Choosing Memory Help

[biologikAA]

Specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66ghz CPU
Asus P5P43Td/USB3.0 Motherboard. Bios version 405
Geforce GTX 460 SE GPU
2X2GB Kingston ValueRam 1333(PC 10600) Cas latency 9
Windows 7 64bit

Hello all,

I am looking to purchase new Gskill RAM. However, after recently learning about CAS latency, I am having trouble choosing.

The RAM that i wish to purchase will be DD3 1333(PC 10666), however, i have recently learned that lower CAS latency equates to faster/better RAM. So will memory with a CAS latency of 7, like these models http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...CE&Pagesize=20 , work faster for my system than memory with a CAS latency of 9? If so, I am willing to lay out the extra $20. But will my system recognize the difference or is it too obsolete?

Also, will I have to change any settings to my system (motherboard timings..????) in order to fully feature the RAM? If so, how do I do this? Sorry but I just recently learned about all this.

Thank you for your support, I will be closely monitoring this thread in order to respond quickly.

-Ary

[Tradesman]

Yes the 1333 at CL7 will definitely outperform 1333 sticks that are CL9, they should overall outperform 1600 sticks that are CL9 slightly. You'll want to have the mobos latest BIOS and might have to slightly increase the NB voltage slightly, if you do have a problem, give us a shout

[biologikAA]

Yes the 1333 at CL7 will definitely outperform 1333 sticks that are CL9, they should overall outperform 1600 sticks that are CL9 slightly. You'll want to have the mobos latest BIOS and might have to slightly increase the NB voltage slightly, if you do have a problem, give us a shout

Tradesman,

Thank you for your response! I am looking forward to purchasing my new G.Skill memory at 1333 CL7. I do have the latest BIOS for motherboard, but i have no clue what northbridge voltage is or how i should manipulate it. If i install the new RAM kit (2X4GB) and everything works, will i be fine, or will i need to make some changes in the settings?

Appreciation,

Bio

[Tradesman]

If everything works from the install, (and it may well do so), then your good to go....otherwise you'll want to boot into the BIOS and check that the base timings and DRAM voltage for the sticks have set correctly per package specs and that the Command Rate (CR) is at 2T or 2N (depending on the designator used, believe your mobo uses the 'T' designator if I remember right). The NB (NorthBridge) voltage is the voltage that manages the Memory Controller (MC) in the NB chipset for the system on socket 775 boards, the newer gen CPUs from Intel have the MC built in the CPU itself.

[biologikAA]

If everything works from the install, (and it may well do so), then your good to go....otherwise you'll want to boot into the BIOS and check that the base timings and DRAM voltage for the sticks have set correctly per package specs and that the Command Rate (CR) is at 2T or 2N (depending on the designator used, believe your mobo uses the 'T' designator if I remember right). The NB (NorthBridge) voltage is the voltage that manages the Memory Controller (MC) in the NB chipset for the system on socket 775 boards, the newer gen CPUs from Intel have the MC built in the CPU itself.

Awesome! Thank you very much for the help. I will refer to this thread when installing the RAM.

Take care,

Bio

[Tradesman]

Let us know how it goes

[biologikAA]

Ok so, there are more options than i can handle in the BIOS settings, so I am going to have to ask for assistance here.

Once in BIOS settings, under the AI Tweaker Tab, there are the following menu items to select from top to bottom:

Ai Overclock Tuner
CPU Ratio Setting
FSB Strap to North Bridge
DRAM Frequency
DRAM Command Rate
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1, A2, B1, B2
DRAM Timing Control
DRAM Static Read Control
DRAM Read Training
DrAM Dynamic Write Control
DRAM Write Training
Ai Clock Twister
Ai Transaction Booster
CPU Spread Spectrum
PCI E Spread Spectrum
CPU Clock Skew
NB Clock Skew
CPU Margin Enhancement
Memory Over Voltage
Chipset Over Voltage
VTT Over Voltage
CPU VCORE Over-Voltage

Everything is set to [Auto]
From what I know sofar, I am suppossed to change the DRAM Command Rate to 2N, and also the DRAM Timing Control, which if set to Manual, brings up the following options:

CAS# Latency [5 DRAM Clocks]
Configuration options: 4-11 DRAM Clocks

DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay [5 DRAM Clocks]

DRAM RAS# Precharge [5 DRAM Clocks]
Configuration options: 3-18 DRAM Clocks

DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge [15 DRAM Clocks]
Configuration Options: 3-34 DRAM Clocks

RAS# to RAS# Delay [Auto]
Configuration Options: [Auto], 1-15 DRAM Clocks

Row Refresh Cycle Time [Auto]
Configuration options: [Auto] 30, 36, 48, 60, 72, 82, 88, 90, 100, 110 DRAM Clocks

Write Recovery Time [ Auto]

Read to Precharge Time [Auto]
Configuration options:[Auto] 1-15 DRAM Clocks



There's too much here to understand. And I have no clue what i am suppossed to choose. Also, there are more options which I have not listed here. Which options do i need to pay particular attention to and set manually?
Any assistance will be appreciated!

[Tradesman]

All you need to start is to install the sticks and check the BIOS to see what they load as under AUTO...it should be 7-7-7-21 for your base timings and the DRAM voltage should set to 1.5....if they set to something else change them manually or send us screen shots of your BIOS settings

[biologikAA]

Hello again!

My new RAM kit has shipped today, again it is this model: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231402

I have installed it and have had no issues (Edit: Ok i actually am having issues, pelase see below), it reads as 8GB @ DDR31333, and i changed the timings myself to the correct numbers.

If my understand is correct, the timings are to be set as such:
CAS# Latency: 7 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 7 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 7 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS # Acrivate to Precharge: 21 DRAM Clocks
Memory Over Voltage: 1.50 V

That is the first row of timings.

But there are 2 other sets of timings that i have on auto and the numbers flip flop all over the place, is it ok to leave these 2 other timing rows on auto?


DRAM Command rate menu item no longer shows up in the BIOS menu screen ever since i switched from my dual core to quad core CPU at the beginning of this week.

Specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66ghz CPU
Asus P5P43Td/USB3.0 Motherboard. Bios version 405
Geforce GTX 460 SE GPU
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-8GBRH
Windows 7 64bit


Do I leave everything else alone?

If you need a screenshot, i will be happy to send one.

Thank you so much for helping me.

Bio

[biologikAA]

Ok bad news:

While playing Starcraft 2 as i usually do on Medium settings, game crashed. Rebooted and tried again, got a blue screen error. Anyone know what could be the issue? This has never happened before with my old RAM

[biologikAA]

photo 1:





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photo 4:




Edit: All of my motherboard and video drivers are up to date, and i have installed the latest updates for Windows 7 OS
Blue screen error was not occurring at all until I upgraded to my new Gskill RAM kit



Edit2: Yet another blue screen error, this time it happened when i had Starcraft 2 opened but not playing, I was alt tabbed to my desktop and watching a video on youtube.

I have been monitoring memory/cpu usage in Task Manager, as well as CPU/Mobo temp. It seems that since i have installed this new RAM, the CPU temperature has risen about 5-8 degrees C and the memory usage was awefully high for being alt tabbed out of a game and watching a youtube video (it was around 4GB usage. If i replicate this scenario with my kingston RAM, it only uses about 1.7GB)

It seems that whenever execute any tasks which require a lot of memory (opening up lots of programs and internet pages, playing a game, watching videos), the memory usage seems to skyrocket and the system heats up quite a bit.

I am guessing that either there is a problem with the RAM and it needs to be replaced (which is strange because it reads as 8gb ddr3 1333 properly and posts fine), settings in BIOS need to be changed (voltages, frequencies, timings, etc), or this RAM is not compatible with my motherboard (which is also strange because once again, it posts properly and reads fine).


Edit 3: I have noticed on the Asus manufacturer website support page for my motherboard, on the qualified vendors list for memory http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Int...P43TDUSB3/#MSL , for the Gskill DIMM kits larger than 1GB or with a CL lower than 9, it says (XMP). Upon this, i decided to change my AI Overclock Tuner setting in BIOS from [Auto] to [XMP]. Now I am stress testing the system by running 5 Internet explorer tabs, streaming live video, and a running starcraft 2 game all at the same time. Sofar, everything is looking good. Temperatures are low, and memory usage is staying within the intended range, even while stressing the system. I'll follow up on my results and check in again in a few hours.

In the mean time, if someone could answer this question for me please: How/why does changing the AI tweaker setting from Auto to XMP change the performance? I would like to understand. Anyway, will check in again soon.

Thanks

[biologikAA]

Alright, good and bad news.

The good: Ever since switching AI Overclock Tuner in BIOS from Auto to XMP, everything has been running smoothly. I stress tested Starcraft 2 on Ultra settings while running live video streaming and several internet explorer tabs. The RAM usage was about 50% and my system was running smoothly, overall. EDIT: nevermind, game crashed while playing again. Reinstalling right now to see if it is the game or my RAM. Will post again soon after testing.

Edit2: Reinstalled Starcraft 2, game continues to lag/crash.

Bad news: there still seems to be an issue when the computer is at rest with no applications open, i see that the memory usage is still around 20% even with nothing running.

I'm guessing that this can be fixed with a setting in BIOS, but i do not know which one.

Here is a screenshot of Task Manager Performance tab, with no background applications running:



No applications are running (beside drivers, svchost, etc, which only take up about 200-250mb of RAM), yet RAM usage is at ~1.5gb

[biologikAA]

is anyone going to respond?

[Tradesman]

Some of your RAM is being allocated to the GPU, which won't show in the above list, also there are temp and data files floating in the DRAM at any given time that also don't show up, the the GPU DRAM is normally using the most, can easily be a GB or more

[biologikAA]

Some of your RAM is being allocated to the GPU, which won't show in the above list, also there are temp and data files floating in the DRAM at any given time that also don't show up, the the GPU DRAM is normally using the most, can easily be a GB or more

Ok, and what about the crashing when playing games? Can anyone please walk me through the changes that need to be made to optimize this RAM's performance in my motherboard?

If not, I am going to be forced to return it, which I am trying my best to avoid. I really want to use this RAM kit for my PC. I need some help.