TW3X4G1333C9DHX G installed in Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi -- does all this sound correct?

[lalittle]

I have an Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi that I just upgraded from 2GB to 4GB of RAM. The old sticks were Corsair "TWIN3X2048-1333C9DHX." The new sticks are "TW3X4G1333C9DHX G." I want to verify that my experiences tonight were "normal" and that everything is set correctly.

 

Here's what happened:

 

I removed the old sticks and put the new ones in. On the first boot, I went into the BIOS to check the settings. With the previous 1GB sticks everything was set to "Auto" and the sticks showed the correct timings. The new sticks said 1.6v on them instead of 1.5v, however, so I knew I'd have to change at least this one setting, which I did. I also noticed that the 1st and 2nd "information" settings (i.e. the timings) for the new sticks were not "9-9-9-24..." as it said on the memory -- they were "7-7-7-20...." I therefore changed the following five settings from their default "Auto" settings:

 

CAS# Latency - 9

RAS# to CAS# Delay - 9

RAS# Precharge - 9

RAS# Active Time - 24

 

DRAM voltage - 1.6

 

I saved these and rebooted, at which point the system said that the "overclocking settings" did not work, and that I should make corrections to the BIOS. The boot info also told me that the DRAM Frequency was set to DDR3-1066 instead of DDR3-1333.

 

I went back into the BIOS and manually set the DRAM frequency to "DDR3 - 1333." After a reboot (which did not complain this time) I went back into the BIOS setup and discovered that now that the frequency was set to 1333, the timings were no longer showing up as "7-7-7-20...." They NOW showed as

 

1st info - 9-9-9-24-4-60-8-4

2nd info - 10-4-5-4-7-4-7

 

Based on the "9-9-9-24," these now appeared to be "correct," so I undid the manual changes I had made to the timings above and changed them BACK to "Auto." In other words, only TWO BIOS settings were no longer set to "Auto" -- the DRAM frequency (which was manually set to 1333), and the DRAM voltage (which was manually set to 1.6.)

 

Everything appears to be stable, but I'm wondering if it's all set correctly. I've read that you have to set the timings to 9-9-9-24, but it appears that this was not necessary since it appeared to happen automatically AFTER I manually changed the frequency from "Auto" to DDR3 - 1333. Am I correct? Are the "1st" and "2nd" info settings listed above correct, or do I still need to make changes to the BIOS?

 

I'm also confused why the default freq is incorrect. Sisoft Sandra reports the memory modules as "PC3-8500U DDR3-1066," which I guess means that the SPD is set this way, and explains why they default to the lower frequency, but why is this the case? Why don't these modules have the correct settings in the SPD info like the TWIN3X2048-1333C9DHX modules did?

 

Just in case it's important, Sandra reports the 4 new "Logical/Chipset Memory Banks" as:

 

1GB DIMM DDR3 9-9-9-24 4-33-8-4 2T.

 

Is this correct? Is it normal that it's "33" here and "60" in the BIOS screen?

 

Bottom line, does all this appear to be "correct" and expected behavior?

 

Thanks for any feedback,

 

Larry

[RAM GUY]

That is normal the modules SPD is set to some thing that every MB can post at with default voltage IR DDR1066 at 1.5 Volts the tested settings DDR1333 at Cas 9-9-9-24 1.6-1.7 Volts would need to be manually set in the BIOS.

[lalittle]

Thanks for the reply.

 

So, just to confirm, the ONLY two changes that I need to make in the BIOS are:

 

1) Change "DRAM Frequency" from "Auto" to "DDR3-1333.

2) Change "DRAM Voltage" from "Auto" to 1.6v (as per the writing on the module.)

 

I'm asking for clarification since I didn't find any posts saying that they had tried these settings. Most people saw the "7-7-7-20" and immediately used more manual settings.

 

On this note, I did see some posts that gave detailed MANUAL settings for these modules, but I also noticed that some settings were not the same between revisions -- i.e. the voltage, for example, changed with different revisions. My thinking was therefore to use as many "auto" settings as possible in order to let the RAM set things appropriately. My only concern is whether or not it's actually setting everything correctly.

 

Does this sound like a good approach, or should I dig up those other posts and use more manual settings?

 

Does the Sandra info I posted indicate that ALL the settings are set correctly? What about the "60" vs "33" question -- i.e. the BIOS reports 9-9-9-24-4-60-8-4, but Sandra reports 9-9-9-24 4-33-8-4.

 

Thanks again,

 

Larry

[DerekT]

1. Change "DRAM Frequency" from "Auto" to "DDR3-1333. - Yes
   
2. Change "DRAM Voltage" from "Auto" to 1.6v/1.7v - Yes
   

 

Use Memset to determine your latencies. Set all to Auto, CPU, Memory, etc. then use this program to determine the default Auto Settings for a stock system on your board.

 

http://www.tweakers.fr/memset.html

 

Then begin to document your values. Then you can begin to study the effects when you set your memory to 1333Mhz with 9-9-9-24 - Auto - Auto - Auto ....

 

By the way. I once had a girlfriend named Sandra. She lied to me as well. :p:

 

Try this. Worth every cent to buy but it comes as a trial.

Download Everest Trial Version from here -->

Here

Install Everest and right click on the (i) icon in the system tray. Choose Tools --> Cache and Memory Benchmark. Run the Benchmark.

[lalittle]

Thanks for the info.

 

So, just to make sure I fully understand, is the idea to use Memset to really "dial in" the absolute best/tightest settings for your specific RAM modules in order to get the very highest performance out of them? I'm just wondering what the downside would be to leaving the settings all on "Auto" (except for the frequency and voltage) for the time being.

 

Is it possible that some of the "Auto" settings could actually be "incorrect," or is it just that the Memset settings offer the potential for higher performance? What is the possibility that the Memset settings would end up the same as the "Auto" BIOS settings?

 

Regarding Everest, is there anything specific I should look for after running the benchmark.

 

Thanks again for all your help here,

 

Larry

[lalittle]

Install Everest and right click on the (i) icon in the system tray. Choose Tools --> Cache and Memory Benchmark. Run the Benchmark.

 

For the "Memory," the Read was 8114 MB/s and the Latency was 66.3 ns. The Write and Copy both just say "Trial Version," so apparently I'd need to buy it to display those.

 

Do these results sound about right? (This is a Core 2 Duo E8400.)

 

Larry

[DerekT]

Memset is best used to document your Auto Settings. The BIOS is the best place to make changes to your memory and then boot to the Memtest CD to allow for testing of the memory prior to entering Windows.

 

Your read score is fine for your system.