F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - ASUS M4A79XTD EVO - AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz

[teo]

When poking around the internet, I saw the RAM I use often defaults to 1333Mhz frequency. I boosted it to 1600Mhz in the BIOS, then Windows failed to launch on the first try. Since then it's been stable (while still set at 1600Mhz) but I figured I'd inquire to see if there were other settings I should change.

RAM: F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
MOBO: ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3
CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz

[Tradesman]

If stable now, wouldn't mess with things. If you do encounter problems would look to raise CPU/NB and may DRAM voltages + 0.05 or so to stabilize

[teo]

i downloaded cpu-z, and found the memory timings to be as follows:
CL: 11
tRCD: 11
tRP: 11
tRAS: 29
tRC: 40
CR: 1T

i found those timings in the bios listed as:
DRAM 1st Information : 11-11-11-29-6-40-12-5 (i would assume 12 and 5 correspond to tWR and tRRD, respectively)

also listed is:
DRAM 2nd Information : 9-10-6-3-2-0-110
with the options to modify:
TRWTTD
TWRRD
TWTR
TWRWR
TRDRD
TRFC0
TRFC1
TREF

i'm continuing to poke around the internet to learn more, and thus far i've come to the conclusion that if possible my timings should be lowered (and the description of my DIMMs suggests that's doable). i've yet to find out what exactly the DRAM 2nd Info means or anything saying i should mess with it.

i appreciate the help. i'm putting off buying new components (because i don't need them) but needed to do something to satisfy my urge to play under the hood. thanks for helping ensure i don't break anything in the process.

[Tradesman]

Looks like it's at defaults for the mobo, the sticks should run at 9-9-9-24-2T if your CPU can carry them at 1600. With your 440, you will prob need the extra voltages mentioned above to run 1600 at their stock timings

[teo]

i put the timings down without touching the voltage yet, and things seem stable. if something goes haywire that'll be the first thing to adjust, i suppose.

thanks for the help.

[Tradesman]

Sounds good, keep us updated

[damric]

have you tried unlocking thr 4th core or L3 cache on that athlon?

[teo]

i most certainly have not unlocked anything, though you've peaked my interest. if you think that discussion would be outside the scope of this thread, i'd thoroughly appreciate a PM on the subject.

on boot-up today windows failed to launch, and when i finally get to the desktop my screen will flicker black briefly before everything smooths up. granted, i did just update my ati drivers so that may be the root cause there. in any case, i've boosted the voltages in the hopes that doesn't happen again. is there a ceiling on how high it's (wise) to go?

[Tradesman]

You can generally go very high, but I'd get a temp monitoring program to sort of keep an eye on things (CoreTemp is a good free one) - and feel free to get into the unlocking of the CPU - there's a few threads that have touched on it

[damric]

A new thread in the overclocking section will be better. There are many tweakable settings on the Athlon x3's. I could write a novel

[Tradesman]

Yep, that would be fine also