Overclocking and Memory timings?

[EnFoRcEr!!]

Well, I've pretty much got a good understand of how to overclock your processor. Just do it little by little and test it with programs like Prime95 to check its stability...but whats up with this memory timing i keep hearing about? I know the lower the number the better, but how can I check what mine is set to, and how to better it?

Pentium 4 2.8c @ 3.16ghz
Geil 512x2 PC3200 Dual Channel
Gigabyte GA81875

It also says my fsb is only at 220? I thought it was supposed to be higher...
Any tips on how to get more out of my rig would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[nst6563]

google cpu-z and d/l it. It will tell you your memory timings. Or your mb should have the settings in the bios under the advanced setup (I think that's where GB puts it...you have to hit F1 or alt-F1 or something to get there...)

If I remember right, the Geil timings for their 3200 were 2.5-3-3-6. You could lower the CAS but that won't get you squat on an Intel system. The 3-3-6 numbers are the ones you should play with...and even then just the 3-3. The lowest you can go is 2-2.

change one at a time. If it doesn't work, give the ram a little more voltage. The Geil sticks like voltage...I've given mine 3.3v before and never a hiccup. After changing it and it boots into windows, do a Sandra bench (unbuffered preferably) and see the difference. Also prime a bit to see if it's stable.

good luck.

 

[MemoryInAGarden]

Remember if you start toying with those timings too much, you may be resetting CMOS

 

[nst6563]

or corrupting hdd data...

always running memtest after you change a setting can prevent the corruption as memtest will tell you if you're hardware just shat on itself or not...

 

[EnFoRcEr!!]

Hmmm...doesn't sound anything like hair pulling atleast, lol. My biggest question though, which I should have also asked from the start, is how will this affect my in-game performance? I plan to update my 9800Pro BIOS to an XT(with proper cooling of course), and obviously that will make a noticable difference, but what about the memory OC? Will that do enough for me to actually see a difference in anything other than benchmarks?

 

[Lazn_Work]

It also says my fsb is only at 220? I thought it was supposed to be higher...

Just because no one else as bothered to answer this..

220 = 880

The FSB is QDR, so while the actual clock is 220mhz the data rate is 4 times that.

==>Lazn

 

[Stugots]

memory timings in intel systems dont make nearly as much performance difference as they do in amd systems. if its running stable at whatever setting you have, id leave it alone. if you need to lax the timings further to get a higher overclock, do not hesitate. memory bandwidth is heavily affected by the fsb you run. my memory with timings of 3-4-4-8, 1:1 @ 271fsb, pulls about 6.3-6.4gb/s. the same memory, running at 227mhz, same timings, gets about 6.0-6.1gb/s.

 

[nst6563]

memory timings in intel systems dont make nearly as much performance difference as they do in amd systems. if its running stable at whatever setting you have, id leave it alone. if you need to lax the timings further to get a higher overclock, do not hesitate. memory bandwidth is heavily affected by the fsb you run. my memory with timings of 3-4-4-8, 1:1 @ 271fsb, pulls about 6.3-6.4gb/s. the same memory, running at 227mhz, same timings, gets about 6.0-6.1gb/s.

seeing your mem scores makes me sick. My AI7 only scores around 5900 at 270fsb and that's with timings of 2.5-4-4-7. At 227, I get 5400 or around there....

makes me seriously think of selling this AI7 and going for an IC7-G or Epox 4PDA2+

 

[Stugots]

the 875 chipset rocks

 

[nst6563]

the 875 chipset rocks

yeah...I should've sprung for the extra but didn't have it at the time.


The Epox 4PDA2+ also gets awsome memory scores though...and it's only $108



*sorry, didn't mean to get off topic.