Mobo and Memory Pairing for E8400?

[IsAnybodyHome]

I'm planning on building a budget system centered around a E8400 wolfdale chip but I am getting a bit confused over the FSB and memory speeds. For example, I am seeing LGA 775 motherboards (1333 FSB) with DDR2 1066 as a memory standard, and have no idea how these numbers work with each other.

I have no intentions of overclocking the system and I'm really just looking for something stable at a decent price. Any clarification on this matter and mobo/memory recommendations are greatly appreciated!

 

[acstech]

The FSB is quad pumped (or QDR) on the Intel platform, while DDR memory is Double Data Rate. What that means is that data is transferred 4 times per clock cycle on the FSB, while data is transferred twice per clock cycle on the memory. So to get actual clock speeds you divide the rated FSB by 4, and the DDR by 2. So your 1333 FSB is really running at 333MHz, and 1066 DDR is really running at 533 MHz.

Common knowledge is that you get the best performance with the memory at a 1:1 ratio of actual clock speed between itself and the FSB speed. So if you were running a 1333 rated FSB processor, you'd actually be running the FSB at 333MHz. Therefore, you'd want to run the memory at 333MHz, or DDR 667. The reason the board is rated to 1066 on the memory is that it can run it asynchronously from the FSB, which really doesn't do a whole lot for you. That's a nice way of saying it's marketing.

In reality though you'll probably want to get faster memory than 667, even if you don't intend to overclock. Usually a DDR2-800 module is spec'd for tighter timings at lower clock speeds. Plus, if you ever do decide to overclock or put a processor with a faster FSB in there, then your memory won't be holding you back from running it at 1:1.

Since you're looking at a budget system, here's my recommendations:

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138126

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227139