IP35 Pro and Q9450

[greyt_Autumn]

That's what's coming to me at the holidays. The Mobo for certain, and that's my planned cpu. Is decent DDR2 800 the way to go? I'm quite sure that's the fastest ram it'll support anyhow, even with the faster FSB.

TIA

 

[BillParrish]

You do not mention if you intend to OC or not. (BTW do not think that cpu will be here for Christmas, Jan 08 is target launch, hope I am wrong, doh nm I see you are aware of that._ )

CPU max mulitplier is 8, stock FSB is 333MHz.
for the (mostly) preferred 1:1 memory ratio for stability the ram will run at 2 x the FSB.

not [H]ard,
PC5400 (667MHz) memory is all you would need. 333FSB x 2 You could run a memory mulitplier and use faster memory for increased memory bandwidth, not a big performance increase, I doubt you would "feel" it much if at all. However as PC6400 is the most popular speed it might end up being as cheap or cheaper than 667 so nothing to loose and all to gain.

OC - medium [H]ard.
That cpu has a max mulitplier of 8 and with PC6400 (800MHz) memory you could run a FSB of 400MHz x 8 for a cpu speed of 3.2 and the memory would be right on spec for some very nice performance and rock solid stability (assuming the cpu will do it, it should, and you add a decent aftermarket heatsink, there is no question the board will, there is a guy now with 8GB (4 x 2GB) running over 400MHz. on the plain version of the board )

OC - very [H]ard
you will need an FSB significantly over 400 (8x450 = 3.6GHz) to explore the limits of the CPU overclock and with pc6400 memory will need top notch stuff (4 4 4 12) and then the timings will have to be losened . PC8500 (1066MHz) memory would be a better choice just to be sure the memory would not hold you back as 533 x 8 = 4.2GHz and not sure the board would do that FSB without some serious rework of the thermals and probally not then. But it would make seeing what the cpu would do a breeze as the memory would be underclocked some and not hold you back or be a concern.

 

[greyt_Autumn]

I'm aware that the CPU is a January launch and will probably be limited availability for a while.. Everything else is out now- and I'm not initially planning on an OC, just quality parts

I'm seeing 4GB for $100 no rebates at buy.com so I'll probably jump on that. Ballistix tracers- could care less about the lights!