How to figure out the PC component compatibility

Got it! The memory sticks are bit easier to figure. Assuming I would like to get the DUO core, but in the spec info of the duo core motherboard, I see the FSB speed about 321mhz, so that means it is the limit of the FSB could transfer data back and forth, but what about if I am not satisfied with the speed of the FSB, should I go to look for the motherboard that support higher FSB and then compare the socket of the motherboard to see if it is compatible with the CPU I buy? Because there are so many motherboards out there, it is hard to find the one that will satisfy one's greed. Won't it be a hassle if you find one motherboard that you are satisfied with but it turns out that it won't support or the socket does not match the CPU you buy?

Furthermore, also how do you determine the speed between the CPU, RAM and the FSB, like how fast the CPU could interact with the FSB? I heard that you have to multiply the speed of the CPU by 2 to get the transfer rate of the FSB's interaction with the CPU. But I am not sure. I know you have stated or already given a really good explanation, but it is a bit confusing...I hope you could simplify a bit because sooner or later we will be building a PC in class and that's really crucial to know all the spec in order to build a good one to score a high mark for grading.

 

Your terms are a little confused. Dual core is a CPU with two cores, 'Core 2 Duo' is an example of a dual core, one of many possible choices, along with the Pentium Dual Core and the Athlon X2, for example.
To be honest, with new PCs, buying motherboards that support the right FSB isn't hard, the vast majority of Socket 775 (Core 2) boards support the full 1600mhz possible FSB. With LGA1156 (Core i5/i7) and LGA1366 (Core i7 high-end) you don't actually need to worry about FSBs as the BCF (base clock frequency) is uniform (so far). Thus, essentially what it boils down to is:
If I want a Socket 775 CPU, I buy a Socket 775 motherboard.
If I want a Socket 1156 CPU, I buy a Socket 1156 motherboard
and so on.
With the demise of the older chipset brands and the general badness of nvidia chipsets, your only real options are the chipsets produced by the manufacturer, e.g. Intel.
Chipsets for the newest CPUs are straight forward, if it's LGA1156, it's P55 - that's it, that's your only option so far (P57 is forthcoming but isn't really much different). Likewise for LGA1366, X58 is all you get.
The LGA775 stuff is a little more complex as it's much older - all the old three number (e.g. 815, 845, 915, 965, 975) chipsets are ancient so don't worry about those. That leaves P31,G31,G33,G35,P35,X38,P41,G41,P43,G43,G45,P45 and X48. A long list - generally, the higher the first number the newer it is (i.e. 3 is old, 4 is new) and the higher the second number is, the more powerful the chipset is. P41s for example are basic budget boards, X48s are not. The letter really only means whether the chipset has integrated graphics or not, G means it does, P or X means it doesn't.

 

BTW, I am not sure if that is how you figure that. To see if the speed of the CPU can be paired with the FSB(that means the FSB could ulitize the max speed of the transfer rate of the CPU), we have to look at the speed of the CPU and then compare the speed of the FSB stated in the motherboard spec?

For instance, I just checked the duo core CPU, and the speed of it for example is 800mhz, so I have to check the spec of the motherboard, and scroll down to the FSB info and check to see if the FSB has the same speed of 800hmz? and I already checked it, and the FSB says 1088/1330/800hmz. Just wanna confirm if that is how you guys match the speed of the CPU with the FSB for compatibility(that means the FSB could use the max speed of the CPU to transfer stuff back and forth).

 

That post doesn't make a lot of sense. Remember, all CPUs have different multipliers, so forget about the core speed (e.g. 2666mhz) for compatibility's sake, it's the front side bus you want. Pretty much all 775 boards support up to 1600 (i.e. 400)mhz FSBs, which includes all the ones below - 1333, 1066 and 800.

 

Thanks a lot for helping.

 

Are you Interested in AMD or Intel ?

 

Does it matter?