Irking more mem speed

[Vista_Nueva]

I have some Mushkin memory that I'm trying to get to perform faster, but I can't seem to get the speed out of it. I've looked at the Mushkin forums, but all the lingo is just confusing. I'm hoping you guys could take a look at this thread and tell me what this guy did differently than me...or maybe I just got stuck with low quality sticks.

Current settings FSB: 1333MHz
RAM 2GB DDR2 800, stock timings: 4-5-4-11 OC @ 1000MHz, (trying to get to 1066 MHz because I believe that is what my FSB clock is optimized for)

Post: HERE
This guy says he has no problem getting the speeed that I want.
I've tried raising basic timings and voltages, but my mem always ends up unstable. Maybe I have to go into advanced timings (which confuse me)?

other posts:
http://forums.mushkin.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10955
http://forums.mushkin.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7811

Thanks a LOT for any help!

 

[wolfram23]

If you can, get Everest. In there you can check what the memory's JEDEC timings are as well as the XMP profile settings. I used that info to OC my memory, it was specced for 1600mhz CL8, and I put it at 1800mhz CL9 and used the advanced timings from the 1600mhz set up. I've toyed with them quite a bit, and I noticed that the advanced timings didn't make any noticeable different no matter how low I went, until finally crashing.

Anyway, in general you'll just have to try upping the latencies until stable (5-5-5-15, 5-6-5-16... etc). More voltage will help keep it stable but that's a bit like playing with fire. Most CPUs have a max ram voltage and I suggest not exceeding that. I don't have a DDR2 system so I can't really help a ton, but just keep trying higher timings something should work. If you haven't, try increasing the command rate from 1 to 2 (1T/2T or 1N/2N... depends on system)

 

[Vista_Nueva]

If you can, get Everest. In there you can check what the memory's JEDEC timings are as well as the XMP profile settings. I used that info to OC my memory, it was specced for 1600mhz CL8, and I put it at 1800mhz CL9 and used the advanced timings from the 1600mhz set up. I've toyed with them quite a bit, and I noticed that the advanced timings didn't make any noticeable different no matter how low I went, until finally crashing.

Anyway, in general you'll just have to try upping the latencies until stable (5-5-5-15, 5-6-5-16... etc). More voltage will help keep it stable but that's a bit like playing with fire. Most CPUs have a max ram voltage and I suggest not exceeding that. I don't have a DDR2 system so I can't really help a ton, but just keep trying higher timings something should work. If you haven't, try increasing the command rate from 1 to 2 (1T/2T or 1N/2N... depends on system)

I couldn't find JEDEC in Everest, but I did find 2 settings in CPU-Z that I tried. Unfortunately neither of them work. I didn't see anything about XMP and I don't know what CL_ stands for.

I might give up at this point.

 

[wolfram23]

Ok well that just means your memory isn't equipped with XMP. CL means "CAS Latency" which is basically the first number of the set (IE: yours at stock is CL4).
Anyway, not all RAM can OC, might just be that the extra bit of frequency is too much for it.

 

[notty22]

Wolfram23 you might be interested in this program. It allows yous to change your ram timings on the fly, (except the main cas#)
http://www.tweakers.fr/cputweaker.html
I did a lot of testing with it myself in Everest with my rig.
I settled on running my ram at 8 8 8 30 , 88 1600
Thats with the 8x multi

edit: I learned about it at the OCZ forums and the author visits and posts at Extremesystems.

 

[Vista_Nueva]

Ok well that just means your memory isn't equipped with XMP. CL means "CAS Latency" which is basically the first number of the set (IE: yours at stock is CL4).
Anyway, not all RAM can OC, might just be that the extra bit of frequency is too much for it.

Do you think that flashing the BIOS might improve OC performance/stability?

 

[Vista_Nueva]

Best answer selected by Vista_Nueva.