Memory timings help!

Monstermunch · 18 Feb 2006 at 10:41

What do the timings like 3-3-3-8 mean, what does each figure stand for and what is better, lower or higher.

I know a lot about pc's but nothing about clocking tbh. :confused:

Monstermunch · 18 Feb 2006 at 11:55

man_from_uncle said:
I am not an expert by any means but i can give you the basics. And the basics are........... the lower the numbers the better. The faster you run your ram though the harder it is to keep these numbers low. Timings of 3-3-3-8 would be good for PC4000 but pretty average at PC3200. At PC3200 speed the best on the market will do 2-3-2-5, at PC4000 speed the best will do 3-3-2-8 (at their rated speeds and defualt settings anyway).

Thanks I am planning on the following:

Opty 170 or X2 4400
DFI nF4 Ultra-D
Mushkin 2GB DDR XP4000 Extreme Performance Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) CAS3 (991483) (3-4-3-8)

I do plan on clocking will this be good or should I go for the OCZ or the Corsair?

Monstermunch · 18 Feb 2006 at 21:54

Cheers guys

BTW one last thing I need to clear up is the fsb issue. The AMD chips all support 400mhz (PC3200) Ram but have a fsb of 2000mhz through HT - Correct?

I presume then that if I buy PC4000 ram (533mhz) like the mushy's i specced with timings of 3-4-3-8 that the system will automatically reduce the latencies to best suit 400mhz (either that or I can re-set the latencies as such) and be much better like say 2-3-2-5 or something?

If what I think is correct which is best for clocking an AMD PC3200 or PC4000?

Sorry with all the q's but I don't want to buy something without understanding it! :rolleyes:

Monstermunch · 19 Feb 2006 at 09:46

man_from_uncle said:
That's a nice set right there. Everything should work fine and you'll be able to overclock a treat. Go for the opty 170 though rather than the X2 4400 as it will overclock a fair bit better.

I have read quite a few threads recently that say the current batch of opty's aren't clocking very well at all, and that i'm better of with an x2 4400.