Slight memory problem..

[Quay]

Howdy folks, I'm having a slight memory issue and was wondering if I could get a helping hand.

The setup(s):

My rig: Athlon 64 X2 3800+, Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, 4x512mb Corsair DDR400 PC3200 XMS Memory (seen here )

Friend's rig: Athlon 64 3000+, MSI K8N-NEO (i believe), and the exact same ram (4x512mb Cosair DDR400 XMS)

The problem:

When I run CPU-Z, I get -->

He gets -->

How come he's running at 199mhz and i'm only 167.5Mhz? I checked my bios, everything is set to auto. I do have Asus's AI Booster running, but I'm all at 100% stock speeds, so is he.

So... how do I increase mine to get more on-par with what my speeds should be.. and how much of a performance hit have I been taking for the past 6 months? hah

Thanks everyone who replies in advance.
-Quay

 

[Bbq]

Assuming you aren't overclocking, just set the ram speed from <auto> to 200mhz.

 

[Quay]

I went into the bios, and set it to 200mhz (I didn't THINK this was correct, but then again you guys know more than me)... cpu-z reported 100.5 Freq...

SO, I went into the bios and set it to 400mhz (DDR400 means set to 400? Just a guess)... now I'm crusing along right next to my friend (201Mhz Freq)

But... along comes another question. On zipzoomfly's site (as linked to above), it advertises this memory as, "This memory has been verified to operate at 200MHz (2-3-3,1T command rate)and 166 MHz (2-2-2,1T command rate)"

I have no earthly clue what these numbers mean, I understand there are stickies related to the topic, after reading I'm still at a loss (I was never good at reading comprehension). Right now it appears (You guys tell me, by the screenshots) at 2.5-3-3, 2T... should these numbers be lower (meaning faster?)...

Help me [H] memory gods =(

 

[Bbq]

Oh.. another confusing bios option.

DDR 400. Lots of people consider it to be "400mhz." This is only partially true. Actual clock speed is 200mhz, and "effective" ram speed is 400mhz, or PC 3200.

Since it's certified for 200mhz (ddr400) at 2-3-3-6 1T, then you should set it to 2-3-3-6 1T in the bios. Lower numbers are faster.

 

[Quay]

Since it's certified for 200mhz (ddr400) at 2-3-3-6 1T, then you should set it to 2-3-3-6 1T in the bios. Lower numbers are faster.

Just a small question, since I usually don't mess with bios options and don't feel like purchasing a new 4x512mb

I'm confused (and I've done a few internet searches.. difficult thinking of a good search term) as to what exactly the "2-3-3-6" means..

I understand it's 4 seperate settings, all tweakable in my bios, but I have about 8 settings in my bios (for the ram, of course) and don't want to set the wrong ones

The wording used in CPU-Z isn't the same as the wording used in my BIOS, i THINK the #-#-#-# stands for:

CAS# - Ras to Cas# - Ras Precharge - ??? (cpu-z says Tras Cycle Time, bios's next option is "row cycle).

Thanks for all the help, BBQ, hopefully have this solved soon

 

[Bbq]

I'm confused (and I've done a few internet searches.. difficult thinking of a good search term) as to what exactly the "2-3-3-6" means..

So, it's [cas]-[ras]-[precharge]-[tras]-[commandrate].

Command rate - is the delay (in clock cycles) between when chip select is asserted (i.e. the RAM is selected) and commands (i.e. Activate Row) can be issued to the RAM. Typical values are 1T (one clock cycle) and 2T (two clock cycles).
CAS (Column Address Strobe or Column Address Select) - is the number of clock cycles (or Ticks, denoted with T) between the issuance of the READ command and when the data arrives at the data bus. Memory can be visualized as a table of cell locations and the CAS delay is invoked every time the column changes, which is more often than row changing.
tRP (RAS Precharge Delay) - is the speed or length of time that it takes DRAM to terminate one row access and start another. In simpler terms, it means switching memory banks.
tRCD (RAS (Row Access Strobe) to CAS delay) - As it says it's the time between RAS and CAS access, ie. the delay between when a memory bank is activated to when a read/write command is sent to that bank. Picture an Excel spreadsheet with a number across the top and along the left side. They numbers down the left side represent the Rows and the numbers across the top represent the Columns. The time it would take you, for example, to move down to Row 20 and across to Column 20 is RAS to CAS.
tRAS (Active to Precharge or Active Precharge Delay) - controls the length of the delay between the activation and precharge commands ---- basically how long after activation can the access cycle be started again. This influences row activation time which is taken into account when memory has hit the last column in a specific row, or when an entirely different memory location is requested.

 

[(cf)Eclipse]

well said bbq

in short, the lower those numbers ("timings"), the "faster" the ram is, however, it doesn't actually have a noticeable effect on performance, unless you're into benching programs