Big RAM Situation...!

[BakedGoods]

Hey guys, I've read the memory FAQ and a few other resouces about RAM but I still have an unanswered question...

I currently have a 512 stick of PC2700 333Mhz RAM. I want to upgrade. If I buy another 512MB stick it'll be PC3200 400Mhz which won't matter because RAM will only go at the speed of the lowest stick, right? So I thought, okay I'll grab 2 new sticks of PC3200, but alas, my motherboard supports 400Mhz but my cpu is only at 333Mhz. So I ask, does the slow CPU bottleneck the ram? Or are they independent of each other? Here's a simple illustration to demonstrate my question:

Bottleneck:
Mobo 400Mhz ---- > CPU 333Mhz < ---- RAM 400Mhz

or

Independent:
CPU 333Mhz ---- > Mobo 400Mhz = ---- RAM 400Mhz

Also, lets pretend that I can run the ram at max speeds (PC3200) is it really THAT much faster then PC2700 333Mhz? Where can I find benchmarks proving this? Also, where can I grab benchmarks showing preformance for a stick of 1GB and dual channel 2x512MB?

Thanks guys!!

 

[Spec3]

Well if your running a AMD XP system where the cpu is unlocked you could always raise the FSB to 200 and lower the multi...or just raise the FSB and overclock the cpu as well. But running pc3200 ram at pc2700 speeds doesn't bottleneck it..it just makes the FSB lower than it could be. Unless your using dividers on the memory FSB=CPU bus speed as they run in a 1:1 relationship

 

[BakedGoods]

So since my CPU is 333Mhz my Mobo invertedly becomes 333Mhz so I wouldn't get a preformance boost at all with 400Mhz RAM unless I have a 400Mhz CPU?

And yeah, OC'ing isn't an option for me

 

[Spec3]

Yup thats right. You may be able to get tighter timings out of the pc3200@2700 speeds but other than that there is no gain