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CPU frequency is always much higher than RAM frequency (which is the cause of the memory latency problem). So does it mean that, for a given CPU frequency, any RAM frequency can work, and there is no lower bound on RAM frequency?

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  • That is why there is processor cache to compensate for the speed difference.
    – sawdust
    Dec 26, 2013 at 7:46

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No. There are a number of factors that impose a lower bound on RAM frequency. For example, however many frequency divider options are available, one of them is the lowest divider, and there is no way to generate a frequency lower than that.

Also, when people talk about matching the CPU frequency to the RAM frequency, they don't mean the CPU's internal core frequency, they mean its bus frequency. On some older CPUs, performance was a bit better if the divider for the CPU's front side bus to the memory clock was 1:1 rather than something like 3:2.

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  • Thanks. BY "divider", do you mean ratio?
    – Tim
    Dec 27, 2013 at 2:45
  • Essentially, yes.
    – David Schwartz
    Dec 27, 2013 at 3:15

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