Not overclocking - but 533 will be obsolete soon. Buy 667?

[StringCheesian]

Lets say I'm assembling a new Core 2 Duo system, not into overclocking, that I'm on a tight budget, and that my next build will be on a tight budget too. I'll want to reuse as many of these parts as possible.

So would it still be a good idea to buy DDR2-667 CL5 so that I can reuse it when core 2 duo FSBs increase from 1066 to 1333? Even if it means running the memory/fsb out of sync until then (several years at least)?

In other words: Which budget memory for the non-overclocker is most future proof? 667 CL5? 800 CL5? Neither, so might as well buy 533 CL4?

 

[Mondoman]

800 more than 667 more than 533.
Remember, you can always run RAM slower than its rating, so all of the above can be run at DDR2-533 speed.

 

[HotFoot]

I agree.

You can get 800 MHz RAM at fairly reasonable prices now. It was pretty high last fall, but things have settled down. I just picked up 2x1024MB of 800MHz CL5 memory for CDN$155. It was the OCZ Gold XTC variety.

 

[StringCheesian]

Thanks.

Remember, you can always run RAM slower than its rating, so all of the above can be run at DDR2-533 speed.

Would that result in 533 CL5? Or would DRR2-800 CL5 be able to downclock to 533 CL4 or even 533 CL3?

 

[HotFoot]

You should be able to tighten the timings... in fact this should happen automatically if you don't set things manually. When I run my 533 below spec for 1:1, I tighten the timings to CL3.