Is your rams performance up to spec?

**Joe_B_Me** · 03-16-2006, 04:24 PM

The Ram Tune Up Guide

Ah yes, a guide to crank every little bit of performance out of your ram, giving you only the best performance possible.
Disclaimer
Neither I, or anyone on this site and or related to xoxide is responsilbe for you injuring yourself (unlikely) or your parts (more likely). My method of getting your rams performance up does include working with ram timings. This is not for the inexperienced. Only do this at your own risk.

Before I get into this, you’ll need to download the following programs
SiSoft Sandra XIa (1122a)
CPU-Z 1.39

And if you own an AMD64, get this
AMD64 Tweaker 0.60 Beta

-Install Sandra 2005
-Open it up, and run the memory bandwidth test.

In a perfect world, you’d get 100% efficiency, real world performance should vary from 80-95%

How to determine your maximum bandwidth
For ram in single channel, multiply your ram speed by 16.
ex. Ram speed x 16 = max bandwidth
200 x 16 = 3200MB/s
300 x 16 = 4800MB/s

For ram in dual channel, multiply your ram speed by 32
ex. Ram speed x 16 = max bandwidth
200 x 32 = 6400MB/s
300 x 32 = 9600MB/s

On my rig, I have G-Skill PC4000 3-4-4-8 1T @ DDR500 ram. It’s currently clocked @ 270 (DDR540) 3-4-4-8 1T. I got 6469MB/s of bandwidth, which is 75% efficient (74.9 rounded), which is bad. The answer? Check to make sure 1T timings are enabled (if you ram supports it). If your already @ 1T, it’s time to tighten your ram timings, to attempt to get the most out of your ram as you can.

A simple start is to set your DRAM Idle Timer to 0 clocks.
Mine was @ 16 clocks before, so I set it to zero.

@ 16 – 6469MB’s/s
@ 0 – 6516MB’s/s

Next, you can try to lower your TRC and TRFC, mine were set @ 14 & 16 (trc & trfc). These settings are more sensitive then the idle timer, so I wouldn’t jump the gun. For starters, lower the trc by one, and test for stability (use super PI 4M test, if it passes that its safe to say your rams stable).

I was able to go from 14 & 16 down to 12 and 15.

@ 14&16 – 6516MB’s/s
@ 12&15 – 6607MB’s/s (76.5% eff)

Next, I would change the RAS to CAS delay & the tras
2-3-2-6

Sadly, I can’t lower mine any further without it being unstable.

If your crazy, and I mean crazy, you can try to lower your CAS. Note, this may require extra voltage and big balls to want to try. If anything will prevent your PC from booting, lowering the CAS will do it. Make sure your prepared to clear your CMOS if needed.

Because I’m clocked @ 270, I know for a fact that I could pump 3.0v into my ram, and would still be unable to get a CAS of 2.5, so I did not benchmark that for obvious reasons.

Overall, I gained 138MB/s of bandwidth.
Post your before and after results

May 6th 2006 Update

Has your CPU hit a wall, but you ram still has more room? If you lower you CPU multiplier and raise your CPU FSB, you can increase your ram bandwidth, while maintaining your max CPU overclock.

Example

Lets say I still had my 3700+ Sandy (200x11 stock) and my PQI Turbo PC3200 (TCCD chips :smile)

My CPU had a rough time on my mobo getting above 2.86Ghz (260x11). I knew my ram could do more so this is what I did.

1) I lowered my multiplier to 10x
2) I raised the FSB to 285. GHz wise, i was still in the same range, but I gained around 800MB/s of bandwidth.

It's simple, it's easy to do, and you'll get a large performance boost.

BlackKoala · 03-16-2006, 04:28 PM

Looks good, joe. I would reccomend getting Evertest to find out your latenct, might wanna add that in too.

**Grez** · 03-16-2006, 04:33 PM

Nice post...I'm gonna sticky it. I have some Corsair ValueRam I'm going to try to overclock...I fully realize it's not the best overclocker (or even very good for that matter), but I'm not going to be asking for that much from it. I want to get it running around 230 or so. If I start having issues, I'll PM you...

+rep for being so damned knowledgable on this subject, as always.

**Duke3d87** · 03-16-2006, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grez

Nice post...I'm gonna sticky it. I have some Corsair ValueRam I'm going to try to overclock...I fully realize it's not the best overclocker (or even very good for that matter), but I'm not going to be asking for that much from it. I want to get it running around 230 or so. If I start having issues, I'll PM you...

+rep for being so damned knowledgable on this subject, as always.

good post Joe. I'm going to try it! BTW, Grez, you can't sticky threads. I on the other hand can

**Grez** · 03-16-2006, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke3d87

good post Joe. I'm going to try it! BTW, Grez, you can't sticky threads. I on the other hand can

Ha...too true. I was thinking that I could sticky it for myself, but apparently not. I guess that's on 1Up.com. LOL

Ok, so sticky that bad boy, Duke! This is a quality post.

**Joe_B_Me** · 03-16-2006, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PC_Modda

Looks good, joe. I would reccomend getting Evertest to find out your latenct, might wanna add that in too.

Everest* not Evertest. lol. If I recall, everest doesnt show you the trc, trfc, or the idle timer. I'm downloading that now to if I my memory is good or not. edit: confirmed it, everest doesnt show the trc, trfc, and the idle timer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grez

Nice post...I'm gonna sticky it. I have some Corsair ValueRam I'm going to try to overclock...I fully realize it's not the best overclocker (or even very good for that matter), but I'm not going to be asking for that much from it. I want to get it running around 230 or so. If I start having issues, I'll PM you...

+rep for being so damned knowledgable on this subject, as always.

Good luck trying to sticky it, lol. Corsair Value ram, hmm.... what do you know, i did a review on that.

LINK

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke3d87

good post Joe. I'm going to try it! BTW, Grez, you can't sticky threads. I on the other hand can

Thanks

BlackKoala · 03-16-2006, 06:59 PM

I meant everest, twas a typo.

It'll show you your latency, though. Even if it doesn't have all the other things, your latency still makes a differnce.

**Joe_B_Me** · 03-16-2006, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PC_Modda

It'll show you your latency, though. Even if it doesn't have all the other things, your latency still makes a differnce.

i already gave a dl link for cpu-z, which shows more timings, which is why I don't reccomend everest in this situation.

yes, latecny makes a difference, thats why i made this guide, lol

BlackKoala · 03-16-2006, 07:07 PM

Lol. Oh, one of my friends from another forum did some testing with an AMD64. Here is what he came up with.

At 2-2-2-5, 200MHZ, CPU at 1.8, the Latency is 51
At 3-3-3-6, 300 MHZ, CPU at 1.8, the Latency was 44

So, it appears that Timings aren't as important as pure speed in an AMD64 Scenarion, pretty cool.

**Joe_B_Me** · 03-16-2006, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PC_Modda

Lol. Oh, one of my friends from another forum did some testing with an AMD64. Here is what he came up with.

At 2-2-2-5, 200MHZ, CPU at 1.8, the Latency is 51
At 3-3-3-6, 300 MHZ, CPU at 1.8, the Latency was 44

So, it appears that Timings aren't as important as pure speed in an AMD64 Scenarion, pretty cool.

eh...when you comparing pc3200 speeds and pc4800 speeds, i wouldn't think so.

the ideal amd setup is tight timings w/ high speeds (tccd ftw)

BlackKoala · 03-16-2006, 07:12 PM

No, it was the exact same ram. For both tests. What he was trying to do is see if running the RAM at a lower speed with tight timings, was better thatn high sppeds with loose timings...

**Joe_B_Me** · 03-16-2006, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PC_Modda

No, it was the exact same ram. For both tests. What he was trying to do is see if running the RAM at a lower speed with tight timings, was better thatn high sppeds with loose timings...

aim me @ joebarbosk so we dont spam the thread with confusion

bryce · 03-21-2006, 01:42 AM

OK. Noob Question here.
That program for Athlon 64's. Is that just for changing settings out of BIOS?
How can I utilise it so I can run Oblivion better?
The problem is I don't know what most of these settings do or the effects they can have (damage wise and stuff). I've heard of alot of them but that doesn't help me.

**Joe_B_Me** · 03-21-2006, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryce

OK. Noob Question here.
That program for Athlon 64's. Is that just for changing settings out of BIOS?
How can I utilise it so I can run Oblivion better?
The problem is I don't know what most of these settings do or the effects they can have (damage wise and stuff). I've heard of alot of them but that doesn't help me.

this program allows you to change your ram timings while in windows, but your changes will be reset if you turn off or restart your pc.

if your uncertain about the ram timings, don't touch them.

bryce · 03-23-2006, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe_B_Me

this program allows you to change your ram timings while in windows, but your changes will be reset if you turn off or restart your pc.

if your uncertain about the ram timings, don't touch them.

OK cheers man. So I guess I should delete the programme then?

**Joe_B_Me** · 03-23-2006, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryce

OK cheers man. So I guess I should delete the programme then?

w/e you want

**Joe_B_Me** · 05-06-2006, 06:50 PM

I made a small update for you people who are cpu limited and are not getting your rams full bandwidth (great for you TCCD users)

remi · 11-03-2006, 05:37 AM

RAM can be compared to a person's short-term memory and the hard disk to the long-term memory. The short-term memory focuses on work at hand, but can only keep so many facts in view at one time. If short-term memory fills up, your brain sometimes is able to refresh it from facts stored in long-term memory. A computer also works this way. If RAM fills up, the processor needs to continually go to the hard disk to overlay old data in RAM with new, slowing down the computer's operation. Unlike the hard disk which can become completely full of data so that it won't accept any more, RAM never runs out of memory. It keeps operating, but much more slowly than you may want it to.

bryce · 11-03-2006, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by remi

RAM can be compared to a person's short-term memory and the hard disk to the long-term memory. The short-term memory focuses on work at hand, but can only keep so many facts in view at one time. If short-term memory fills up, your brain sometimes is able to refresh it from facts stored in long-term memory. A computer also works this way. If RAM fills up, the processor needs to continually go to the hard disk to overlay old data in RAM with new, slowing down the computer's operation. Unlike the hard disk which can become completely full of data so that it won't accept any more, RAM never runs out of memory. It keeps operating, but much more slowly than you may want it to.

Probably the smartest post i've seen from a noob to the board.

nodrog321 · 02-10-2007, 08:36 AM

do you use the amd tweaker to do the clock settings? or in bios? cause i turned the dram idle timer to 0 and the TRC and TRFC down by one and i got less efficiency. then i tried to lower the RAS to CAS delay and tras and the comp just crashed on me. also the 1T is that only for ddr2? cause i have a pair of corsair xms pc3200 (512 x 2) oh and at regular (before this) i got about a 64% efficiency.