Can my ram be more effecient?

[DSAJord]

Hi! I builded my own pc just over half a year ago and just ordered one to my brother, now a man i was talking to through the phone said that it would give no sence buying 2000 mhz ram on an Asus Sabertooth motherboard because the motherboard's bus between the CPU and ram is locked and limited to something like 1333 Mhz.

Then i came to think of my own build and motherboard which is the "Asus Rampage III Extreme" and asked him what is the limit on that one and he said something like 1000Mhz but also that it was possible to change that bus so that it would work faster.

Now i cant remember the name of the BUS that he was talking about, so i just want to ask, how do i change this so i can use my ram more effecient

Btw i got 3x2 2000mhz Corsair Dominator GT and An Intel i7 930 oc'ed to 3.2Ghz



Thank you in advance

 

[beenthere]

You can overclock your RAM to run at a slightly higher frequency but the gains are minimal usually ~1% system gain in my testing. You can sometimes OC the data transport BUS depending on the CPU design and potential.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Understanding-RAM-Timings/26/2

 

[DSAJord]

Maybe i should clearify the question a notch.
I wonna know what this "BUS" between the CPU and RAM is called and how i change it.
I really dont care if i only get 1% improvement, its worth trying And when i got ram at 2000 mhz i think its stupid to limit them to 1000mhz

 

[beenthere]

The reason he told you higher speed RAM, i.e. 2000 Mhz. was a waste is because higher frequency RAM only runs at a higher frequency if you overclock it and the CPU/RAM/mobo all are willing to do so. Many CPUs with integrated memory controllers will NOT run RAM higher than ~ 1600 Mhz. It depends on the CPU design and capabilities. Each CPU is different.

The RAM BUS does not control the RAM operating frequency. The RAM BUS is the pathway that communicates with the RAM. See the link below on HyperTransport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperTransport

 

[DSAJord]

Okay so what i should really do is overclock my ram to a higher speed and then the bus will just follow?

 

[beenthere]

No the BUS is separate from overclocking of the RAM.

The link below may help.

http://www.evga.com/forumsarchive/tm.asp?m=716108

 

[DSAJord]

Okay so i should adjust both seberatly to achive greater speeds?

 

[jaquith]

The i7 930 craps-out a little more than 2200MHz whereas the current Sandy Bridge 2400MHz to the IMC. Faster RAM requires a BCLK OC of 160MHz or higher to overcome the disparity of RAM Frequency to IMC.

Specific to the ASUS Sabertooth X58 no BCLK is required up to DDR3-1866:
6 x DIMM, Max. 24GB, DDR3 1866/1800/1600/1333/1066 Hz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory

Otherwise, AI Overclock Tuner -> DOCP and DRAM OC Profile -> DDR3-2000MHz; this varies on BCLK.

Bottom-Line, DDR3-2000 makes more sense on the X58/LGA 1366 and the forthcoming Z79/LGA 2011 than it does on the SB/LGA 1155. In gaming expect 2~8FPS over DDR3-1333, in very large rendering/data then 10~15 minutes off a 2~3 hour job.

 

[DSAJord]

The i7 930 craps-out a little more than 2200MHz whereas the current Sandy Bridge 2400MHz to the IMC. Faster RAM requires a BCLK OC of 160MHz or higher to overcome the disparity of RAM Frequency to IMC.

Specific to the ASUS Sabertooth X58 no BCLK is required up to DDR3-1866:
6 x DIMM, Max. 24GB, DDR3 1866/1800/1600/1333/1066 Hz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory

Otherwise, AI Overclock Tuner -> DOCP and DRAM OC Profile -> DDR3-2000MHz; this varies on BCLK.

Bottom-Line, DDR3-2000 makes more sense on the X58/LGA 1366 and the forthcoming Z79/LGA 2011 than it does on the SB/LGA 1155. In gaming expect 2~8FPS over DDR3-1333, in very large rendering/data then 10~15 minutes off a 2~3 hour job.

Awesome mate, I'm sure that would help someone that's already very in to overclocking, but im a newbie to overclocking :S And Im using the Asus rampage III Extreme not the sabertooth

Thanks anyways!

 

[jaquith]

Hi! I builded my own pc just over half a year ago and just ordered one to my brother, now a man i was talking to through the phone said that it would give no sence buying 2000 mhz ram on an Asus Sabertooth motherboard because the motherboard's bus between the CPU and ram is locked and limited to something like 1333 Mhz.

I was answering this statement which is crap {untrue}, and the guy on the 'phone' is an idiot.

 

[DSAJord]

okay so there isnt any physical limit on that BUS? And it all comes down to me changing the freq on the ram's?

 

[beenthere]

There are limits to everything including the RAM and BUS frequencies as I explained above. All you can do is TRY| to OC your RAM and see what happens.

 

[jaquith]

As I said, it depends on the Frequency of the RAM. For DDR3-1333~DDR-1600; DRAM Frequency -> XXXXMHz. For DDR3-1800~DDR3-2000; AI Overclock Tuner -> DOCP and DRAM OC Profile -> DDR3-2000MHz.

It's a good idea to set the CAS Timings and DRAM Voltage per spec manually; CAS (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS-CMD) e.g. 9-9-9-27-2N @ 1.65v. If you have any instability then add to the mix QPI/DRAM -> 1.20v~1.35v.

In any case always run Memtest86+ for 2~4 passes to verify the RAM is running error free.

The frigging BCLK can be set 100MHz~500MHz; 133.33MHz is default. So to limit is Stability, and assuming you have proper cooling and know how to OC the 'usable' values are 133.33MHz~220MHz+.

 

[beenthere]

jaquith - I think you're overwhelming DSAJord as he's new to overclocking.

DSAJord - What jaquith is trying to say is the RAM BUS and RAM frequency must maintain a balanced frequency ratio.

In order for any of this to make sense you're going to need to read the links given and perhaps others so you understand what you're attempting to do or you could have a no boot situation after playing in the BIOS.

 

[DSAJord]

Yeah okay, I have been reading a bit on some guides and stuff but its yet to give sence as a whole, but a "Balanced Freq Ratio" What exactly do you mean by balanced, Are we talking like 5:5 or are 3:5 or the other way around?

And thanks for all the help and advice ! Really appriciate it!

 

[jaquith]

That "Ratio" stuff was important in the LGA 775 days and pretty much meaningless now; FSB : DRAM Frequency ratios.

Since LGA 1366 I am blind, happily, to the ratios.

 

[beenthere]

As I said it depends on the CPU