Can someone please explain to me...

[TigerLord]

the difference between CL3 DDR-667 rams vs CL 4 DDR-800 rams?

I'm 1-2 weeks away from ordering my P5B Deluxe and my E6600. The only thing I'm not settled on is the RAM.

I have OC'ed before, but I still consider myself a noob, and I am EXTREMELY lost when it comes to choose the ram.

I initially wanted to buy those 2GBHZ DDR-800:
http://www.kmelektronik.de/main_site/main.php?action=Product_Detail&ArtNr=11584&Shop=0

But then on another forum someone suggested those 2GBGA DDR-667:
http://www.kmelektronik.de/main_site/main.php?action=Product_Detail&ArtNr=12669&Shop=0

He explained that
DDR800 = PC6400 = 400mhz
DDR667 = PC5400 (in europe) = 333mhz

So I inquired, why would I buy slower rams for the same price? He explained the 2GBHZ are certified CL4 whereas the 2GBGA are certified CL3, so if I release timings on the 2GBGA in CL4 I'd hit 500mhz easily.

That was a lot of technobabble to me, but since this is just one person, I was wondering if he was right? I've always owned AMD chips before, now I already have an Ultra-120 with some AS5 sitting on my desk waiting for the E6600 to arrive, I definitely want to OC that baby.

Can anyone explain to me the difference, or did I already understand it right, that the 2GBGA are actually superior to the 2GBHZ because of the CL3 native certification? And both are D9M Micron right?

I apologize if such noobs question aren't allowed, feel free to nuke my post to hell if I violated rules !

(PS. I know prices are very high in Europe, nothing I can do about it).

[virtualrain]

CL3 at 333 will perform about the same as CL4 at 400 in real world. You are basically increasing latency by 33% going from CL3 to CL4 but you are increasing bandwidth by 20% going from 333 to 400. Net effect is probably negligable in real-world apps.

As far as overclocking, both sets will probably clock higher as you loosen timings... for example, you could probably run the 333 sticks at 400 if you loosen timings to CL4. Similarly, you could probably tighten timings to CL3 on the 400 sticks if you run them at 333

Basically, these sticks are probably equivalent and you may as well buy the lower priced ones in my opinion.

[TigerLord]

I was told the Team Xtreem DR667 CS3 when put on CS4 can reach 500mhz ...
which would allow me to maybe hit around 4.0ghz on my E6600.

I get with the 2GBHZ DDR800 I could hit 500mhz too, but on CS5 ...
I cannot find those Xtreem CS3 anywhere in Europe, but I've been trying to see if I could hit 500mhz on CS4 with the 2GBGA ...

Wouldn't this explain the price ? The 2GBGA/DDR667 priced a little higher than the 2GBHZ/DDR800 because the GA can hit 500mhz just like the HZ but at CS4 instead of CS 5?

Or did I understand this wrong?

Edit: As I kept reading I dont understand the point of pushing the ram as high as 500... dont you just need 450mhz x 9 = 4.0ghz ? 500x9 is 4.5ghz, no way the E6600 can take that on air. So if I want to run my E6600 at 3.6ghz I'd need 400mhzx9=3.6ghz, wouldnt it better to keep them at DDR800 with the lowest timings as possible ? I've read on Newegg some guy got his HZ to CAS3 on 425mhz ...

[virtualrain]

On Intel, you can clock the RAM higher than FSB... i.e. with a 4:5 ratio you can clock your RAM at 500MHz with a 400MHz front side bus. This has a postive effect on overall performance.

[TigerLord]

I thought having a 1:1 ratio gave the optimal performance ?

[virtualrain]

Not on Intel.