Intel’s next generation 32nm CPU that has a GPU on the same chip, all developed in monolithic design is again stuck with DDR3 1333 MHz and nothing faster, at least not officially.
This is actually good news as most Nehalem chips were stuck with DDR3 1066 due to some flaws in the original design, but when it comes to Westmere quad- and dual-cores officially they feature DDR3 1333 support.
Of course, non-officially DDR3 1600 and faster memory will work but Intel simply doesn’t want to guarantee that. Just like the Lynnfiend quad-core and latest Clarkdale desktop 32nm CPU with 45nm GPU, the magic official supported memory is DDR3 1333 and anything faster is out of spec.
AMD is rumoured to have at least DDR3 1600MHz if not even faster approved on its Llano chips, but this is something that we have yet to confirm.