800 vs 1066 Mhz

I currently own a Crucial Ballistix 4-4-4-12 (2x1 GB) DDR2 800 RAM. I am upgrading my motherboard and I can either go with a DDR2 1066 based motherboard and upgrade my RAM (I can still return the old ones to the store) or get a DDR2 800 based motherboard and use the current RAM.

My question is, is it worth going for 1066 Mhz? Is there such a difference? From my understanding most 1066 RAMs are 5-5-5-15 so they are slower.

Also, when I look at the RAMs, they say 2.1v or 2.2v, but the motherboards never say what voltage they support. How can I be sure?

For instance, this motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131185

Doesn't say anything clearly.

The board will be fine with 800 ram.


That 800 will probably overclock in the 1000 range anyway

Timings only affect Socket754, 939 and some of the earlier AM2's since the memory controller is on die of the CPU. But they don't affect Intel systems because the memory controller is inside the Northbridge.

And timings, don't affect real-world performance that much anyways, only speed really matters, especially for an Intel system.

And for a DDR2-1066 to run at its rated speed, you must raise the FSB in order for it to reach 1066 because it's actually a factory-OC'ed DDR2-800.

With my current settings I am already running at 1333 Mhz FSB 3.0 Ghz and RAM is at 889 Mhz, I tried going to 5:4 Ratio, but the computer wouldn't boot.

What are your timings?

4-4-4-12 and 2.13v.

1066 @ 5-5-5-15 2T is faster than 900 @ 4-4-4-12 2T, but very little gain in terms of gaming performance. If price is right, it's worth the upgrade. Otherwise no.

LuckySevn said:

1066 @ 5-5-5-15 2T is faster than 900 @ 4-4-4-12 2T, but very little gain in terms of gaming performance. If price is right, it's worth the upgrade. Otherwise no.

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800 Mhz is $100, 1066 Mhz is $200, both crucial ballistix, both 2x1GB.

Wait nvm, its $109 vs $150. Damn i m really confused.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...052308477+1052420643&name=DDR2+1066+(PC2+8500)

I currently have the 800 Mhz one which I bought for $129. I can return it - %15 restock fee b.s. which gives me $110 or so. I can add $40 more and get the other one. So is 5-5-5-15 1066 better than 4-4-4-12 800?

The current batch of GeIL's 8500PDC isn't D9GMH. Go with Crucial's. And it is faster than 800. Which mobo are you going to use with the 8500 again?

LuckySevn said:

The current batch of GeIL's 8500PDC isn't D9GMH. Go with Crucial's. And it is faster than 800. Which mobo are you going to use with the 8500 again?

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That's another question, but either ASUS or Gigabyte P35 based, non-sli, and it'll support DDR2 1066 and 1333 Mhz FSB.

Keep your ram, those ballistix DDR2-800's your using should be able to go far beyond 1000mhz with 5 5 5 15 timings and 2.2v. Your waisting your money if you buy the 1066 version as yours should be able to do almost as good. They'll definately handle any fsb you can throw at them, you just have to read up on how to tweak them properly.

Well, I tried going 1000 Mhz with them, but the computer wouldn't boot. It may be due to 2 reasons:

1. Rams require 2.2v, my mobo was supporting up to 2.1.
2. I was running them on 4-4-4-12.

Anyways, but wouldn't you be able to overclock 1066 to 1333 to run 1:1 with OC'ed Q6600 at 3.0 Ghz?

I am also kind of confused as to how this RAM works with FSB my friends. Some say anything over than 533 is useless for 1066 FSB since its 266 x 9 and 533 is 266 x 2. How does this work? So basically RAM's speed / 2 should be equal or less than the FSB base speed ? (266, 333, etc)

Then why do they have 1:1, 5:4, 3:2 ratios? What's the point of those? Why is it that when I use linked feature in OC settings, when I OC the CPU to 3.0, RAM goes all the way to 1000 Mhz? I then I have to manually go to 3:2 and run them at 937 Mhz. Wouldn't this imply that the 3.0 Ghz quad requires 1000 Mhz RAM?

This is very important for me. Because it will greatly affect the motherboard I will be getting soon. If I need 1066, I have to get a 1066 supporting motherboard, I can not buy a regular DD2 800 based and then decide to upgrade to 1066 RAM in the future. On the other hand, I don't want to buy a 1066 motherboard because they are way more expensive and the choices become limited if you want that speed in them.

SOMEONE PLEASE WRITE A DETAILED POST ABOUT THIS.

See this is what I am talking about:

http://www.ocforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22

I am reading everywhere how 1066 is waste of money since your FSB can't match the speed, but then I see this stuff and get so confused man.

Dude! Your starting to comfuse me too! Take a few deep breaths and relax. Just look around online and buy whatever motherboard suites your needs the best. Your ram will run with no problems on a 1066 fsb board. Just got rid of a set of G.Skill DDR2-800 that would do 1160mhz all day with 2.2v and they are D9 chips same as your Bllistix. My Ballistix PC8500's are just speed binned DDR2-800. It even shows them as PC6400 in cpu-z spd. All you have to do is loosen the timings to 5 5 5 15 and they should be fine.

Ballistix are specifically built for overclocking, all the good DDR2 ram that you see with D9 chips are manufactured by Micron and Micron owns Crucial so they get the best chips period. My balistix are only running on 2.1v at my current settings and they are Orthos stable. I've actually just recently been testing them at 1200mhz and they are just as stable so don't worry, start reading the stickies and get those rams properly tweaked.