183mhz FSB with DDR370 or 200mhz FSB with DDR333?

[gamara]

I have a question I hope somebody can answer. I have an AMD XP1700+ overclocked to 2.2ghz with 200mhz FSB and x11 multipllier. I also have Kingston HyperX PC3000 ram that's rated to run at DDR370. However, with my Epox 8RDA+ running at 200mhz FSB, I can only run the ram at either 200mhz (100%) or 166mhz (83%) and nothing in between. I tried overclocking the ram to DDR400 but it wasn't stable at cas 2, so I have it running at DDR333 right now.

My question is, is it better to lower my FSB to 183mhz x12 so I can run the RAM at DDR370 like it's rated? Does it really matter if RAM speed matches your FSB? (I'm running in dual channel mode, by the way)

[FunkDaMonkMan]

Welcome To The Forum!!!

Running your ram and fsb @ 183 would be better than running your fsb @ 200 and your ram @ 166 because with the second option, the processor would only be able to get data from the ram @ 166mhz even if it is running on a 200mhz bus. also, if you run them both at 183, your pci devices will be running a little lower, so there is less risk of dmg there.

[asw7576]

Classic question. Use SiSoft Sandra and 3DMark please. Compare it and you know the answer.

[gamara]

Thanks for the advice. In case anyone else is wondering about this, here's the results of the benchmark tests. At 200mhz FSB, the results in PCMark were:

CPU: 6573
Memory: 4506

I changed the FSB to 183mhz and matched the RAM, and got these results:

CPU: 6564
Memory: 4592

So this seems like an improvement. I then raised the FSB to 185mhz, (going from 2.20ghz to 2.22ghz), and tested again:

CPU: 6653
Memory: 4727

Woo! Blazing speeds! Also, in Sisoft Sandra my MIPS went from 7980 to 8118. I don't have 3d mark yet, but I'd imagine the results would also be better.

And Thanks for welcoming me to the forum! I've been lurking here for a while, sifting through all the great informative posts. So thank you all!