Optimal Timings for F3-12800CL8T-6GBRM Ripjaws

[granite]

Hi,

I've manually set the timings to my 6GB Ripjaws (1600Mhz cas 8) to their rated specs at 1600Mhz/8-8-8-24/2T/1.6V. Note that although the memory is rated at 2T, I can set these at 1T and they still run fine and complete memtest passes with no issues. Is there any benefit to stay within the spec'd 2T vs 1T-- longer lifespan?

Besides the 8-8-8-24/2T numbers, I've let the motherboard auto-set the other timings. I'd like to know if these are indeed the proper standard timings or if they should be tweaked?
tRFC: 88
tWR: 10
tWTR: 6
tRRD: 6
tRTP: 6
tFAW: 20
B2B-CAS Delay: 0

Additionally what would be the potential range for overclocking on this set of RAM? And what would be some timings/voltage to try at these OC'd speeds? Sorry, I have no experience OC'ing ram and my few attempts at doing so left the system unstable.

Thanks for any input!

System Specs:
i7 930 @ 3.8Ghz / 200 x 19 / 4x Memory Ratio to allow for 1600Mhz
- note that if I sacrifice some memory freq. speed, I can also get a stable 3.8Ghz at 181 x 21 and 190 x 20. Other than heat being an issue for my air cooling, I can reach 4-4.2Ghz fine on this board so I'm open for any settings for those speeds as well but 3.8Ghz is my 24/7 setup.
MSI Big Bang XPower motherboard / BIOS v1.2
Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit
Corsair HX750W PSU

[wevsspot]

Running your command rate at 1T/2T or even 3T will not have any detrimental affects on your memory one way or another. Just choose the command rate your memory can run at with 100% stability and you're set. The lower the number the better for best performance, but even then you won't notice/feel any difference one way or another. You can see the affect of the command rate changes in synthetic benchmarks, but that's about it.

I'd leave all the other settings you mentioned on Auto. No need to tweak those unless you're a memory performance freak or just wanting to torture yourself

Those will auto calculate and adjust as you change your memory frequency and timings. And I'm convinced the engineers at GSkill are a lot smarter than me when it comes to determining what the optimal values are for those settings.

How do you like your MSI Big Bang Motherboard? I had one given to me (compliments of OCC and MSI) after giving them some feedback on the design and likes/disklikes. It's still sitting in the box though because I've been completely happy with my Asus P6TD Deluxe board. Plus the thought of tearing down my water cooling loop just to try the MSI board makes me shudder.

[granite]

Thanks for the input, I'll flip the switch back to 1T in that case. I'm definitely not a performance freak, but would like to experiment with some modest RAM OCing just to see what's possible with this set.

I like the XPower quite a bit but then again I haven't worked with any other 1366 boards. If it weren't for the discount on the MSI at the time, I would've gone with Asus or Gigabyte. I especially like it's OC friendly features including a simple CMOS reset button from the I/O shield, auto BIOS restore functions from failed OC's. The OC Dashboard device is more of a novelty than anything else in my opinion. As a bonus, the Dr. MOS components and the big heat pipes actually sure do look good.

It's not perfect of course though. I don't see any real benefit in the stand alone sound card and it lacks normal PCI slots for older peripherals. Yeah I agree with you, if you already have a system built, I'm not sure you'd see much performance difference (if any) by switching to the MSI.

[GSKILL TECH]

Sub timings are fine.

To overclock memory, you can increase voltage or timings. Simply work your way up until satisfied, then make sure it is indeed stable.

DDR3-1800 1.65V w/ rated timings should be no problem.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[granite]

Thanks! I gave 1800 a shot and was able to get it running when I loosened timings to 9-9-9-24 (wouldn't post at 8-8-8-24). Basically loosened them directly from 8-8-8-24 and didn't try changing the basic timings individually. Good experiment, back to 1600mhz and rated timings for now (with the exception using 1T instead of 2T).

[wevsspot]

That kit of memory should be able to run DDR3 1900 at 8-9-8-24 timings with a 2T or 3T command rate