I have a quick question.

[dg6464]

Hey all, I am a dedicated reader of Toms Hardware, I read it several times daily, and love it, I just joined the forums today, and this is the first question I am going to ask. I generally use Kingston memory, just the basic DDR3200. About this; should I set the timings of the RAM into my system BIOS setup, or should my BIOS automatically detect the settings? I'm really not sure at this point what I should do with this, should i play with higher voltages ect..? I am not a huge hardcore gamer, I do game occassionally, playing Doom3, Half-life 2 (CS: Source), UT2004, ect.. I play baout 2 or 3 times a week, not for long periods of time. My motherboard is Giga-byte GA-K8NXP-SLi, I am running Kingston PC3200 RAM, Athlon 64 3500+ (older core), and a single NVIDIA 6600GT PCI-Express Card, as well as a 300GB Maxtor Diamondmax 10(NCQ Enabled).
I get reasonably good frame-rates and am very happy with my machine, but am just wondering if I will see any benefit in going to the Kingston Hyper-X memory ect.. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. If I do need to set the RAM configurations manually, are the timings on the RAM? and what do each of them mean? (I am at work so i cannot easily check right now).
Thanks, you guys are the greatest.

 

[Rugger]

The only thing that I would ensure is that the command rate is at 1T and not 2T. You're not going to see a large impact from tweaking only your RAM. You'd be lucky to get a 1-2% performance gain and that would only be appreciable in benchmarks. In the end, if you're happy with your machine and thhe performance you get in the games, then there is no need to OC or tweak. Some of us here just have an obsession with pushing our rigs to the edge of the envelope - for performance or to see where the edge actually is...

BTW it is DDR400 and PC3200 - not DDR3200 (that would be an awesome speed!).

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[dg6464]

Hey, thanks ever so much for your quick post, I just posted like two hours ago and already got a reply, that rocks. I didn't think i'd see a huge performance increase, I am very happy with the system as well, thanks for the advice, much appreciated. Ohh and about the DDR terminology, I know that, I was just typing fast cause I am at work, didn't even think to check for spelling/terminology issues in the post lol. Don't worry, i'm not a newb, just have a case of quick spelling, thanks for pointing it out though, i'll remember next time so I don't look stupid when I post next time.

 

[Rugger]

LOL - understand the fast posts from work. Gotta love Alt-Tab!

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[BrentUnitedMem]

Hello and welcome to THG.

I will try my best to answer some of your questions, but please read with some skepticism:

About this; should I set the timings of the RAM into my system BIOS setup, or should my BIOS automatically detect the settings?

Looks like you have standard Kingston memory. In my opinion, it is best to let the BIOS automatically read the module (set the BIOS to 'auto'). If you had a module guaranteed for higher speeds (DDR400+) then you may need to adjust the latency manually.

should i play with higher voltages ect..? I am not a huge hardcore gamer

I wouldn't if I were you, because you are using standard modules. Plus, you are happy with the performance now as you state below. =)

I get reasonably good frame-rates and am very happy with my machine, but am just wondering if I will see any benefit in going to the Kingston Hyper-X memory ect..

The difference is insignificant. You are probably looking at 2-3% increase in overall performance with a Kingston HyperX upgrade.

If I do need to set the RAM configurations manually, are the timings on the RAM? and what do each of them mean?

You can manually set the timings in the motherboard's BIOS- though not every BIOS allows great flexibility. The memory timings are also programmed into the memory module itself on the SPD chip, normally by default the motherboard will read from the SPD chip, and auto adjust accordingly.

In some cases even the programmed latency in the SPD-chip is too low for the system, so the system will auto adjust the latency accordingly. This can happen, for example, when you install 4 memory modules instead of two.

MEMORY ACCESS:
1. tRCD (RAS to CAS Delay) 2-3 cycles, The row is selected by the Memory Controller.
2. CAS (Column Address Strobe) 2,2.5,3 cycles (DDR), The Memory Controller selects the column and now the ROW is
ACTIVE, and the READ COMMAND is sent.
3. Data is sent to the DQ pins after CAS delay.
4. tRAS (Row address Strobe) 6 cycles, The module waits a certain period of time for the data to be active.
5. tRP (RAS precharge) 2 cycles, The Memory Controller DEACTIVATES the row.
6. Memory Cycle repeats as requested by the Memory Controller.

2-3-2-6 (CL-tRCD, tRP, tRAS)


<font color=blue>******
<font color=green>"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sence." -The Buddha
<font color=blue>AIM BrentUnitedMem

 

[dunklegend]

Brent is putting together a document fo create the memory FAQs.
I took a look at it and it's gonna be very good.
Make sure to check in the future for that thread, I like to call it RAM for dummies and a helpful guide for everybody else.

<b><font color=green>Celibacy is not hereditary<font color=green></b>