Pentium Dual Core E6500 MAX DDR3 RAM Speed

[jimmys_]

I'm interested in buying the Pentium Dual Core E6500 and I would like to ask what is the maximum DDR3 RAM speed that is supported? Is the processor limiting somehow the speed or it's just up to the motherboard? I would like to use 1600MHz modules and wanted to know if they would be compatible.

Also, I noticed in the AMD website, that the AMD processors have a limit in their max supported speed. For example it says that even the Phenom II support up to 1333MHz. Is this information accurate?

 

[Emerald]

it really depends on the MOBO you are going to use not the CPU

 

[Shadow703793]

^+1.

The MAX RAM speed is determined by the motherboard. As far as the E6500 goes, your RAM will most likely run at 1066 on default settings.

The question is WHY would you get a LGA775 CPU with a board that support DDR3? You may as well go with an Athlon II X3/X4 and a good AM3 board if you plan to run DDR3.

 

[jimmys_]

The MAX RAM speed is determined by the motherboard. As far as the E6500 goes, your RAM will most likely run at 1066 on default settings.

What do you mean it will run at 1066? If my motherboards supports up to 1600 and I have 1600 modules, then it won't run at 1600?

The question is WHY would you get a LGA775 CPU with a board that support DDR3? You may as well go with an Athlon II X3/X4 and a good AM3 board if you plan to run DDR3.

The reason is that the E6500 is ranked higher according to the CPU charts than the AMD processors I can get for the same price. Also, my concern is what I said in my initial post that in specification's site of AMD for the Athlon processors, it says that it supports up to 1066MHz of DDR3.

Do you have any suggestion about which combination I can make. I'm looking for low-mid end PC for running simple office tasks. The reason I decided to go with DDR3 is that it costs the same as DDR2 and also I can get the 1600MHz modules almost at the same price as the 1066/1333.

 

[Shadow703793]

What do you mean it will run at 1066? If my motherboards supports up to 1600 and I have 1600 modules, then it won't run at 1600?

Not automatically. You will most likely have to go in to the BIOS and manually set it to 1600.

Also, my concern is what I said in my initial post that in specification's site of AMD for the Athlon processors, it says that it supports up to 1066MHz of DDR3.

No. Again, it is up to the board. AMD CPUs will work fine with DDR3 1600 RAM.

The reason I decided to go with DDR3 is that it costs the same as DDR2 and also I can get the 1600MHz modules almost at the same price as the 1066/1333.

Agreed. No point in getting DDR2 imo. The question is, is this a new build (as in new CPU + RAM + board)?

The E6500 is $80 on Neweg. You can get an OEM Athlon II X4 620 for $85 on Newegg (OEM means no CPU cooler, buy your own; $90 for retail X4 620). The X4 620 is better than the E8200 (which is more or less similar to the E6500) in most cases: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/106?vs=58 . As games,etc become multi threaded, you may as well get the X4. If you do choose to, you can easily OC the X4 and even upgrade to an X6 for very little cost by end of next year.

Basically, what I'm saying is you ate getting in to a dead platform. No point in doing that imo. Spend a bit more and get a better future proof set up.

 

[jimmys_]

The E6500 is $80 on Neweg. You can get an OEM Athlon II X4 620 for $85 on Newegg (OEM means no CPU cooler, buy your own; $90 for retail X4 620). The X4 620 is better than the E8200 (which is more or less similar to the E6500) in most cases: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/106?vs=58 . As games,etc become multi threaded, you may as well get the X4. If you do choose to, you can easily OC the X4 and even upgrade to an X6 for very little cost by end of next year.

Basically, what I'm saying is you ate getting in to a dead platform. No point in doing that imo. Spend a bit more and get a better future proof set up.

Thanks for your help.

Yes I'm talking for an new built. As I said before this PC in intended just for simple office tasks. It won't be mine and the person who wants it doesn't play games or has anything to do with extreme graphics, video editing etc. Maybe a Pentium-II would do the job as well. 😉

Also, where I live I can't buy from Newegg or any online store, I have to live with what my local store offers to me.

But I found out that even if I wanted to buy the cheapest PC (which would still do the job), It wouldn't be any cheaper than the one with DDR3 and dual-core processor etc. So I believe it would be better to have some extra power and wouldn't hurt anyone. So a few dollars more for getting the best in that range would be better and that's why I wanted to find out if it would run 1600MHz.

About the AMD's I still have some concerns because at my local store they said that the AMD's series 1xx, 2xx support up to 1066MHz DDR3 RAM.

 

[Shadow703793]

Also, where I live I can't buy from Newegg or any online store, I have to live with what my local store offers to me.

Ahh... that sucks.

About the AMD's I still have some concerns because at my local store they said that the AMD's series 1xx, 2xx support up to 1066MHz DDR3 RAM.

What do you mean by 1xx and 2xx?

 

[jimmys_]

I mean the 100 and 200 series. For example Athlon II X2 215 2.7GHz Dual-Core is a 200 series. But again, this is something that is not 100% accurate. I'm trying to find out if this is true or not.

 

[ar-myoozick]

I have some ddr3 that is rated at 2000 mhz. Currently, they are overclocked with the cpu, but for quite a while, I had them running at 1066 because they defaulted to that speed. I can say that if you're going to run simple office tasks, such as running productivity suites like Microsoft or OpenOffice, sending/recieving emails, etc., then 1066 is plenty fast enough.

if you want to be able to game, it's still plenty fast. 🙂