How much faster, on average are 1066 MHz, 800 MHz, and 667 MHz dual channel RAM in comparison to 533 MHz?

Question

- Assume that it is the same brand name like OCZ or Corsair.

I am thinking about making my own computer. Is it worth it really for getting the 1066 MHz RAM? Is it exactly 33% faster than the 800 MHz RAM by comparison? Or should 800 MHz be fine?

I plan to get a 680i motherboard.

Answer 1

First two answers both wrong. You can run your RAM faster than the FSB, in fact unless you are running 533 Mhz RAM, you will be running it faster than FSB. FSB is quad pumped will DDR2 is only double pumped, so you have to divided FSB speed by 4 and divide DDR2 by 2 to compare actual speeds.

Now as for the second guy, 1066Mhz RAM is NOT twice as fast as 533Mhz, not even close. Theoretically speaking yes it should have twice the bandwidth, but things in computers don't always work according to theory. In reality each step up, 533 to 667, 667 to 800, etc will give you a performance gain, but nothing spectacular, I would say roughly 5-10% per step depending on what program you are using.

Answer 2

well you sort of answered that yourself, if you have 533MHz and are capable of getting 1066MHz it will be twice as fast. The MHz tells you the speed of the Ram. Of course like someone stated before you have to check the frontside bus speed as to how far you can go, if you are building a comp then make sure to buy a motherboard with 1066Mhz front bus. Check out TigerDirect.com

Answer 3

the big question is what is the speed of your front side bus. is it 800, 1000, or faster. putting 1066mhz memory in a 800mhz front buss will only give you 800 mhz in speed. those types of components need to be matched.