Jump to content
Corsair Community

Do I even need to tweak my timing? (SPD)


ChrisC

Recommended Posts

I searched the FAQs for this basic question and didn't find anything directly relevant. I have a new AMD64 machine with TwinX1024-3200C2 RAM in it. I've run Memtest86 on it and it seems fine. I noticed that the Memtest86 display indicates that the timing is set at 3-3-3-8. This RAM is supposed to be capable of 2.5-3-3-6 in an AMD platform.

 

Doing a little more research, I found that there's an SPD chip on the RAM module that is supposed to tell the board what timing it is capable of. Are the SPD numbers normally set conservatively? Is it therefore up to me to push the 3-3-3-8 numbers down to 2.5-3-3-6 via BIOS settings?

 

Related question: assuming it passes Memtest86, I then obviously need to test the RAM performance. I don't yet have an OS installed on the machine, and when I do it won't be Windows (it'll be some form of Debian Linux, like Ubuntu or Mepis or Libranet), so I can't use 3DMark or those other benchmarks that everyone is quoting. I don't think Memtest86 will give me overall performance results (please correct me if I'm wrong) so I guess I need some sort of test that can be run as a bootable CDROM. Any suggestions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the forums, ChrisC!

 

I would go ahead and set the CAS Latency to 2.5 manually. Sometimes the board will not read the SPD correctly or will automagically set values that are conservative for the sake of compatibility.

 

As for a benchmark that will run off a bootable CD-ROM... well... err... hrm. I'm pretty stumped. Mostly, you'll just run into diagnostics, not benchmarks.

 

It's not quite what you want, but here's some that require an OS for when you do load it up... click me.

 

PLUR

CK

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CK... I stickied that to a different area last month :)

 

XMS3200C2 would have their SPD set to Cass 3-3-3-8 or Cass 2.5-4-4-8 depending on the IC used for the specific part you have. And the tested settings would need to be set manually.

 

Basically just manually change them and you'll be fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sometimes the board will not read the SPD correctly or will automagically set values that are conservative for the sake of compatibility.

PLUR

CK

:rofl: OMG, AUTOMAGICALLY!....that is the funniest thing I have heard in a while! Can I steal that? That is hilarious! And, you may have just explained the inner workings of some companies bios, it does it automagically

 

Holy Poo that was funny. :laughcry:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...