Witt's end for memory timing

[toddbailey]

OK, It's official when it comes to answering customer support questions; Asus, Phoenix and Kingston ALL SUCK.

Maybe some one here can answer a couple of memory timing questions,

OK?

here goes: how do I convert the 4-4-4-12-1 into english, ie what do they mean,

I build a box with
2x 1 gig kingston hyperx khx6400d2llk2 ddr2-800 (6400) cl4
amd 4000 x2

Next
Asus' m2n4-sli board has memory timings settings, but every thing is abbreviated no translation as to what they represent: nice eh?

can some one tell me what these mean and better yet what makes for excellent, good, fair and poor settings ie performance?

sorry for the long list, but might as well covers all of them:

Tcl,Trcd,Trp,Tras,Trcl,Twr,Trrd,Trwt,Twtr,Trtp,Twrrd,Twrwr,Trdrd, Trfc,DQS,HyperFreqMulti


BTW: the bios see this memory as ddr2-533:

 

[Mondoman]

There's a pretty good FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) sticky at the top of the Forum. In particular, go to section 18 and follow the link to the Corsair video presentation on memory basics. Slide 17 has a lot of what you are asking about, but watch the whole presentation.
Here's another post that might be helpful: http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1233230#1233230

 

[SciFiMan]

It's really just marketing. A year ago nobody ever knew what they were. We just bought what we needed (PC3200). They know that gamer folks will pay a lot more for anything with seemingly "better" performance, i.e. lower timings on RAM. Is your goal to play with overclock settings, voltage, etc. and then run benchmarks? Which is fine, just google around and you'll find what you need. Try the maximumpc.com site also.

But if you aren't into overclocking just buy the correct type (DDR2 800) and get at least 2GB. Having plenty of memory is far more important that how fast it is. You would never notice the difference inside a game or application. Better to invest in the fastest CPU and GPU you can afford, which IS performance you'll be able to notice.

 

[toddbailey]

Thanks for the info.

I have to disagree however, that you won't notice a difference between using what ever the spd sets the memory too and using the factory supplied values:

Using BOINC for a brief benchmark, the spd values are 1947 and 3623
entering the tuned settings the values jump to 2043 and 3809.

I found some of the info on the AMD site.

 

[enforcer22]

Sorry this isnt a awsner more that its a rant. Customer support all it really means is some retard reading a script if your problem doesnt come up on his scripts your screwed because that person has no idea what your problem is i doubt he even knows the product hes supporting. I used this artical in a post from someone else asking the same question the artical is a bit out dated but it has the timing explination i think your asking for http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/01/19/ups_and_downs/page3.html

 

[toddbailey]

You sounds like a former Direcway customer
many times I've had to tell them (the csr) I've already done that move on to the next step.

any way thanks for the link, this is exactly what I was looking for.
And material like this should be included in the motherboard manuals or at least available for download. Tom's hdwr site pulls off another win

btw: 3dmark06 benchmarks:
by spd = 2933
by factory spec 3058 (4-4-4-12)

interesting eh?

Thanks all for the info

 

[enforcer22]

Not sure what that is but i am a former comcast customer heh actualy the support center was where i lived all my friends worked there they all knew nothing about computers networking or internet. I applyed there refused the job after seeing how little they cared about support. Then i needed a job re applyed got turned down because they didnt want to pay me (they wanted to train monkeys to do the job not someone who might be able to help someone) then shut down the center a month later after comcast desolved the account.

 

[toddbailey]

real world performance, like 45 fps versus 30?

unfortunantly, I had to return the "hi spec" memory for something less but compatible with the m/b. 2 gig btw, So I have to tweak and tune all the system components the to get the best performance out of them.
I didn't reallt thing that I'd see the benchmarks change that much but they did, so I wonder what tweaking the cpu and gpu will do for me.

yes I would have liked to get the 5200 x2 cpu and a pair of 7950 sli cards, unfortunantly these isnt a cooler made for a wallet melt down.
so I'm stuck with a medocre x2 4000 and a single 6800 gtx card.

But it's a step in the right direction

 

[Mondoman]

...
I didn't reallt thing that I'd see the benchmarks change that much ...

Benchmarks are a lot easier to change than real-world performance... You'll learn a lot, though.

 

[rwaritsdario]

real world performance, like 45 fps versus 30?

Game, specs, resolution and how you measured it please.