After reading through batboy's nice guide, testing, getting the hang of things but STILL want to go for more? Below is what I've been doing to squeeze the most out of my ram. To be competitive, gotta aim for 4000 12-11 and 4133 12-12 (some lucky folks get 4133+ 12-11 but that's not possible with any of my sticks).
Warning!!!! Punishing your ram as outlined here comes with definite risk. I run my sticks with up to 2.15ish volts. If you want to try this, BE CAREFUL and, best practice, make sure you've got a good fan blowing on your sticks. The below settings are meant for benching NOT 24/7!
Step 1 (after making sure the sticks actually work in your board) is figuring out the right vccio and vccsa to open up high speeds.
I start by setting ram speed to 4000 but leaving all timings/subtimings on Auto and set vddr to around 1.40-1.45v and 1.20 vccio, 1.25 vccsa. Test to make sure your system posts and boots.
If the system fails to post or make it in to the os, increase io and sa voltages by 1 step then repeat until you successfully post and get in the os. Repeat at 4133 speed then add some bclk so you can post up to around 4200-4300 (don't worry if you can't get 4200+, this step is just to provide headroom for speed).
Once everything works, reduce vccio by 1-2 steps and repeat until you find the lowest voltage that still works then add 1 step. Repeat for vccsa. Woohoo!!! You've now given your setup wings to fly! Sweet!
Step 2 is figuring out stick beastliness. ;p
Using the io/sa voltages from step 1, set your ram speed to 4000 and primary timings to 12-12-240 1T (leave all other timings at auto), give them 1.85v and see if you can post. If you can see bios codes...26 generally means too little vddr and 55 generally means too much (you'll need to be patient and play a little as sometimes 26 is too much voltage and 55 too little but, on my setup, 55 is too much, 26 is too little).
Side note- if your board has ram profiles, try those! Personally, on an asus ix apex, I use the 3866 profile as a starting point.
Once you get in to windows, run something relatively easy like cinebench r15 to test initial stability.
Once successful, change the primary timings to 12-11 and repeat the above to see if you can get them working and passing r15. Next, change speed to 4133 and primary timings to 12-12-240-1T and repeat. Next (if you're still having successes) is 4133 12-11 (mine can't seem to do those timings, sad hehe).
Finally, retest speeds/timings using 180 instead of 240 (mine can't consistently make 180).
As an example, my sticks will do 4k 12-12 @ 1.95v, 4k 12-11 @ 2.03v, 4133 12-12 @ 2.07.
Step 3 involves getting dialed in.
Patience is key. You want to lower all subtimings as much as possible. I've found it really helpful looking through top superpi32 submissions at hwbot.org to get me started. This step is a big time sink but well worth the effort.
Some benches don't care much about ram (like wprime), some are lenient (r11, r15, geekbench, XTU, superpi1M) and some are difficult (superpi32M). For anything other than wprime, vddr can have a big effect on score, so you want to find the vddr that gives the best result in each benchmark. Try 1 and if it passes, reduce vddr until it won't then add back in .01-.025v increments until you find the best one.
Thanks again to batboy for the great guide!
Warning!!!! Punishing your ram as outlined here comes with definite risk. I run my sticks with up to 2.15ish volts. If you want to try this, BE CAREFUL and, best practice, make sure you've got a good fan blowing on your sticks. The below settings are meant for benching NOT 24/7!
Step 1 (after making sure the sticks actually work in your board) is figuring out the right vccio and vccsa to open up high speeds.
I start by setting ram speed to 4000 but leaving all timings/subtimings on Auto and set vddr to around 1.40-1.45v and 1.20 vccio, 1.25 vccsa. Test to make sure your system posts and boots.
If the system fails to post or make it in to the os, increase io and sa voltages by 1 step then repeat until you successfully post and get in the os. Repeat at 4133 speed then add some bclk so you can post up to around 4200-4300 (don't worry if you can't get 4200+, this step is just to provide headroom for speed).
Once everything works, reduce vccio by 1-2 steps and repeat until you find the lowest voltage that still works then add 1 step. Repeat for vccsa. Woohoo!!! You've now given your setup wings to fly! Sweet!
Step 2 is figuring out stick beastliness. ;p
Using the io/sa voltages from step 1, set your ram speed to 4000 and primary timings to 12-12-240 1T (leave all other timings at auto), give them 1.85v and see if you can post. If you can see bios codes...26 generally means too little vddr and 55 generally means too much (you'll need to be patient and play a little as sometimes 26 is too much voltage and 55 too little but, on my setup, 55 is too much, 26 is too little).
Side note- if your board has ram profiles, try those! Personally, on an asus ix apex, I use the 3866 profile as a starting point.
Once you get in to windows, run something relatively easy like cinebench r15 to test initial stability.
Once successful, change the primary timings to 12-11 and repeat the above to see if you can get them working and passing r15. Next, change speed to 4133 and primary timings to 12-12-240-1T and repeat. Next (if you're still having successes) is 4133 12-11 (mine can't seem to do those timings, sad hehe).
Finally, retest speeds/timings using 180 instead of 240 (mine can't consistently make 180).
As an example, my sticks will do 4k 12-12 @ 1.95v, 4k 12-11 @ 2.03v, 4133 12-12 @ 2.07.
Step 3 involves getting dialed in.
Patience is key. You want to lower all subtimings as much as possible. I've found it really helpful looking through top superpi32 submissions at hwbot.org to get me started. This step is a big time sink but well worth the effort.
Some benches don't care much about ram (like wprime), some are lenient (r11, r15, geekbench, XTU, superpi1M) and some are difficult (superpi32M). For anything other than wprime, vddr can have a big effect on score, so you want to find the vddr that gives the best result in each benchmark. Try 1 and if it passes, reduce vddr until it won't then add back in .01-.025v increments until you find the best one.
Thanks again to batboy for the great guide!
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