RAM type/speed for new system

[Guest D17S]

Increasing the FSB will provide no performance increase. At this point, the only function raising the FSB provides is to drive ram to a higher speed. Even running ram faster provides only a subjective performance increase. With the current platform, processing performance increases are (almost) entirely CPU clock/#cores based.

[Guest Nick_N]

You may want to qualify that a bit better Sam... FSB with current motherboard designs has a direct effect on the function of the northbridge divider/STRAP and as such it changes the latency across the northbridge to the CPU, even without trying to hit the high/low notes on a memory clock. Without going into the how

[Guest D17S]

Just tying to keep this out of the lab. We build boxes once every two years on our kitchen tables. That said, what you describe IS true. However in the real world, FSB speed - Still - makes no difference because "Real World" must also consider the technical tenacity and financial resources of the practitioner. Don't be discouraged though. Being presented with even fuzzy glimpses of (for instance) variable valve-timing mechanisms of bleeding-edge race car engine technology is fascinating. Who knows? Maybe we'll get another taker (and maybe he won't blow a rod out the side his crankcase this time!)

[Guest Nick_N]

> FSB speed - Still - makes no difference because "Real World" must also consider the technical tenacity and financial resources of the practitioner. So your telling me that everyone who owns a QX processor should leave the FSB at default for the proc and only change the multiplier?

[Guest D17S]

Yes. I am saying that.

[Guest Nick_N]

hmmmmmIf that is true.. I can understand why you went back to FS9. FSX would be a pile of stuttering/blurry dung on the settings I run if I did that, with or without touching the memory or trimming it in for latency.

[Noel 4,487]

>>>hmmmmm>>If that is true.. I can understand why you went back to FS9.>FSX would be a pile of stuttering/blurry dung on the settings>I run if I did that, with or without touching the memory or>trimming it in for latency.Nick, I have to again beg to differ, at least from the point of view of my hardware. And remember, I was well into the 7.5ns CALWI zone so this is not totally devoid of comparative value. My mush mem with an FSB of 333, and a CPU clock of 4.0Ghz+, delivers a performance that is quite well characterized by your very narrative describing performance in the high perf test bed. To be honest, I definitely did see some improvement when I enjoyed the 51.8ns latency of the OCZ until that fateful day when by bubble burst. But again, it would be in the order of a 10-15% improvement in your defined performance parameters of smoothness, image clarity & complexity, etc. It did, however, approach perfection during a few flights, and that is with very high criteria!

[Guest Nick_N]

....and you can not run DDR3 1600 or above without changing FSB or the memory will not run in sync with its design spec. For DDR3 1800 you must run 450MHz FSB, or greater, period.With a northbrige which is in the proc how the memory speed is addressed should change with Nellie and will no longer be dependant on FSB to establish correct (or clocked) memory speed15% on the limited amount of bandwidth you were able to squeeze (in comparison) was actually a heck of an accomplishment and you did not accomplish that by running 333MHzWith what you did see... do you really think if you maintained that latency or was able to drop it a tad more... and, if you were able to increase memspeed/FSB to DDR3 standards without the strain, it would not have made much difference? .. You would not be able to accomplish that at 333MHz either and it would have been much more than 10-15%The advantages are there if the hardware is there to use it, and, the user knows what they are doing. I pointed out before you started your experiments that what you may see would be limited due to the DDR2 bandwith and 4096 DDR2 not allowing 1T

[Guest D17S]

Woah, lab-on. Great fun! (Ya'll get this?) Really, this is great stuff. What's this run in synch stuff? I gotta run some gears at the right RPM so their teeth don't get whackeD on each other? Boy, I can see the sparks now if day'd get outa whaCk. Like that? Little steps.

[Noel 4,487]

Nick, what's your top pick DDR3 mainboard and 4GB memory combo?QX9650 w/ Retail HSF|8GB Muskin PC-6400|ASUS P5E|EVGA 8800GT @700|Seagate SATA 2 x 4|Seagate Cheetah 15K.x|XP Pro|Vista 64--soon to be installed

[Guest Nick_N]

There is no lab SamIt

[Guest D17S]

Cool . . . OK, now whad ya mean, "sync?" What's that?

[Guest Nick_N]

As mentioned in the past, the main issue is the 4GB. I run sticks that are not available on the market however these were just released to retail last week and I also have a pair of them as well..http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820145206You wont have any problem running those at 8-7-7-17 1T DDR3 1800 @ 2v and that is within warrantee spec. I run them in that old P35 P5K3 Deluxe and have for over a month now.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189084.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189085.jpgHowever do be aware that because CL is a bit off due to 4096, tRD may need to be set manually using MEMSET and saved for Windows boot.. and they will run tRD6 stable at those timings. If you get an x48 chipset board, the BIOS should supply the tRD adjustment and memset windows boot should not be neededhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189086.jpgAll DDR3 boards have 2 slots for high speed/low latency and 2 for lower speed/higher latency. The fast slots are typically black. This is one of the limits of the current northbridge design and with the introduction of the 3rd channel and Nellie, that limit will no longer be an issue. OCZ actually just released a very fast 4096 product in their Flex line but it has a drawback.. you can not install the sticks side by side so you must make sure the motherboard design does not place the faster slots side by side. Most do however there are a few that do not. The P5E3 Deluxe was a dud in my opinion but the Premium version was completely redesigned from the deluxe in power regulation. It

[Guest Nick_N]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sync%20harmony or harmonious relationshipor if you mean specifically in the context I used the term, the memspeed in a harmonious relationship with much lower latency on the northbridgeprobably could have phrased that better but it is late

[Noel 4,487]

Thanks for that review and recommendations Nick. It looks like the above configuration gets a CALWI value of 8.8ns. That is not in the zone, but I am guessing you don't mind sacrificing this for higher bandwidth and better command rate?Nick, what do you think of this option:The Twin3X4096-1600C7DHX is a 4096MByte matched pair of DDR3 SDRAM DIMMs built usingCorsair