Jon's OC

[jon666]

Current settings http://valid.canardpc.com/qy49tt
Using an i7 3770 MSi Z77A G43
850W PSU
500gb HDD
1 Terabyte HDD
DVD Optical Drive+Blu Ray Drive
Sapphire 7870
G.Skill Ripjaws X 4x4 GB RAM Rated at 1600mhz, currently at 2000mhz 10-11-11-30 2t. Subtimings are the same as at 1600.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231429
I believe it is this set, but when I bought it, was advertised as dual channel. Not sure if anything was changed for the two sets.
Can bump up the FSB for higher speeds, can't break 2100 stable though, unless of course, I let my room drop to outside temps.
Looking to drop latency, or find a stable higher frequency. Kicking my self for getting a non k, and cheap mobo, my options are limited. So instead of watching my computer blue screen, and waiting for bootloops to settle down and hopefully boot into windows, was wondering if anyone had any idea how high this set can go and at what timings?

Tried Raising DIMM Voltage at 1.8 for a short time, no go. Adding volts to the cpu helps a little bit, temps can get scary though if I don't watch it. Gets close to 90C if FSB is at ~103.

Voltages are always ~.1-.2 lower then what I set in bios. With my new PSU, they don't fluctuate as much. No idea what kind of chips are on RAM. If I can hit 2100 I will be happy.
Said the same thing before I hit 2000 stable, but I think this set is capable enough lol.

How much can I loosen timings before latency kills any performance gained? The extra bandwidth is completely unnecessary, but I still want that as well.

Basically there is zero practical reason for me to overclock, but I am going to keep trying anyways.

Everything is on air cooling, one of these days I might attach a fan to RAM DIMMS, heard once those go above 85C for ddr3, performance drops at any settings. This would only be an issue if I try to pump 1.8 V into them again I would think.

To get my current timings I had to start off at 12-12-12-32. Was a process of trial and error after that. Did mess with subtimings as well. Those don't change unless I change them. That really got messy lol. Probably the biggest reason for the bootloops.

Anyways, time for more coffee while I mull this over some more.

Thanks in advance,
jon666

P.S.
Cable management is terrible, but as far as I can tell it doesn't affect airflow. Table fan pointed at my case might be helping with this. Both side panels are off.

[emissary42]

If your memory doesn't fly 2100 at 12-12-12- then going higher in frequency is almost certainly not worth it. Tweaking subs however could still give you a small/measurable boost in overall bandwidth and latency.

[jon666]

Seems good so far...not 2100, but close. Had to raise some of the subtimings as well. Time to see which ones I can drop...we'll see where I end up at 10,000 bootloops from now.

[jon666]

After comparing current settings to previous settings, it feels like I took two steps foward, and one step back lol. Almost the same scores on benchmarks, but with different timings...

[emissary42]

What i meant was: If your memory cant surpass DDR3-2133 even at very loose timings like 12-12-12, then aiming for a higher frequency, at probably even worse timings, is not worth it at all. Better keep on further tweaking your fastest setting with tighter subtimings instead.

How about a screen including all subs for that ddr3-2000 10-11-11-30 2T profile?

[jon666]

What i meant was: If your memory cant surpass DDR3-2133 even at very loose timings like 12-12-12, then aiming for a higher frequency, at probably even worse timings, is not worth it at all. Better keep on further tweaking your fastest setting with tighter subtimings instead.

How about a screen including all subs for that ddr3-2000 10-11-11-30 2T profile?

I'll have to write them down. lol tried with another FSB overclock, passed the first few tests, then did a few gpu stress tests to make sure I wouldn't bsod while in game, ran it through Intel burn test and it started to throw out errors. Back to original 2000mhz timings. I will have to restart and write down all the timings.

[jon666]

Current timings for RAM @ 2000 MHZ are as follows
Command Rate 2T
tCL 10
tRCD 11
tRP 11
tRAS 30
tRFC 150
tWR 14
tWTR 8
tRRD 6
tRTP 8
tFAW 30 I think this has to be set same as tRAS?
tWCL 8
tCKE 5
tRTL 42 Couldn't drop this one any lower
Advanced as listed in BIOS
tRRDR 1
tRRDD 3
tWWDR 3
tWWDD 3
tRWDRDD 3
tRWSR 4
tRRSR 4
tWWSR 4

[emissary42]

First try these one by one:

1) Command Rate 2T --> 1T
2) tRRD 6 --> 5
3) tWCL 8 --> 7/6

Those might need a small bump in Vdimm or even relaxing some other secondaries/tertiaries, but it could still be worth it. Next would be

4) tRFC 150 --> try going down in small steps of 3 or 4 a time (146/142/138/...)
5) tWR 14 --> 12/10
6) tWTR 8 --> 7/6
7) tRTP 8 --> 7/6
8) tFAW 30 --> 28/24/20 should be at least 4xtRRD (but can be lowered further sometimes)

That should keep you busy for quite some time. Have fun^^

[jon666]

Ha ha...thank you emissary. No more blind changes. Clearing cmos is kind of a pain, have to pop out my gpu everytime to do it XD
Good to know aobut tFAW timing, I must have misread that one when trying to research what everything does. Well. If I don't report anything tonight, it is because I gave up for the day lol.

[supahos]

Yes my nephew's board has to remove the GPU to reset cmos, which lead to me pretty much getting it generally stable, and leaving it alone, mine however, push a button and I'm back to tearing up something else to cause a BSOD

[jon666]

Dropped all the timings down to what was suggested. Tried to run at 10-11-10, got another boot loop going so I shut down sunday night. Good thing too I think, since power went out while asleep. Running stable, will have to see what I can drop now, that will actually be benificial. Passed intel burn test, and hours of battlefield 4 beta no problem. Will update next time I get the chance.

[jon666]

tRRD @ 5
tWCL@6
tRFC is at 129

tWR @8
tWRT @5
tTRP @5
and dropped tFAW to 16
All stable, ran it through intel burn test, and bf4 beta.

[emissary42]

Still doesn't look that fast to me in comparison, even though the subs are tightened down quite a bit.

What main timings did u use for that?

Can you maybe show the complete timings with MSI Control Center or MemTweakIt in the screenshot?

[jon666]

Still doesn't look that fast to me in comparison, even though the subs are tightened down quite a bit.

What main timings did u use for that?

Can you maybe show the complete timings with MSI Control Center or MemTweakIt in the screenshot?

I can try. Got distracted, and turned off hyperthreading to see what would happen. The windows score improved, maxx mem is the same, and when I run it through y cruncher, it takes about five seconds longer (if I remembered the correct time from before, I should have wrote that down) but core effiency jumps up to ~97%.

Main timings are still 10-11-11-30

What is the best way to judge RAM speed etc? maxxmem should be fine I am assuming?

[jon666]

Had to install msi control center. Never heard abou it before.