Question about MB fsb and cpu and memory rates

[Phil Pease]

Is there any reason to buy a mb that supports 400mhz fsb if I am using an
AMD 2500 cpu that only has 333mhz? Similarly any reason to buy DDR 3200 ram
that runs at 400mhz rather than DDR 2700 that is 333mhz?

Another question is - if I choose an nforce2 mb is there some advantage of
choosing an NVidea graphics card (for some design/compatibility reason)?

Another question - do I have to match the agp type (ie. 8x or 4X) with the
graphics card (agp 8x or 4x)? That is if my mb supports agp 8x does that
mean I need to get a graphics card that is agp 8x or will an 4x card work?

Thanks for your help.
Phil

 

[jeffc]

Is there any reason to buy a mb that supports 400mhz fsb if I am using an
AMD 2500 cpu that only has 333mhz? Similarly any reason to buy DDR 3200 ram
that runs at 400mhz rather than DDR 2700 that is 333mhz?

Upgradability in the future. (Although, unless there is serious upgrade
potential, at the low prices these days most people end up just buying new
stuff later anyway.)

 

[John]

Is there any reason to buy a mb that supports 400mhz fsb if I am using an

AMD 2500 cpu that only has 333mhz? Similarly any reason to buy DDR 3200 ram
that runs at 400mhz rather than DDR 2700 that is 333mhz?

It will leave you room to overclock the chip if you want. 2500+ are
very overclockable with good cooling of course. Plenty of people have
pushed the chip to 3200+ speeds with a good HSF. Because of this you
might the 400mhz DDR memory because you wouldn't want it to bottleneck
you.

On the other hand, if you plan never to overclock and the next time
you upgrade you're gonna go for AMD 64 or the like, then you might as
well stick with the 333mhz stuff.

Another question is - if I choose an nforce2 mb is there some advantage of
choosing an NVidea graphics card (for some design/compatibility reason)?

No advantage at all. Infact most people are going with the Radeon type
cards now.

Another question - do I have to match the agp type (ie. 8x or 4X) with the
graphics card (agp 8x or 4x)? That is if my mb supports agp 8x does that
mean I need to get a graphics card that is agp 8x or will an 4x card work?

Yet again, no. Because most of the new mboards, (Since I last checked)
can handle either 4X or 8X. Which means that you can put a 4X speed
card in and it should still work. All you have to make sure is that if
it's a old gfx card that the voltage is ok.

If you do go the 8X option, then make sure you change the settings in
your BIOS because most of the time it's defaulted to 4X speed and you
have to change it to 8X.

 

[E. Harris]

Is there any reason to buy a mb that supports 400mhz fsb if I am using an
AMD 2500 cpu that only has 333mhz? Similarly any reason to buy DDR 3200 ram
that runs at 400mhz rather than DDR 2700 that is 333mhz? +++ ++++

Another question is - if I choose an nforce2 mb is there some advantage of
choosing an NVidea graphics card (for some design/compatibility reason)?

Another question - do I have to match the agp type (ie. 8x or 4X) with the
graphics card (agp 8x or 4x)? That is if my mb supports agp 8x does that
mean I need to get a graphics card that is agp 8x or will an 4x card work? ++++ ++++

Thanks for your help.
Phil