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[jonisginger]

So

In Single Channel

1066mhz RAM ------> 1066FSB-------> CPU

In dual Channel

1066mhz RAM ----\
----->1066FSB ------->CPU
1066mhz RAM --- /

What you happen here? Would they both just run at 533mhz unless the FSB was 2132mhz? or more

 

[jackluo923]

Nope: it's possible

1066mhz RAM-----\
.........................--------FSB 1066------> CPU
1066mhz RAM ----/

means there are 2 1066mhz channels for the memory.

That means you're using 2:1 for the memory divider.

1066mhz CL5RAM-----\
...............................--------FSB 1066------> CPU
1066mhz CL5 RAM ----/

vs

533 mhz CL3 RAM-----\
...............................--------FSB 1066------> CPU
533 mhz CL3 RAM ----/

The difference in performance is only a few % ( less than 10% in most applications)

This is because the bottleneck of the FSB.

Since 2x 1066mhz RAM's bandwidth needs to go through 1066mhz FSB thus creating a bottleneck. Thus theoretically, 1066mhz vs the 533mhz yields the same performance. But in real situation, the Ram might miss a few clock cycles, i think the term is called cache miss.

 

[jonisginger]

How does changing the memory divider affect the rest of the system, and in particular, overclocking it?

 

[jackluo923]

Well if you have a very slow ram such as DDR2 400mhz /PC2 3200, then you could adjust the mem divider to 1:2 if to achieve 3.2ghz on a E4300.
People who are rich or just want absolutely the best performance, they would buy memory such as Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 or 1333mhz, and set the memory divider to 2:1 for max performance while they overclock. These memory would only be useful if you're doing extreme overclock with super high FSBs.


Let's use the E4300 as an example because its a value processor :

If you can and want to overclock the E4300 to 3.0ghz. Then the best performance:value would be buying a pair of 667mhz ( because its the cheapest at where I live, maybe different price at where you live ). I would adjust the multiplier to 2:1 meaning 2x more ram speed than the FSB. Now, if you overclock the processor to 3.0ghz, you would be overclocking the RAM to about 790mhz which is highly achieveable with regular 667mhz RAM.