Whats the point of Timing in RAM?

Well, like ram speed, it is another factor that effects the performance of the ram. The tighter (lower) the timings, the better the performance (in simple terms).

I've been informed (on Tom's) that we don't need or can't use anything faster then 1600 (I notice that EXT64 has under-clocked his 1600 GSkill to 1430) The trick is to get the lowest CAS 6 or 7 with the lowest timings you can 7-7-7-21 at the lowest voltages 1.35V (if your MB supports low Vs) 1.5V (if not) for the lowest buck. Read the Newegg Reviews and use their filters to search for what you can afford. GSkill seems to be winning the quality, speed, price battle at the moment.

Well, mine is due to the fact that an i5's highest memory timer is 10x, so the max ram speed is 1333. I then did a minor OC of the CPU, resulting in 1430. However, I agree 100% with your post. For most apps (and games) you won't see much if any benefit from 1600+. Save a little money, or power, or get a little tighter timings rather than super fast ram. My ram was rated 7-8-7-24, 1600, 1.65V. So as you can see I beat all the specs except the speed.

Yes, there is really no need to go with RAM over 1333 unless you are planning on doing some hefty processor overclocking. 1333 ram is plenty fast enough on the bus speed, you simply won't gain much at all going faster, so start looking to tighten the timings. 1333 Ram with timings of say 7-7-7-21 will be generally faster than 1600 mhz Ram with 8-8-8-24 for instance.

While on the topic, I'm assuming the speed of the ram is in nanoseconds though can someone tell me a bit more about the timings? Also what confuses me all the more is how the last number always seem to be x3 of the other 3 timings.

Good question. My best guess is it reflects the architecture of the ram DDR3= triple channel.

Here is an excellent tutorial on overclocking at BenchmarkReviews.com You might get your answer there.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_conten...

Also Tom's has a FAC on memory at the head of this forum category.

I'm new at this too but an old techy. Keep asking and reading and you'll get there.