what is the FSB multiplier (Front Side Bus) of a p4 running at 533 FSB?
is it 4?
cuz 4* 133 = 533
if so, does this mean pc133 RAM is what you need for this cpu and that anything more pc133 (say 400 MHz DDR) is a waste of money..
Are you sure that you are not talking about [link=http://www.hardwareforums.com/ddr-speeds-pcxxxx-ddrxxx-cheat-sheet-12882/]this??[/link]
All Pentium 4’s use a quad-pumped FSB. If you’re using SDRAM, PC133 will do the trick. With DDR it’s PC2100/DDR266. While anything faster isn’t going to help, you may find that PC3200 is going to be cheaper than buying the slower stuff.
You want at least ddr400 if you want to avoid bottlenecking. The 133mhz FSB on a P4 means its bandwidth is 4.2gb/s. DDR400 will provide up to 3.2gb/s, though in reality its more like 2.6-2.8gb/s.
I used to have a 100mhz FSB P4 with pc100, it was simply the chea[er option the time. RDRAM was, and still is too expensive. Like Big B said, ddr400 will probably be cheaper than pc133 anyway!
You only need DDR266 for a 533MHz FSB P4. The external clock is 133MHz, which multiplied by 4 give 533MHz. DDR266 runs at 133MHz. DDR400 can be used, but it’s not going to give any more bandwidth unless you’re running an asynchronous FSB:Mem ratio or overclocking.
On the flip-side, you’re probably going to pay more for PC2100 than PC3200, which makes little sense since PC3200 will run fine at slower speeds.