[pcgamer4life]

I'm not too familiar with the innerworkings of RAM, so I was hoping some of you could help me out. My original build included 2x2gb of Patriot RAM, and I recently added 2x2gb of Kingston HyperX.

Could someone offer an explanation of the timing tables in my CPU-Z . For example, why do slots 1 and 3 (the Patriot) only have entries for JEDEC #1 and #2, whereas the HyperX has 2,3, and 4. Also, why do those same slots have a command rate of "2T" and the others have none at all?
Also, the Patriot ram is DDR3 1600.. why does it show up as PC3-8500F 533mhz (which I assume is DDR3 1066), while the HyperX which is also DDR3 1600 shows up as PC-10700 667, which I assume is DDR3 1333).

I understand that my system will only run as fast as my slowest RAM, but why is my slowest RAM running slower than expected? My motherboard supports up to 1666 with the i3.

DDR3 2200*/1800/1600/1333/1066/800
* To reach DDR3 2200 MHz and above, you are required to use with Intel Core i7/Core i5 CPU without HD Graphics and install a discrete graphics card.
When using Intel Core i5/Core i3/ Pentium CPU with HD Graphics, the maximum memory speed supported is 1666 MHz

Thanks in advanced for the enlightenment!

[MattNo5ss]

The entire "SPD" is just rated specs for the modules that are read from the RAM. The "Memory" tab is your current speed and timings.

You are at 1066MHz 6-7-7-20 currently. To get to 1600MHz 9-9-9-24, you'll need to OC the bclk to 160MHz and use the 10x memory multiplier, unless your board has a 12x memory multiplier.

[pcgamer4life]

Ah, that makes me feel a lot better! Is there a particular reason that the ram is running under it's rated speed by default? I was aware that some boards only officially support certain speeds, and the rest can be achieved by overclocking, but I assumed that if my board supported 1600mhz, then simply putting in 1600mhz ram would do the trick?

Thanks for the input! I've never OC'd memory before, so I'll do some reading before diving in.

[MattNo5ss]

It's not the board that supports RAM speeds with the newer generation of CPUs. The memory controller is now on the CPU and not on a NB of the board. LGA1156 CPUs officially support up to 1333MHz, so by default your RAM will only run up to that speed. The reason it defaults to 1066 instead of 1333 is because the Patriot RAM uses 533MHz chips, so that's what the CPU sees the RAM as.

[pcgamer4life]

Excellent, thanks for the help!

[MattNo5ss]

Vtt voltage is what you'll need to work with to get to 160 bclk so good luck

[pcgamer4life]

Actually, in my BIOS I had an option for an XMP Profile, and enabling that brought my memory up to 1600mhz. Is this an acceptable way of overclocking it?