Which Motherboard and Ram matches my CPU's FSB speed?

[dharker]

My old motherboard blew up last year and as i was skint i bought a bunch of parts which fortunately work together. Now i have some money under the belt i want to make it all run smoothly.
Firstly, my CPU is an AMD Phenom X4 64 9550.
AM2+
Core Stepping B3
Frequency 2200 MHz
Bus Speed 533 MHz memory Controller
Hypertransport 3 Technology
L2 Cache 4x512kb 16 way
L3 Cache 2Mb 32-way

My graphics card is a VTX Radeon HD 5770.

Would i be right to assume i need DD3 533 chips or somewhere around PC-4264 for the RAM?

Also, which Motherboard would accept both AM2+ sockets and DDR3 RAM at the same time?


Any help would be massivley appreciated!!

Thanks, Dave

 

[WR2]

What motherboard are you using now?

 

[nekulturny]

You're using the older Phenom (1).. The short answer is, 1st gen Phenoms do not support DDR3 RAM, DDR2 is what you would be sticking with. Also, you may be hard pressed to find a new production AM2+ board. They're reached EOL (End of life)

AM3 socket is what Phenom IIs run on (as well as the new AM3+) these boards use DDR3 RAM, however AM3 will not work with a 1st gen Phenom, hence no DDR3. A 2nd gen Phenom II can however use both DDR2 or DDR3 depending on the board its installed in.

The speed of the DDR2 really doesn't matter, the speed referenced on the RAM is what its rated for, it doesn't necessarily have to run at that speed, it will revert to a default speed. So if you bought 800mhz rated DDR2, it will run by default at whatever is optimal if that number happens to be lower like 667mhz or 533mhz.

 

[dharker]

What motherboard are you using now?

My current Motherboard is the GA-MA69VM-S2.

Obviously this is a AM2 socket board so even though my CPU works on it, the performance is drastically reduced. It looks as though i basically need to find an AM2+ board and buy some decent DDR2 RAM for it.

 

[nekulturny]

My current Motherboard is the GA-MA69VM-S2.

Obviously this is a AM2 socket board so even though my CPU works on it, the performance is drastically reduced. It looks as though i basically need to find an AM2+ board and buy some decent DDR2 RAM for it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157204

I did manage to find this. This is a hybrid board, it does indeed have both DDR3 and DDR2 slots, but again 1st gen Phenoms do not have a memory controller for DDR3.

Although the board will take up to 8GB DDR2 RAM, depending on your operating system, you may not be able to use that much.

I would go with a 2x 2GB configuration. I would try to find used RAM, because these are surprisingly expensive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178219

 

[dharker]

Best answer selected by dharker.

 

[dharker]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157204

I did manage to find this. This is a hybrid board, it does indeed have both DDR3 and DDR2 slots, but again 1st gen Phenoms do not have a memory controller for DDR3.

Although the board will take up to 8GB DDR2 RAM, depending on your operating system, you may not be able to use that much.

I would go with a 2x 2GB configuration. I would try to find used RAM, because these are surprisingly expensive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178219

Thanks mate, that board looks a good buy - nice and cheap plus supports any future upgrades i might get. I'll most likely find some nice DDR2 RAM on ebay - That one you linked to is way too expensive for my tastes!!

Thanks again, Dave