1600 CPU in 1333 mobo?

As the title suggests, will a 1600 FSB CPU run without any problems in a HP xw6600 mobo, 1333 FSB?

And if so, what would be the characteristics of the CPU in this situation - i.e. would it run slower etc.?

 

Maybe. Depends on the chip and MB would need to know exact chip and MB to be sure. CPUs dont have an FSB. The numbers you are quoting relate to memory speed. ie your FSB is actually 200hz but DDR3 memory can carry out 8 actions at once therefore you multiply 200hz by 8 to give you 1600hz. Your CPU uses the FSB speed and has a multiplyer to get to its actual cpu speed. Again take your FSB speed of 200hz and you drop in a 3.4Ghz CPU your multiplyer would be 17 (200*17=3400). Assuming you are using DDR3 and your MB is running memory at 1333 your FSB will be 166hz. you could drop the same CPU in but use a multiplier of 20.5 to get the same overall speed. The system would be slightly slower though because of the reduced FSB.

Hope that helps. All of this is theoretical and will depend on the chip and board. some boards/chips will not let you increase the multiplier above stock so in those circumstances your 3.4GHz Chip would only run at 2.8GHz (166*17)

At least that is my understanding anyway

 

Putting the speed issue aside for a second, I would be inclined to stick with whatever speed memory the board specs state.

My experience has been that OEM boards are more likely to act flaky if the installed memory exceeds the original speed of the OEM memory. Even if the board automatically downclocks the RAM speed to match the board's capacity, the risk of Blue Screens of Death increases.

 

I agree with Gman. I don't know if it ever happens with OEM boards, but BIOS updates do sometimes increase a boards maximum FSB. May be something to look in to.

 

Thanks guys. I shall simply stick to the CPUs that are listed as compatible for my board - at least I know for sure I'm not going to suffer any problems.

Cheers