Cpu memory control

[rabidmonkey]

Am seriously thinking of doing an AMD FX upgrade and have picked the Asrock 990FX-PRO with what'shisname branding. Checking the Asrock site for memory QVL, they state that a 6 core processor is required for 2K Mghz memory, eying AData Gaming v2, 2x4Gb. Since there are so few 6 core apps (games) available (if at all), I ask this question: How do idle cores
help to manage memory at any frequency?Hello,

 

[rolli59]

Welcome! If you are thinking about this as a gaming rig then you are making a mistake to go with the FX6100 CPU! A Phenom II X4 9xxBE series is faster at gaming!

 

[rabidmonkey]

Welcome! If you are thinking about this as a gaming rig then you are making a mistake to go with the FX6100 CPU! A Phenom II X4 9xxBE series is faster at gaming!

Yea, am currently running a Gig 890FX board w/ a Pll 955, GSkill 1600 CL7, a pair of Crucial M4s in R/0, pair of Gig 6970s in x-fire, Corsair HX850, in a 2 radiator (pre-cooler, main cooler inside an Antec 900, there went the HDD bays) water cooled (vga & cpu) rig. The thing runs fine @ 4.02 Ghz cpu, 2600 FSB & HT but try to get any more and the bios interrupts during POST and defaults to default. That's the why. As I understand, the FX-4170 is geared for the single thread (gaming) market but works well with higher freq memory, my question was: can idle cores assist memory control or could a 4 (active?) core chip handle the same higher memory frequency, the only reason for using the Dozer chip.
Since I feel the need to replace the buggy bios board (flashed that puppy twice, F6) I wanted to upgrade the mem as well and was trying to get some feedback, thank you for yours.

 

[rolli59]

Although Bulldozer supports higher speed memory it does not show in performance increase so what is the point!

 

[rabidmonkey]

Although Bulldozer supports higher speed memory it does not show in performance increase so what is the point!

Take a look
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=amd%20fx-4170&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cpu-world.com%2FCPUs%2FBulldozer%2FAMD-FX-Series%2520FX-4170%2520FD4170FRW4KGU.html&ei=EbOoTticBM-Utwff0mQ&usg=AFQjCNEHfjaIG2njLUQONZhMOR9gVWu9mw&cad=rja

AMD obviously saw the lack performance from the FX releases and held the baby (fastest) chip back until they got it right. Anyhoe I am interested in whether an idle core can/will control memory? Hello.

 

[beenthere]

The RAM is not controlled by a specific core. The RAM operates independently at the default frequency unless you OC it, regardless of how active specific cores are.

 

[rolli59]

The built in memory controller handles the Ram not the cores on the CPU! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_controller

 

[rabidmonkey]

The RAM is not controlled by a specific core. The RAM operates at the default frequency unless you OC it, regardless of how active specific cores are.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
I am assuming that you mean that only cores running a specific app control memory. As necessary, makes cents. wish life did.

 

[beenthere]

I mean that the RAM frequency remains the same regardless of the load on the individual CPU cores. As rolli59 stated, the IMC controls the RAM not the cores.

 

[rabidmonkey]

Thanks guys, I was a little confused that a motherboard manufacturer stated that in order to run 2000 Mhz ram, a six core cpu was required. Actually, isn't the memory controller dependent on the CPU-FSB frequency to determine the max frequency of ram it can handle?

 

[rolli59]

Thanks guys, I was a little confused that a motherboard manufacturer stated that in order to run 2000 Mhz ram, a six core cpu was required. Actually, isn't the memory controller dependent on the CPU-FSB frequency to determine the max frequency of ram it can handle?

That is right http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front-side_bus and therefore we have memory ratios!

 

[rabidmonkey]

Best answer selected by rabidmonkey.