Deciding on DDR memory

[Rainman503]

I’m building my first PC to be primarily used for video editing and have a memory selection question. I’m building my box with a Pentium D 830 with a FSB of 800 mhz and an Intel D945PVSLKR MOBO that supports 400/533/667mhz memory and dual channel mode. I’m planning to begin with 1 mb (2 x 512) of memory configured as dual channel. In reading through various literature I see that PC2-3200 (DDR2-400) configured as dual channel provides enough bandwidth (6.4 GB/s) to match the 800 mhz FSB capacity of the processor.

Is there any advantage to installing faster memory such as PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) or PC2-5300 (DDR2-667), which both exceed the 800 mhz FSB capacity of the processor, other than looking forward at upgrading the processor at some point?

http://www.kingston.com/newtech/MKF_520DDRwhitepaper.pdf
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/133

[glc]

DDR2-533 is actually a better match. Corsair Value Select is probably the best for the money.

[Rainman503]

GLC, can you explain why DDR2-533 is a better match than DDR2-400? If I use DDR2-400 am I creating a bottleneck anywhere?

[glc]

I don't have a link to the math, but yes, DDR2-400 will bottleneck it slightly. DDR2-667 is overkill unless you are planning on putting a 1066 bus processor in. If you look, you will see that 533 is cheaper than 400 anyway.