Help needed with memory timings

[Ben Blystone]

I was hoping someone could help me out with memory timings for my rig.

 

My rig:

 

Abit Fatal1ty AN8 (non SLI) NForce4 Ultra Chipset (Latest BIOS)

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500DAA4BP - OEM

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model Twinx2048-3200c2 - Retail

 

The memory is running in dual channel mode with no problems. However the memory defaults to slower specs than they are rated for. Specs for the memory are supposed to be:

 

Cas Latency: 2

Timing: 2-3-3-6

Voltage: 2.75V

 

I manually increased the voltage to 2.75, Set CAS to 2 and set some of the timings to their advertised values and don’t have any problems at all. However the BIOS has many more values for memory timings than your standard CAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS and I have a feeling that I could still get some more performance out of my memory if I knew what to set them to. I have a feeling the auto values are being set conservatively from the SPD values.

 

Here are the BIOS options and what I’ve set them to:

 

CAS Latency Time: Manual Set to 2

Row Cycle Time: Auto (Manual Options: 7 – 22 Clocks (does not start at 6?))

Row Refresh Cycle Time: Auto (Manual Options: 9 – 24 Clocks)

RAS# to CAS# Delay: Manual Set to 3

RAS# to RAS# Delay: Auto (Manual Options: 2 – 4 Clocks)

Min. RAS# Active Time: Auto (Manual Options: 5 – 15 Clocks)

RAS# Precharge Time: Manual Set to 3

Write Recovery Time: Auto (Manual Options: 2 – 3 Clocks)

Write to Read Delay: Auto (Manual Options: 1 – 2 Clocks)

Read to Write Delay: Auto (Manual Options: 1 – 6 Clocks)

DRAM Command Rate: Manual Set to 1T

Burst Length : 4 Beats

Bank Interleaving: Enabled

 

Any help is appreciated!

[Yellowbeard]

Outside the 4 main RAM latency timings you have set, Corsair recommends to use MOBO defaults. However, as you stated, there might be more performance to be had from further tweaking. I would suggest you check out the bios optimization guide at http://www.rojakpot.com or perhaps post at the ABIT forums. The plethora of bios settings varies so much from MOBO to MOBO that other users of the same MOBO may be your best source of info other than rojakpot.

 

Mike.