Basic OC questions - DDR3 1600

so I've bothered the guys in the CPU and Mainboard threads and have taken my nice n shiny new 1090T BE Thuban up to 4.0Ghz.

yay

now looking into the BIOS .. my RAM timings seem all shot to banana !

as seen here

and here


here's my OC settings

cpu v 1.425v
HT 1.2v
multi x 20
HT x12
HTT 2400


the RAM is :
CORSAIR DDR3 Dominator GT 1600MHz 4GB kit of 2x240pin DIMMs,
unbuffered, 6-6-6-20,

so why is the BIOS reading 9-9-9-millions ?
1333
200 x 6.66

I have gone in and changed on to set up 6-6-6-20 1333mhz (changed to 1600 and it doesn't boot)

I get into windows and all looks good




what can I do to get it to the settings it SHOULD be at ?

and will it go further ? does it need tweaking to match the 4ghz OC and be 24/7 stable

I am not looking to run it till it explodes so just a mild OC for now

thanks

let me know if more info needed

ta
OCD

For one thing it wants 1.65 volts in order to run at 1600 (XMP-1600). I would set that first and then see if you can run it at 1600 speed at CL9 first. AMDs can have an issue with running the ram at 1600. Also up the CPU-NB voltage a bit (maybe 1.2 with a maximum of 1.3). If you get it working at CL9, then start stepping timings down one by one. If you can run CL6 at 1333 then that may be your best bet. Up the FSB and you will OC the ram as you OC the CPU. Since you are running a BE CPU you would have to take the multi down one notch first before upping the FSB.

thanks for the info:

so i left it at stock volts on CPU NB and 1333 mhz
dropped the timings to 6-6-6-20 and ran a decent 3 hour gaming session (Fallout 3 maxxed settings)

no glitches or problems so far.

my question now is .. is there a benefit to working up to 1600 ?
can I get above 1600 ? or is it worth trying to get tighter timings ? 5-5-5-??

I've paid the cash .. I would like to utilise the potential but not punish the ram too much .. if you see what I mean ? I just want my moneys worth from them same as the rest of the components .. hence not really going to OC the CPU past 4ghz.

Thanks
OCD

Well, a lot of people say that tighter timings at 1333 speed are actually better than looser timings at 1600. If you want to go higher speeds than 1333, then there is always the option to OC by upping the FSB. OCs the CPU and ram at the same time. I have my Phenom II X4 B45 (unlocked X2 545) clocked to 3.37 and since I originally set the ram to 1333 before the OC, my ram is now at 1500 speed. This Corsair ram is set at CL9 however. The Corsair had no problem running at 1600 speed but since I decided to OC the CPU I had to set the ram down to 1333 speed first.

I guess that the question is "How much do you really want to mess with it"? You may not get much more performace (if any) by going to 1600 speed.

Since your multi is at 20, you could try taking it down to 19 and then start upping the FSB little by little. Just a thought and since I don't own a BE CPU I can't say if anything else would have to be adjusted. It should work, however. I would set ram volts to 1.65 if you are going to do that.

nice one

I was actually thinking of leaving the multi at x20 for now
and to go from 4.0 ghz to 4.3 ish by raising the FSB
205 -210-215 + etc. thus increasing the RAM at the same time

wasn't really sure if there were other stiings i'd need to change as a by-product of doing this ? other than upping the ram volts.



cheers again

OCD

Check my maths

4ghz = 200mhz x 20 multi .. simple
1333 / 200mhz = 6.665 ram multi
so
1600 / 6.665 = 240mhz thats the target

so drop the multi on the HT to something lower and build up to

multi 18 x 240mhz CPU

4.3GHZ and 1600mhz RAM at CAS 6 ?

this would put my NB @ 2880 ... currently at 2400 (12 x 200) would I need to adapt this or is it acceptable speed?

does that make sense ? or am I missing the banana boat ?

I think that would be OK. You don't know if 4.3 will be stable or not so you would want to go slowly. Also the ram may not go all of the way up to 1600 speed (especially at those timings). HT Link should generally stay around 2000 since faster speed can lead to instability and no performance gain. NB frequency should be OK but possibly you could drop it down one notch (not sure). Just remember things like bumpiing CPU voltage, bumping CPU-NB voltage and watching temps at all times whiile stress testing.

As for the ram, the XMP shows tRC of 41 at 1600 speed. Don't know if you will need to loosen ram timings as you go up or not. Since you couldn't boot with those timings and speed, it is unlikely that things would be stable if you reach 1600 speed on the ram. Loosening timings to say 7-7-7-23-41 might be a good idea before running up the FSB. When you are done OC'ing you can tighten timings down as far as possible.