Any memory experts?

[Tool Man]

I was just wondering if there would be much advantage in lowering my memory latency. I love to fiddle with things

Anyway, I have 512Mb of Corsair XMS3200, not the newer low latency type. It's running at CAS 2.5 at the minute. But because I'm only driving it at a bus of 333 (Athlon XP3000+) and it's capable of 400, I thought there might be room for pushing it a bit?

Is it worth it or not?

Here are the numbers according to CPUZ:
CAS# Latency 2.5
RAS# to CAS# Delay 6
RAS# Precharge 3
Cycle Time [tras] 7

Although, in the Bios the RAS# to CAS# is set to 3 but shows at 6 in CPUZ?

[stiltman]

My memory sucks....

[redwudz]

Can you set your FSB up to 400Mhz? That would be a bigger improvement. Sure, you can set your memory to CAS 2 and see a slight improvement to your speed, but not near as much as the FSB change.

If your MB is capable, easy to do with a AMD. I made no adjustments to memory other than set interleaving and dual channel. No voltage adjustments on the CPU or the memory.

I have done this with two AMD 2200 Semprons and my 2500 Barton CPU. No problems with any of the computers. The memory I am using is Corsair Value Select 512 X 2. (Their cheaper version and it works well for me in this application.)

[rallynavvie]

Most boards will alter timings on their own when the full speed of the memory bus isn't needed. You could probably tighten those some, but those are pretty slow timings for that memory. Seems like something isn't set right.

[Tool Man]

I rechecked the bios, and the timings were at a manual setting. Not sure why, I've never touched them before.

So, I changed it to "set by SPD".

CPU-Z is now reading 2.0-5-3-7

Seems a bit better, but the 5 and 7 still seem high to me.

Should I try to manually lower them? Is it worth it?

[rallynavvie]

TRAS time is okay. The RASP does seem a little slow. You shouldn't notice it though. Mine is only 2-2-2-6

[Tool Man]

Thanks for the advice, but I had to set it back to what it was at originally.
The PC would not boot this morning

The tower powered up, (fans/lights) but no POST. Not even a 'beep'.
So I had to clear the CMOS, and set everthing back the way it was. The memory timings are the only thing I've altered, so I guess thats what caused it. So I'm back now to 2.5-5-3-7.

Guess I'll have to look elsewhere for more power. Maybe the CPU can go a bit higher