4GB of DDR3 RAM w/ only DRAM Frequency of 532MHz!? Help!

All DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 memory is actually running at half the clock speed reported by the manufacturers. They double the clock speed for marketing reasons related to the fact that DDR means double data rate.

Its like this. You know how light waves like radio waves look like? kinda similar, ups and downs equally spaced. I tired to make a diagram but this forum poster screwed it up every time after I hit post reply.

This is how the clock frequency works too. Normally work is done on only the top or the bottom of these fluctuations (usually the top). For DDR technologies work is done on both sides of the clock, effectively making it as fast as something with double the clock frequency. The edges are technically called the rising and falling ends of each clock cycle.

Technically your modules are running at 1066MHz. The proper term would be 1066MT/s, meaning Mega (mega being used just like in mega bits per second) Transfers per second but that would have been more complex to explain than simply doubling the reported clock frequency even though the actual frequency stayed the same.

This technique for speed improvement (DDR) has benefits over doubling the actual clock frequency of the device.

Awesome thanks a lot, very thorough and informative. I understand now. The fact that they're running at 1066MHz in actuality is a relief and I feel a lot better. Is that good speed considering it's 4GB of DDR3?

I think there is a decent advantage over 1066MHz if you have 1333MHz nad another advantage if you have 1600MHz. Of course even faster RAM would be slightly better but 1600MHz RAM and down to 1333MHz and 1066MHz have similar prices, unlike the faster than 1600MHz kits that are often a lot more expensive.

Considering your chipset, the reason for this lower than normal speed compared to today's offerings is obvious. Your chipset was made when DDR3 often didn't go faster than 1066MHz.

Wow so the entire rig is screwed then, since the motherboard's socket type is an outdated 775 Socket stuck with a e6700 3.2HGz dual core and the RAM is capped at an abysmal 1066MHz?

Well I wouldn't say abysmal. You can also probably just get faster RAM for your system and manually set the frequency and timings for a faster kit, say 1600MHz.

I have talked with several people who have aging LGA 775 Cre 2 Quads and Duos with modern RAM running just fine.

Yeah I pulled the mobo out of this: http://www.emachines.com/ec/en/US/content/model/PV.NCW0...

It says it's standard is 1333MHz which is one you had listed. The CMOS Setup Utility BIOS won't let me overclock anything.

Then your memory modules might be stuck at 1066MHz because they don't support anything higher.

you should be able to overclock on that motherboard so I don't see why it won't work unless you tried multiplier overclocking on a CPU that isn't unlocked. Try increasing the BLCK from 200MHz to 220MHz and see if Windows system properties reports an increase in CPU clock speed.

If it does then you have successfully overclocked your CPU and memory by 10%, meaning a 3.52GHz CPU clock and 1173MHz or so memory clock.

That would be perfect. There's just no OC option in the BIOS, I've looked through it thoroughly. I've fairly savvy with this, I just never dealt with a CPU or mobo limitation before. I'm not sure what you mean by increasing the BLCK but I follow you on how to check the increase.

There are two different metrics, the one reported by the marketers who sell the product and the one reported by the engineers who design the product.

DDR SDRAM transfers data on both the rising and falling edge of the clock cycle, meaning that it makes two transfers per bus clock cycle. The bus clock frequency for DDR3-1066 (PC-8500) is 533Mhz, the clock frequency for DDR3-1600 (PC-12800) is 800Mhz. This gets confusing because DDR3 has specifications spanning all the way from 400Mhz bus frequency (800Mhz transfer frequency) to 800Mhz bus frequency (1600Mhz transfer frequency) and beyond. Most motherboard BIOSes will report either one interchangeably (often on different boards from the same manufacturer, I'm looking at you ASUS) often labeled as "DRAM Frequency" of which no such thing actually exists. The bus frequency is the more technically correct one but the only way to tell for sure is to use your intuition.

Yeah, oddly enough it's CPU-Z that's saying under the Memory tab and then Timings that the memory is running at 532MHz. Wouldn't CPU-Z display more accurate results like you're saying?

CPU-Z is reporting the bus speed, which is what it should be reporting

There is no universally accepted standard on how hardware makers should deal with the different ways of explaining their hardware such as whether or not to call PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz, 1600MT/s, or 800MHz. Also as pointed out whether or not motherboard BIOSs use proper names for the frequencies...

Because of there not being a universally accepted standards companies unfortunately pretty much just do "whatever".