What does the "PC3200" mean?

Hello all. I have been reading all I can about memory on several forums and aricles but am still confused as to what exactly does the PC3200 or say PC 3700 really mean?

Im finally straightened out on what exactly the DDR400 means and how it relates to overclocking but have a couple of questions as to what the difference is performance wise between say PC3200 and PC3700.

Also how does one figure out which PCxxxx memory to use for a given Mobo like an Abit IC7 and say a P2.4c cpu fsb 800 for best overclock and performance abilities.

I apologize if its a dumb question but ive been searching and reading all the articles and forums I can think of for an answer.

Thank you in advance for any assitance.

The 3200 refers to the maximum theoretical bandwidth of the memory module. IE PC3200=3200 MB/sec maximum bandwidth.

I hope that is a simple to understand answer, I know it can be a bit confusing.

As for what memory to use with a high end Canterwood, OCZ PC3700-PC4000 Gold has been very good to a lot of members here at OC.

IMO they're just there as performance numbers. Kinda like AMD has the Barton2500 or the Tbird 1700. PC3200 is 400Mhz ram. Your board supports up to DDR400 stock.

Your mobo:
Supports 4 DIMM Dual DDR 400 memory.(Max. 4GB)

I.e...PC3200.

You can always overclock your board and get PC3700 or something. I don't know how that works with the faster stuff. I bought PC3200 for my board b/c the max on the specs were the same as yours.

I don't know how much help this post is though, lol

http://www.pbase.com/image/19261650

C627627's piccy

Yes, PC3200 can be the theoretical bandwith of the module, but more specifically it's the theoretical max bandwith of the BUS, i.e. PC3200=200MHz FSB=400MHz DDR.

It's more commonly used as a codeword for memory speed. In other words, some modules are PC4000 (250FSB, 500MHz DDR) at 3-4-4-8 timings, which will get nowhere near the max 4000MB/s the bus can handle. What they really mean is 250FSB or 500MHz DDR memory speed.

So PC3200=200/400MHz, PC3500=217/433MHz, PC3700=233/466MHz, and so on.

--Illah

Just use this formula:
Rated Speed x 8 = theoretical bandwith (PCxxxx).
i.e. (pc3200) - 400 x 8 = 3200 pc3200.
same for all.

Thank you all for your assistance. Deeply appreciate it.

Special thanks to M33P, a picture is definitely worth a thousand words and pretty sure I understand it now.

One theoretical question please. Say on this abit ic7 mobo and a p2.4c I desire to overclock the FSB to 266. then would I be correct in saying that at a 1:1 ratio the bandwidth would be perfectly matched for DDR 533/PC4200 memory?

Thanks again

Yes, 4200 is what you'd want. Search around though, not all mem is created equal There are many PC3200 brands that run better than some shabby 4200.

--Illah

Illah thank you for the information. I already have xms 3200 2c memory but just wanted to see if I fully understood the concept.

Again thank you all very much was really confused there and seemed the more I read the worse it got LOL.

Have fun

If you can afford it and want every last bit of performance, than fast expensive RAM running at 1:1 ratio is what you want... but I'm not convinced it's worth the cash. Good RAM running on the IC7 using aggressive timings and the 5:4 ratio will still give you excellent results for a fraction of the cost.