Nehalem-EP......BLOOMFIELD

[savantu]

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3. Unless you intend to overclock the max stock DDR3 RAM speeds supported will be DDR3-1333 for the 3.2GHz part and DDR3-1066 for the 2.66 and 2.93 GHz parts. However, overclocking will likely allow any speed up to the max supported by your memory. Keep in mind that Bloomfields IMC and tri-channel capability means there will be a lot less need for super high speeds (after all, DDR3-1333 in tri-channel mode has a peak theoretical bandwidth of 32GB/s which is more than C2D L2 cache!). I would focus on a kit that has lower latencies at 1333 speeds than a kit that blows the doors off at 2000MHz. More info on RAM potential with Nehalem here.

Cheers,
-Chris.

Umh..the L2 of C2D does 96GBs at 3GHz.

Your point stands however.I don't think that OC memory will give a worthy performance benefit at over 30GBs.Lower latency might be a winner.

On a similar note , I'd expect the Nehalem IMC to be more sensitive to memory and especially voltage.Because it is incorporated into the CPU , it is made with 45nm.That causes problems when linked to higher voltages needed for RAM links ( 1.5V ).Being in the chipset alleviated this problem since chipsets are usually on n-1 or n-2 process tech which matches better the voltages used in RAM.