Ref delay time uneven

N

Nightfire

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 7, 2017
Messages
3,279
First off, I only have a moderate knowedge level with memory.

So I was trying very hard to get 2400 mhz memory to work. A new bios was released but I was still unsuccessful.

Looking further in the secondary timings, I noticed that ref delay was 256 in channel A and 1058 on channel B despite being set on auto.

I was able to get them to match when manually set to 1058. With that, 2400 mhz worked! However, my sandrasoft score has dropped which gives a worse firestrike score.

I figure it is a garbage stick, but perhaps someone has insight before I drop money on over-priced ram
 
firestrike doesn't give a dam about memory performance
timespy cares a little
what does aida64 say? or intel xtu

what mb do you have?
my mb only has one setting for trfc (assuming this is what your referring to) for which ~300 is tight ~400 is moderate but 1000 is very lose and slow
they may not need to be the same but 256 may have been way to tight

dont know that i would bother spending cash to replace existing ram with current prices unless you can get a good price for your old kit and really want that extra 10-30% cpu performance in games
 
Should have put specs.

a12-9800, 3200 mhz Patriot viper, asus tuf b-350

Ram speed is very important on firestrike for apus. This was verified with a worse superpi score despite having the same cpu speed and higher memory speed.

The 2nd stick always defaults to 1056 on the trfc even if I enter it manually.

First time NOT getting g.skill and I regret it. I plan on getting Raven Ridge later so buying the memory will probably be worth it.
 
Just to get an idea of how important bandwidth is to an APU and how significant Ref time can be to bandwidth:

This first screenshot was with the Ref time delay at 1058 for both modules:
bad ram.PNG


I ran the test once more with ALL settings the same EXCEPT for one. I managed to get the system to run with one module at 528 and the other at 1056
Notice how bandwidth goes from 6.3 GB/s to 10.2 GB/s:

half.PNG


Nearly 15% boost in Firestrike and a significant increase in the Windows Experience Index. Crazy, huh? I actually managed to get one stick at 352 with the other at 1056. Bandwidth was around 11 GB/s if I remember correct with an even higher FS score. Not surprisingly, the system was very unstable.
 
ah yes apu that does change things a bit
see if you can get it stable at 500 or less
how much have to increased v to the ram and the cpu memory controller?

Raven Ridge will probably have a better memory controller so if that's your limitation your current ram may run faster on it

you would get a lot better performance by adding a gpu than buying faster ram is there a reason this isn't a consideration?
 
I tried this time at 440 which is 5/12ths of the weak side. Not sure if it needs to be a nice fraction but who knows.
ram is at 1.35v or the max for the board. SOC is 1.21v but probably too high since I can't change the Northbridge multiplier anyhow.

I have 8 GB of ram now and I was hoping to get another 8 GB of Ram later to fill the other two slots. 8 GB just doesn't cut it for me anymore.
I will probably just yank these two sticks out and get a better 2 x 8 gb set.

Honestly, it is just a hobby. The PC works fine for what I do as of now. Later, I will want more performance/capacity when I am gaming, running a VM, video editing all through a VPN so I can watch netflix in Japan on my 2nd screen.

BTW, FS score was 1977 with 10.64 GB/s on this setting.

Edit: 1995 FS at 10.81 gb/s. Previous readings were when i tried a2 and b2 memory slots.
 
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Interesting point: I was getting 6.15 GB/s with both stick at 1056. Now I am getting 10.64 GB/s.
Both sticks should have been providing 3.1 GB/s on the original settings. On the current setting, the better stick is providing 7.6 vs 3.1 GB/S on the weaker side.
This is about 40% of the bandwidth of the stronger side which is very close to inverse of the REF delay time difference.

In other words, if you cut the REFdt in half you will double bandwidth (for this APU anyhow).
 
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