Memory timing advise

[jwenham]

I have been playing around with the memory timings on my system. The stock timings are 8-8-8-24 T1 OCZ gold 1600. I wanted to see if I could improve them a bit as even with my 4GHZ OC I am still not at 1600 on the RAM, it is at 1526. All I have done is changed the 8-8-8-24 to 7-7-7-24. I used that as it it the timing for the Platinum series and I wanted to see if it would run with it. Well it actually runs great with it. I ran MEMTEST for 1 pass with no errors at all and actually see a little extra smoothness in the sim. Flying the KSEA test route in the Cesna with all settings max except water and at very dense AG it more or less stays at 30 FPS locked with very smooth results. I can run max AG but get a small amount of stutter evey now and then and a notch down on the AG fixes that.  My question is should I play with the 24 number (tRAS) and lower it as well and should I try other values?

Thanks, Jim

[NickN]

Nothing you can do with timing is going to make any difference in this case


You should feel lucky you can run 7-7-7 on 8-8-8 memory

Most cant and there are those out there who did what you are doing and the memory eventually became unstable after a burn-in period of a few months and they were forced to return to 8-8-8 timing

You may have gotten a set of OCZ modules from a cherry batch. Most will end up with all sorts of strange error problems, possibly even a corrupt OS from running timing lower than spec of the sticks even IF the memory and load tests PASS

Other than raise the memory speed, which increases memory performance with lower timing, there is nothing else you can do other then go to 6-6-6 memory product


You could try to rework the clock a bit. Drop the multipler and raise BCLOCK to obtain closer to 1600 but you will probably find out that OCZ 8-8-8 memory wont do close to 1600 7-7-7 stable.

You can try the following to obtain a higher stable memory speed at 7-7-7 but as I said, your already pushing things as it is with that cheaper OCZ product


DRAM REF Cycle Time: 88

QPI/DRAM VOLTAGE: 1.37

DRAM VOLTAGE: 1.68


Sometimes a touch of NB voltage helps too as well as CPU PLL

CPU PLL Voltage: 1.80 to 1.88 (MAX)

IOH Voltage: 1.15 to 1.20

ICH Voltage: 1.20


Assuming it did work with the above suggestions you may also be able to drop the CPU voltage a tad .. its a trial and error process

None the less.. even if OCCT and MEMTEST says OK, that does not mean it will be stable in FSX. I have seen all sorts of FSX/FS9 issues caused by unstable memory load tests do not pick up

[jwenham]

In a nut shell are you saying that I should leave it then at 8-8-8? I dont want to damage anything and if any improvement I see is only a placebo effect then is it worth the risk? I have done a few short flights and saw no ill side effects in FSX using 7-7-7. What type of things would I see if it was to cause a problem?

Thanks, Jim

[NickN]

7-7-7 is not a placebo compared to 8-8-8 just as 6-6-6 is not a placebo perf increase compared to 7-7-7

If you are running stable and without issues, consider yourself lucky and you probably got sticks from a run of chips that can do 7-7-7

You wont damage hardware clocking and reducing timing as long as you remain within voltage spec

All I am telling you is that it is possible to blow an OS to hell (file registry corruption) have an unstable application/driver due to file corruption during install of that product, and/or see graphic errors or other strange crashes in FSX with unstable memory clocked too low on timing, too high on speed or on too low a voltage.

If you are running good then as I said, you got lucky with the memory chips on those sticks. Most wont get that result

[jwenham]

Thanks for the info Nick. I think I will run with 7-7-7 for a while and test it out more. If it blow the OS ... well thats why I have my clean fully updated (at the time) Acronis Disk Image. I did try lowering the CPU ratio and raised the Bclock but 21x @ 191 is the only thing that works for me on my system to hit 4ghz stable without going above 80c. Over the last several months I have tried every combination I know of and I always end back at 191 with a 21x mult.

Thanks for the info. EUROPE soon?

[jwenham]

Here is a follow up on my findings with changing timings. Its a no go as I could not pass the OCCT test. With the timings changed I was getting core errors, with the timings set to spec I pass with flying colors. It was fun trying anyways and the more I play around with my setup the more I learn so all was not a loss. Thanks Nick for you knowledge to the community!

[TexasMike]

What Nick said about jacking up your OS is true. I was playing with bios settings and dropped my 777 memory settings to 666. The system booted alright but it screwed up my system to the point where I couldn't get to Internet Explorer or my programs from the start menu. Luckily, I back my system up with Acronis and was able to reload my system.

[jwenham]

7-7-7 is not a placebo compared to 8-8-8 just as 6-6-6 is not a placebo perf increase compared to 7-7-7

If you are running stable and without issues, consider yourself lucky and you probably got sticks from a run of chips that can do 7-7-7

You wont damage hardware clocking and reducing timing as long as you remain within voltage spec

All I am telling you is that it is possible to blow an OS to hell (file registry corruption) have an unstable application/driver due to file corruption during install of that product, and/or see graphic errors or other strange crashes in FSX with unstable memory clocked too low on timing, too high on speed or on too low a voltage.

If you are running good then as I said, you got lucky with the memory chips on those sticks. Most wont get that result

Here is what I did and am very happy with the results. I was bored yesterday so I started playing around with my OC. I could in no way shape or form go any higher at all than 4.05 and be stable and began to wonder if I am unable to move it any higher even the smallest amount it and be stable then how stable is that clock for real. I then tried other OC's and found it was very stable allowing 3.5 - 3.8 GHZ with no problems at all. So then I said to myself, self- I know I can hit 4.05 ghz and run and I know I can hit 3.8 with no issues at all and if I reduced the CPU ratio to 19 and a BCLK of 206, that would allow me to run my ram at its rated speed (1600) which actually ended up being 1648 at the rated timings 8-8-8-24. Here is the best part of it all, I was able to reduce my VCORE to 1.29375 and my QPI to 1.325. I set my DRAM voltage from 1.64 to 1.66 as I figured it wouldnt hurt seeing as I had a mild OC on it now. SO I ended up running 3.93 GHZ on the CPU with a ton lower VCORE and my ram is now running full bore + a small bit extra. I then launched FSX and noticed a nice boost in smoothness. I was actually able to fly the KSEA route with MAX AG/Scenery at a solid 30 FPS. The whole thing felt alot better than it did at 4.05 GHZ. Me being a newbie at OC thought that I should just go as fast as I can on the CPU but found lowering it a tad and using a dif CPU ratio the whole system seems to work better in harmony.
Just wanted to pass along my findings.

Jim