine for?
if its just to research LPG and biofuel conversions, no
if its for photoshop/gaming etc, yes

ram is cheap, buy lots and make it fast

Yes, definitely worth getting fastest possible. Big effect in areas like loading times for example.

QGL and COD5

TBH moving from 800mhz to 1066mhz won't make a huge difference, maybe a few fps but thats about it. If you want major performance improvement then go an SSD. That said if the price differnce is negligable then why not go the 1066, just make sure the latency is low (its probably more important than the frequency) CAS 4 or 5.

Yeah that's the gritty detail im getting down to mass
I'm currently running CL5 800 and wouldn't standard 1066 be CL6?
And if so, which would be better?
I mean i remember in the old days moving from 266 to 400MHz DDR ram was a big deal
is it still a big deal?

last edited by Mr Hardware at 13:08:51 28/Sep/09

Yes, definitely worth getting fastest possible. Big effect in areas like loading times for example.

I think you're getting RAM mixed up with hard disk.

I'd like to see evidence of your claim of "big effect".

Most 1066 DDR2 seems to be CL5 these days but the performance benefit is pretty negligable.

Here is an article from a couple of years ago showing the performance difference on the DDR2 RAM.

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2800&p=6


System bus runs at 266MHz, not 1066MHz, and is then quad pumped. Memory clock is the same * 2 because of DDR. Running faster RAM than DDR2-533 creates an asynchronous scenario unless you overclock the system bus. Not to say it won't potentially be faster though. Getting high quality, faster memory lets you overclock more and keep a synchronous environment plus have tighter timings.

Essentially unless you looking to overclock your system the benefits of DDR2-1066 are a little wasted, although it may give you the ability to clock it at 800Mhz and tighten the timings which will have an effect.

Ah, you're awesome, thanks mass. All i needed to know.
Champion.

Unless you are overclocking all ram runs at exactly the same speed regardless of what it says on the front of the box... the speed of the ram is automatically set to slow, safe settings (NOT the settings indicated on the box) and then matched to the stock cpu speed.

I don't believe nobody has mentioned this yet.

Run cpuz and check for yourself if your dubious.

It actually says that very fact on some ram davron, on mine it told me to look on the ram & find the little sticker, then go into the BIOS and set it to manual & match the timings on the sticker.