Memory, is this latency reading good?

[Catsonar]

Ok, first of all i would like to admit to that, yes i have piece of shit Ram( PC2100), but in the mean time from now to when I get my new Ram i think that with this reading I'll be ok. Well, got that out of the way, now, I decided to take my memory to yet another level of performing( or lets just say squizing the last bit of juice out). I recently went into the bios and tweaked my latency in the ram. DSP default was 2.5- 3-3-6, then after a few test to see if my computer would boot, I came up with 2.0-2-2-3. Now remember I have also already OCed the memory to 333mhz( PC2700) speeds. So are these #'s good for latency or what?thx

 

[Nazo]

Low latency is good, but really, you can usually only get the memory to work efficiently at the latencies it's MADE for. For example, you can see mine is running at 2-2-2-6, wheras that 6 could have been a 5 (on this system.) It will start up and run just fine at that, but not as efficiently. That's because it just isn't made for a 5 there. Of course, bios defaults are considerably higher, which is slower.

Anyway, basically what you do is open SiSoft Sandra or a similar utility (free version should do) and run the memory test, write down the numbers, then reboot and change the latency settings and repeat. Stick to whichever setting gives you the highest numbers. You might want to try some more real world tests after, but this at least gives you a good quick way to find out which seems to work best.

Anyway, the difference is MOSTLY minimal. I don't remember what change I saw when I put it on 2-2-2-5, but it was only a little bit less really. Not too bad. Still, no reason to run at 5 when it's made for and better at 6.