What does timing mean?

[jknight]

512MB HyperX DDR 400MHz DIMM 2-2-2-6-1
512MB HyperX DDR 400MHz DIMM 2-3-2-6-1
512MB Kit HyperX DDR 400MHz 2-2-2-6-1
512MB HyperX DDR 434MHz 2-3-3-7-1

Other than seeing a difference between MHz between the PC3200 and PC3500, what does all the timing stuff mean? 2-2-2-6-1 and 2-3-2-6-1 don't look much different, both are 400 MHz but one is $10 more. How do I tell which is better, go by price because I don't see what the differences are?

 

[Crashman]

Their all CAS latency settings. I believe the second one is RAS to CAS delay. CAS latency is a measure of how many clock cycles it takes to initiate transfer. Memory is addressed like a giant spreadsheet (Rows and Columns), so RAS to CAS delay reduction will improve performance.

However 2-2-2-6 is barely faster than 2-3-2-6, so it's up to you to decide if it's worth $10 more.

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[jknight]

Is that more important than Mhz of the chip? If there isn't much of a difference between the same chip is there more a difference between a 400 MHZ 2-2-2-6-1 va 434 MHz 2-3-3-7-1?

 

[ytoledano]

If you used your chips at 434 or 400 than there would be a great difference but in order to use a chip at 434 with an Intel system with a stock 200 FSB you'd have to overclock. So, if you overclock, the 434 is the best, if you don't, the 400 with the lowest timings is the best. People say that increasing bus speed by 3MHZ will make that system faster no matter what timing the memory has.

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