Memory Clock Speed?

[gojc]

Question regarding memory clock speed. I was looking at ATI's web site and noticed they list the x850 xt's (PE) memory clock speed at 580. Does anyone know why this number is so low compared to most of the other x850 xt's available or am I not understanding memory clock speed which is most likely the case...

 

[Admiral_Cecil]

Hello,

The X850 XT PE core clock ranges 520-540 mhz and the memory clock is 1180 mhz. This card is the used to be high high end and already have the fastest core/ memory clock of the X800 series.

 

[gojc]

Thanks...

That's what I thought as well...I wonder why they (ATI) have it listed as 590 for the x850xt PE and 540 for the x850 xt. Are there two memory chips on the board so you need to double the speed? I have inlcuded the link to the ATI web page just in case anyone wants to review and post a reply. I'm having a tough time understanding this memory clock speed... :?

 

[gojc]

I believe I forgot to include the link in my last post...

here it is.

http://apps.ati.com/ATIcompare/result.asp

 

[Crashman]

You're confused because you don't understand the technology. The memory is Double Data Rate, that's why you multiply by 2 to get the bigger number.

It's like system memory, DDR400 runs at 200MHz. Double Data Rate technology means the data cycles at 400MHz when you have a clock cycle of 200MHz.

The same thing happens with video cards, some sources show the clock rate of 580MHz, others show the data rate of 1160MHz, for the same graphics RAM.

 

[gojc]

Thanks Crashman...

You are correct, I didn't understand the technology...that's why I posted the question.

Thanks Again,