Perplexing Memory..

[saxamo]

Hello there,

New to forums so a big hello to all. I am here today to discuss memory and try to get a better understanding of what the future holds. I have been an mcse, cne, ccna and mvp for a couple years so I am not new to technology. However, when it comes to memory I find that I am at a loss no matter how much I read about cas, latency etc..

The reason I chose this forum is due to the fact that I have read about 30% of the post and found the community to be very informative. I am hoping someone can push me in the right direction.

My current PC is as follows:

Asus Crosshair formula IV
AMD Phenom II x6 1090t Black Edition - watercooled - Coolit
Crosshair Dominators - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145284
Thermaltake Element S Case - http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Produc...C=1407&ID=1852
Intel 240 SSD (2) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167086
EVGA 04G-P4-3687-KR GeForce GTX 680 FTW+ w/Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130794

I just recently decided since I do lots of small renderings to upgrade my memory amount, but looking at memory found that the timings of the 16GB kit timings were higher then my dominators. I basically through my reading came to the conclusion ( so to speak ) that the speed is minimal but there is a difference.

the dominators are:


DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
Timing 7-7-7-20
Cas Latency 7
Voltage 1.6V

and the new memory

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GXM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231568



DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Timing 9-9-9
Cas Latency 9
Voltage 1.5V

I guess what I am asking here is, am I getting more memory at the cost of speed and should I have gone with different memory. With the special NewEgg was running over the last 24 hours that memory cost me 84 dollars.. Just not sure if it was worth it in the long run.

So what am I asking? Is there better memory for my board? Should I have gone with something different? If the new memory is okay is there anything special I need to do to make sure it runs at 1600 and not 1333 with higher latency and just more ram?

Tell me what you think, would have done, links are beneficial. I appreciate your help and your time on whatever you can tell me. Thanks!

cpu-z information - http://www.saxamo.com/downloads/?dir=./cpuz

Kind regards,
Saxamo
http://www.saxamo.com/downloads/monitor/IMG_0647.jpg

[Tradesman]

To try and keep this short, if it were 8GB 1333 going to 8GB 1600, I would say about equal. I normally try and relate say your 1333/CL7 as a bit slower than 1600/CL8. Here it is 1600/CL9 so real close overall, but it is 8GB vs 16GB so you should still see an overall increase in the 16GB set as you have twice the DRAM to play with....a bigger increase might have been made by going with a 2x8GB 16GB set that's rated 1866/CL9
like the F3-1866C9D-16GXM, which could be run at 1600/CL8....Problems you are running into to try and match the 1333/CL7 for clock cycle performance, is it's hard to find low latency (CL) sticks in the high density (8GB stick format)....to try and run say 1600 at CL7 w/ 8GB sticks you'd be looking to maybe start w/ 2133/CL9 sticks (maybe Ripjaws X or Z).....but then you'd have a problem in that AMD CPUs oft times have a lot of trouble running 1600 at CL7.........All in all, just w/ the additional DRAM you should 'see' a performance increase from it holding more cache and temp data in the DRAM longer and not having to go to virtual memory (your hard drive(s)) as often to retrieve things, in addition to faster multitasking.
Hope this helps, can expand on it later but getting ready to head out.

[saxamo]

Thanks for the reply.. I looked at the F3-1866C9D-16GXM. I had read that my motherboard might have trouble running the 1600 so I did not even think to go higher.

When I get the new memory on Monday I will be replacing the old memory completely. If anyone needs 8 GB 2x4 Dominators let me know..

All in all I assume that if I follow the first thread to adding the new memory that I purchased I should be fine?

Would love to hear what else you have to say. I am finding the memory world to be intriguing and feel it could be a life long commitment..

Kind regards,
Saxamo

[Tradesman]

Yep you can follow the thread and we'll be around....As far as DRAM being 'interesting' it is sort of in a world by itself as far as system components, they fastest evolving one, will try and add more this PM

[saxamo]

Hello there again,

I just got my memory.. Put it in my machine and started her up. I wanted to show you the cpu-z numbers first before I went ahead and started tweaking/following the first post. I was wondering if I should still follow it to the numbers or if there were any changes based on what you see here:








Thanks in advance as always..

[Tradesman]

Guessing it's at mobo defaults, in the Memory tab it shows 465.6 which with DDR (Double Data Rate) means it's truly at 931.2, try setting the freq manually to 1333 8-8-8-24 or 1600 @ 9-9-9-24, DRAM Voltage 1.55 and CR (Command Rate/Timing) at 2T

[GSKILL TECH]

Make sure to load BIOS defaults first, the CPU is overclocked to 233 from 200.

Use this guide for DDR3-1600 and it should work fine:

http://www.gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=7688

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[saxamo]

Thanks for the information. I decided once going into the bios to change a couple things, see how things react and then check options that were there. I felt it best to show you first what I found before moving ahead. I am going to put up some screen shots for you to look at and try an explain what I see on my side.. You can then tell me how to proceed.



As you can see in this image the bios is up to date, the CPU is running at 3.7GHz and the DRAM is 928, these are setting created by the bios when you push the OC button on the mobo and it sets the CPU at what it feels is a stable O.C. rate.



In this image you can see what the current settings are on my memory, but I am trying to understand why there are two sets of information. Is this for profiles?



DRAM Driving Configuration.. Whuuuuuuut??



More Options on the Extreme Tweaker Page



and more



When you choose to change the CPU Level Up from Auto, you have two options to OC the CPU 3.7 * current and 3.9 ( never tried )



The Ai Overclock Tuner has a DOCP option and when chosen gives you the option to choose your memory profile



You do however, get this message first



At this point you can choose to use DDR3-1600Mhz Profile, but you will notice that it drops the CPU Frequency down to 3.2 Ghz and not the 3.712MHz that is was before.



Once you set the CPU Bus Frequency to 240 as stated in the thread, the CPU Freq jumps to 3840Mhz and the DRAM to 1920Mhz. I think I am on the right track, just don't want to burn up my process or anything.

What do you suggest at this time after looking at all these settings? I appreciate your help as always and hope you are finding this as interesting as me.. LOL

[saxamo]

Just an Update: I have the black edition 1090T AMD Phenom IIx6 proc, and now I realized that on the thread for the config you have an NON Black and Black Edition. I have started to follow the BLACK EDITION, settings.. However, I do not have DRAM Freq of DDR3-1600. I have numbers that are like 1536, etc.. no 1600's Setting the rest of the options does not OC my CPU and once you choose DOCP you do not have the option to set CPU OC..

Not sure what to do here.. Set everything back to normal ( thank god for screen shots ). Awaiting orders SIR!

[Tradesman]

If it's stable, that's very good, wouldn't change a thing. Will want to monitor temps, believe your mobo came with tweaking software that includes a temp monitor, or might download something like CoreTemp....good job, nice OC!

[saxamo]

Damn, I am lost now.. lol.. That was just a hack, but I think I should be doing it another way..

I don't think the number I achieved is correct and what I mean by that is, that I did not change my cpu voltage I did the 240 based on NON black edition CPU. I am just not sure if I should be doing it this way and if my machine is going to melt.. lol..

I was watching this.. please take a look and let me know if I should do it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlblC1RlKbk

Thanks!

[Tradesman]

Will take a look in a bit, am working on an article at the moment (maybe back in an hour or so), what kind of temps do you have on the CPU i.e. at idle? and under load?

[saxamo]

What I did was change everything back to default.. Then I chose the CPU Level Up of 3.9. Once that set things, I just went down and change the memory to 16xx. These are my current cpu-z visuals.








The current CPU temp based on the digital display on the water cooling unit is:
35.6 and I am pretty idle other then some windows open and typing..

Yeah or Neh... let me know

[saxamo]

Here is what I am getting from Hardware Monitor: Not sure why the cores are not showing up, maybe it is because of the water cooler?



Here are some images of the pc/setup/inside cooler readings.





The Temp on the Cooler has come down to 35.4 at pretty much idle.. I will post back my Temps once I run Sniper Elite V2 for about 30 minutes. Check stability at the same time.

Anything else you can think of? Things I should check? Run? Test with? Let me know..

and Thanks!

[Tradesman]

Looks sweet!, had thought if you dropped to 1600 at CL9, I'd suggest trying the CR at 1T, but you're already ahead of me. Once your happy with it as stable can always experiment, I normally suggest getting screenshots of the bIOS (can normally be done by installing a flash drive, power down, boot into BIOS and with each screen you want a shot of, hit the F12 key, it should save the screen shot to your flash drive. Then you have a fall back. Then you can OC the RJs if you want, these sticks tend to OC well as you've already seen, keep in mind stability and low temps! Enjoy and keep us updated.