Ip35e with 1066 ram?

[redzoneos]

so I have an ip35e mobo, corsair xms2 ddr2 800 ram and an E2160...

I'm lookin' to upgrade my memory at least, and then possibly the cpu...

I intend to get the Q9550 for cpu...

curious about the ram though, it says it only supports ddr2 800, is it possible to get 1066 for this board? even if it's possible, is the performance increase noticeable enough to take the compatibility risk??

The reason i'm wondering is because I run vista 64 ultimate, and i only have 2gb of ram currently which is clearly not sufficient enough... so I was planning on getting 2x 2gb for 4gb total ram...

but since i'm gonna buy new ram anyway, i thought i'd consider an upgrade to 1066 if it's worth while.

 

[MMclachlan]

You can run 1066 RAM with that board. 1066 is actually just DDR2 800 that has been verified to run at 1066. You will have to manually set the voltage, speed and timing in the BIOS to run the rated speed also, otherwise it will default to 800Mhz. A point to note is that you will only gain roughly 6% in memory performance going form 800-1066 because as the frequency increases the timings are loosened to keep it stable, athough with the prices so close you might as well go 1066 IMO.
My bro uses 1066 Corsair Dominators on a IP35 'Dark Raider' board, and he found that it will only run 2 sticks at 1066, and as he has 4x 1Gb he has to run them at 850Mhz. A point to bear in mind, but as you are planning on 2x 2Gb is shouldn't be an issue.

I see you are going to drop a Q9550 in? If you do and you get an E0 stepping chip it'd be nice to hear how it goes. The lastest BIOS support list doesn't specify support for the E0 stepped Q9x50s so my bro would be interested if it works!

 

[redzoneos]

i'll let you know about the q9550! thanks for the ram info

 

[redzoneos]

MM just to let you know i have the latest bios and the Q9550 works fine, and it is E0 step... haven't tried the new ram as yet though

 

[MMclachlan]

Ahh great stuff. Thx!