RAM timings question, am i doing it right?

amateurhour89 · Jan 9, 2015

i am trying to overclock my ram. this is new to me and am wondering if what i am doing is correct. i am messing with the timings. i have 1333 ram, its ocz with decent heatsinks, and i have changed timings in bios to 9-9-9-24 from 8-8-8-17. i am confused by the cpu-z info. here it is.

http://postimg.org/image/ijikuuisp/

http://postimg.org/image/kkue5eo77/

am i doing it right, and can someone explain a bit about what it means or what i am exactly looking at? thanks!

i7Baby · Jan 9, 2015

Can't see the cpu-z info

bigpinkdragon286 · Jan 10, 2015

It doesn't sound like you're doing it right. 9-9-9-24 is slower than 8-8-8-17.

i7Baby · Jan 10, 2015

Post your build

amateurhour89 · Jan 10, 2015

Okay, fixed images to links. Build:

I5 3550
Gigabyte z77 board
Ocz 1333 ram
650w PSU
Gtx 680

Also from the forums I am reading it says 9-9-9-24 was 1600 stock times. I have no clue. This is all new to me. Any tips and help would be great!

bigpinkdragon286 · Jan 10, 2015

When dealing with RAM timings, higher numbers are generally slower timings. If you are trying to run your 1333Mhz RAM at 1600Mhz, you may need to slow the timings down as you have, but in the long run, having the RAM run at lower timings tends to offset having it run at higher frequencies. I would highly recommend both benchmarking before and after each change you make to your RAM to see if you're actually causing a positive change. Run multiple passes to make sure you aren't seeing erratic results, and also, run some memory tests to make sure the RAM is stable.

i7Baby · Jan 10, 2015

Can't you just enable XMP in bios to get the overclock?

What Gigabyte Z77 mobo?

amateurhour89 · Jan 10, 2015

so it seems i had the ram all wrong. thats what i get from salvaging out of an older rig. but when i pulled it, it was running at auto on 1333. i wish i could force this mobo to make it do the same. model is:

Gigabyte z77X-UP4 th

i've always been an asus guy, this is my first gigabyte. but i am used to the options, or i have always had many options in my other ASUS boards, to set the Mhz. haven't figured this board out to much yet. but it refuses to let me touch the stock 1066Mhz.

i7Baby · Jan 10, 2015

Spec - http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4280#sp says "Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules"

So enable XMP in bios. Then your ram should run at rated speed.

bigpinkdragon286 · Jan 10, 2015

Not all RAM has an XMP profile, so if you can't enable an XMP profile or enabling one doesn't seem to work, that might be why. I noticed your CPU-Z screen shot did not list an XMP profile.

i7Baby · Jan 10, 2015

Yeah - you could be right. I didn't even know they made ram now that wasn't XMP compliant.

But it should still be overclockable.

Post a link to the ram.

amateurhour89 · Jan 10, 2015

ram:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227289

it is old. and outdated. and a wonder of the reason why its in the PC. thats 2gb x 4.. i have x3 (as i can't use my first dimm slot [evo 212 dual fan]) and i have no xmp profile to use for it.

but $45 my buddy can get dominators (4gb x 2) at 1600Mhz from a shop he has an account with. so i may go that route but i would like to squeeze some power from this just for testing and experimenting. before i ruin a good pair of ram.. lol.

amateurhour89 · Jan 10, 2015

so, after pulling the ram out, it says its pc3 12800 1600 ram..... someone could have swapped the heatsinks over but why bother?! i'm confused. why would my ram run at 1066 by default? and Cpu-Z says its pc3-8500f.. the link i posted was to what CPU-z described, so i googled that. but its reaper style ram.

i7Baby · Jan 10, 2015

Can you turn your cooler 90 degrees to fit the 4 sticks?

If its 1600. The mobo default is probably 1066 and you'd have to overclock it to get 1600.

amateurhour89 · Jan 10, 2015

No unfortunately. Its at its "slimmest" angle.

And on the sight it said the board supports up to like.. 1800mhz. Do you mean it defaults the slots and I must set it to the correct speed? Which if the sticker on the ram is correct, wouldn't be an over clock really but setting it at the correct clock. Its all a bit strange cause my software differs from what the hardware says. Hard to tell which is correct.

i7Baby · Jan 10, 2015

Normally anything above 1333 is OC. I don't know why they say 2800. Maybe a typo?

Normally you do your OC with XMP.

If you can get the Dominators you should be OK.

amateurhour89 · Jan 10, 2015

ahaa! seems you would be correct. auto on most boards is 1333 even tho some ram is 1600. 1600 is what its rated to, not what it defaults to. its all very clear now. i have manually changed the speed to 1600, and according to the sticker on the ram, timings good at 7-7-7-24. so i have set that. but i noticed the ram won't run until volts are at 1.7 (which is what the site after a google search said it required) so, after manually changing all of this, start it up, tada.. ram at 1600Mhz and working. i still have no idea what any of the numbers mean other than 1600Mhz, so i'll do more digging on google. thanks for the help guys!

RAM timings question, am i doing it right?

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