Did i make a mistake in purchasing memory with 5-5-5-15 timings?

[HeXploiT]

So i just purchased a matched pair of Crucial BallistiX BL2KIT12854AA1005 pc2 8000 memory at the rated timings of 5-5-5-15. I got these new for $300 which i thought was a pretty good deal. Now i'm starting to wonder however if those timings are too low. Is 5-5-5-15 going to hold me back in any way? These are going into a 680i/core 2 due setup that will be overclocked and used for heavy gaming.

Did i short change myself on the timings?

 

[divinemartyr]

Too low? Aren't low timings the goal? The lower the better I thought....

 

[lxskllr]

I think you mean too high. It's my understanding that the C2D isn't as affected by memory timings at the P4s were. You can always try tightening them up some, but I don't think it'll make that big of a difference.

 

[Atheus]

Lower is better, however, you are running at a very fast speed so you have to make that sacrifice at the moment.

With more voltage you might be able to lower the timings.

 

[HeXploiT]

Oh yeah sorry i meant to say slow not low. So would it be more beneficial to lower the fsb on the ram slightly if it meant i could tighten up the timings a little or would that be a redundant trade off?

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Perry404
Oh yeah sorry i meant to say slow not low. So would it be more beneficial to lower the fsb on the ram slightly if it meant i could tighten up the timings a little or would that be a redundant trade off?

No it's much better to have a faster fsb. The timings are about the lowest priority on the performance pole.

 

[velis]

You have a very fast RAM. Did you also overclock your processor to even get the RAM to this speed?
If you did not, you can always try lowering the timings since at lower frequencies, the timings can be tightened somewhat. But then again, even the 5-5-5-15 is darn fast.

 

[HeXploiT]

HAven't overclocked anything yet. All the hardware is still in the mail. These are the rams defaults:
# Speed: DDR2-1000
# Voltage: 2.2V
# Memory Timings: 5-5-5-15

Sounds like i will be ok though.