memory timings

[clansman]

could some on plz tell me how to read memory timings
eg 2-3-3-6

is 2-3-3-6 better that 2-2-2-5?

[Lonely Raven]

It really depends on your motherboard which would make sense.
I won't make this thread more confusing then it needs to be
by giving you the proper name for each, but here is how they
are generally listed.

Generally one number will be higher then the rest.
IE 5-6-7-8

Two numbers will be either 2-3-4

Then one number is the CAS which generally reads 2.0-2.5-3.0

So, keeping in mind that lower is (generally) better.

5-2-2 CAS 2.0 would be better then 6-3-3 2.0

Again, some motherboards put them in a different order, I just
list them here as I've seen them more often on more boards.
And also keep in mind, that some boards seem to work better
and perform better at different settings. Even though (in theory)
5-2-2 CAS 2.0 should run better, some boards will perform better
at 7-3-3 CAS 2.0. It's generally an engineering/BIOS design fluke
or slop.

Your best bet is to find and download Sandra Benchmarks and
test the memory with the memory benchmark. It's very time
consuming (I know that for sure), but it will benefit you in the
long run to find out what settings your motherboard works best
at.

IE: set it up for the best your memory can handle, boot to windows
and bench it. Reset with different settings, and repeat.

To test the stability of the memory, I highly recommend
Memtest-86.

[HardwareJedi]

Everything you ever wanted to know about memory timings... and Bios et al.

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=1

[drshivas]

There was some big discussion about this in some other threads concerning nforce2 boards at least:

The last number should be equal to or greater than the sum of the first three. for example,

2.2.2.6, or 2.5.3.3.9

Worked for me. I got some added stability out of it. See sig.

[bad4u]

http://www.mushkin.com/mushkin/pop-up/latencies.htm

The above article is excellent. Good explanation about relationship of CAS, Trp and Tras.

Clansman:
Latencies are usually listed in order as CAS, Trp, Trcd and Tras.

Hope this helps!