Do timings make a difference

[tommy_knockers]

Hello, after messing around with my p4 proc, I decided to have a look at the memory.

It is registered @ 4-4-4-12.

I decided to have a laugh and put it @ 2-2-2-6. It worked

Is there any performance boost to be had in doing this. Will it improve benchmarks or games???

Cheers

 

[steve258]

What kit is it?? I assume it's a DDR2 kit, 2/2/2/6 sounds impossible for DDR2.

Is it orthos stable?? what about memtest??

lower timings is obviously better but arguably only noticable in benchmarks, or maybe a few frames faster if you already have a fast graphics card.

 

[tommy_knockers]

sorry to take so long in replying lol.

Its some generic samsung ram. you know the cheap stuff.

533mhz


12hr test complete no errors

same for memtest.


all programs work fine.

cant really see any difference. Dont think my 7900gto allows any noticable difference. Especially in bf2 as it as 100fps locked already @ 1920x1200 fsaa top 8xs and AF 16x, with everything on high.

Havent tried oblivion yet.

It has actually made me question upgrading my rig. I was going to do this in the next couple of weeks, but I think I am going to hold on now for a couple of months. (At least until my exams are finished).


weird isnt it. Why didnt they put the timings lower on their specification

 

[steve258]

You have your P4 running at 4.2Ghz which means your FSB is at 247Mhz and RAM should be running at 494Mhz, still not running at rated 533Mhz.

For Intel chips mem bandwidth > low timings.

I think you just got lucky and have a very nice kit, I'd try loosing the timings and see if the RAM will run at higher speed, if your mobo provides mem divider of course.

 

[DJKahuna]

It's a proven fact that timings are better than clock speed. Think of it like graphics pipelines. The more you have, the lower clock speed you can have and it'll still perform better or same at worst. Think of timings like pipelines, except it's not more you need, it's lower values that you need.

I've noticed that my 2-3-3-5-1T at 195mhz (234mhz with a 166 divider) outperforms it at 2.5-3-3-5-1T at 234mhz (234mhz with a 200 divider). Not only in 3DMark, but also in games, they're smoother.

If you want to get the best though, you should set your CPU multi lower, set your RAM divider to 166, and then up your clock speed, so you end up with a "perfect" CPU and RAM speed combo.

Of course, the divider should be higher for DDR2, but for DDR, the best divider is 166, that's what i've found anyway.

So in summary, timings are a lot more important than clock speed.

Also, how the **** did you get better timings on cheap samsung DDR2, than i can get on my Corsair DDR! Insane but well done! I wanted to go for 2-2-2-5-1T, but my rig won't even POST then.

I'm selling this Corsair anyway, and getting 2GB of Geil. Apparently it outperforms the Corsair i have, even though it's a value kit!

 

[HangTime]

It's a proven fact that timings are better than clock speed.

Not strictly true, it's more about finding a balance IMO. Even on my A64 rig, I found that 252mhz 2.5-3-3-6 outperformed 210mhz 2-3-3-6.

The best thing to do is run benchmarks comparing the two and pick whichever is best on a given system, it varies depending on how well your individual hardware clocks and how much FSB you have to sacrifice to tighten up the timings and vice versa.

With Intel systems FSB is relatively more important, too.

 

[DJKahuna]

Not strictly true, it's more about finding a balance IMO.

ah, true, true. But timings would be more important over clock speed IMHO. But like you said, a balance is always better.

 

[smids]

ah, true, true. But timings would be more important over clock speed IMHO. But like you said, a balance is always better.

On an AMD, with the on-die memory controller, timings at decent FSB > high bandwidth.

On an Intel, with the memory controller on the northbridge, bandwidth with moderate timings > timings at lower bandwidth.

It's the simple fact about position of the memory controller and the latency that can be achieved in communication with it, very simplistically.

The above is generally summarised, on A64 you want tight timings timings, on an Intel you want high bandwidth.

With the advent of DDR2, you see why AM2 isn't greatly faster than 939. For all it's improvements, the on die memory controller communicates slower with the memory due to CAS4 RAM now etc.