Manually setting timings lower

[dannyaa]

If you set the timings lower manually, say from 2.5-3-2-5, to 2-3-2-5, is this "overclocking" the memory? What are the effects of doing this, any dangers, stability issues, etc? Also what is "spd" - speed? or what does that stand for?

Also, if I use a memory divider; running 220mhz HTT and 200mhz Memory, is my memory now a bottleneck/bandwidth limiting my CPU... or what is happening here?


Thanks...


A64 3700 S.Diego / Asus A8N-SLI Prm / 2GB OCZ Pltnm Pc3200 / XFX 7800GT 256mb / Antec 550W / Antec p180

A64 3000 Ven / Epox 9npa-U / 1GB HyperX DDR 3200 / XFX 6600GT 128mb / Antec 330W

 

[fishmahn]

Yes, that is 'overclocking' the memory. It is unlikely to physically harm the memory if the timings are too tight, but it can be unstable and crash the system.

SPD = Serial Presence Detect. Its a few bytes of non-volatile memory (like Flash RAM - maybe it is flash, I don't know) that stores the mfg's settings for RAM timings.

On AMD's the bottleneck from using a memory divider results in about a 1% performance loss (for RAM from 200 to 166). So, if you would get 100fps in a game, you may get 99fps because your RAM is running on a divider. Usually, that's not even enough difference to notice unless you're benchmarking.

Mike.

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