Intro/Timing question

[Sinsational]

Hello all! My first post after joining.

Just wanted to say happy to be a part of this website.

First off wanted to share my new build I'm using right now, and hear thoughts on it.

AMD 1100AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900)
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ AMD 990FX
SAPPHIRE FleX 100312FLEX Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit
Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance psu
ZALMAN CNPS9900 NT 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler (green led)
Cooler master Storm Enforcer Mid tower case
LG BR-RW optical drive

I went with this set up because my first plan was to get a bulldozer. However, I chickened out last minute (because of some of the reviews). I plan to get the 8170 fx when it comes out. So I got the 1100t until that drops. Which brings me to my 2nd question, The ram I acquired is pc3 14900, this was intended for the bulldozer. I was wondering since I had the 990fx mobo if I could still get this speed out of my ram (its running manually at 1600)even though I am running the 1100t? Also, the timings that are manually set in my BIOS are 11 11 11 28. The timings listed with the RAM was 9 10 9 28. Can I manually put that in while running at 1600 or are they only good if I'm running at 1866? I am a little new to all this. So any info would be terrific. Thank you in advance!

Also I would like to know a little about timings for my RAM.

 

[trents]

It is unlikely you will be able to run the ram at full rated speed with the Thuban core CPU which has an ICM only rated for 1333. Some people are able to get a stable overclock with ram at 1600 speeds but not all.

Yes, you should be able to run the ram at tighter timings when running it under the advertised max rated speed. By the way, the 1866 rated speed is really the XMP speed rating or the rating when the ram is overclocked with looser timings and maybe more voltage. Run CPU-z and look at the columns at the bottom under the "SPD" tab and you will see what I mean.

 

[notJUSTguitar]

Welcome.
I have a friend that built a system recently. He has the same RAM as you, and the 1090T CPU. He has a gigaybte 990FXA motherboard.
He has his CPU overclocked to 4Ghz and has the ram running at 1600Mhz. I don't think he's changed the timings or tried at 1866Mhz...
I'll ask him to try that later.

 

[Sinsational]

Thanks for the replies guys. @trents with cpu-z seems like it is running at 800mhz, not sure if that means 1600 because its dual channel. Asus Bios setting says running at 1600, windows7 and cpu-z saying 800mhz. Yeah, seen the columns in cpu-z. Seems those timing are slightly different then the timing set in the bios. Not sure which is paramount.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

That is correct sinsational - the 800MHz in CPUz is the rate its actually running at, the value is doubled because its DDR which is why its displayed as 1600 when you look other places.

The SPD tab in CPUz reads the information about the ram's ratings from the ram sticks themselves - that is the settings the ram manufacturer says the ram is intended to be able to run at without any problems.

 

[trents]

CPU=z reports the ram bus speed which is half the DDR3 transfer rate.