how to get more out of your memory?

[NeoHC421]

i recently screwed up my box trying to get my memory to run at cas 2, (thanks for helpin me out, damaged)
anyways, i have an asus k7m, and i want to know what those memory timings mean, and what i should set them to considering i have 256 MB of mushkin rev. 1.5 ram.
in bios, i can control:
page idle timer
precharge time
RAS active time
CAS Latency (this should be set to 2, right?)
RAS-to-CAS delay

I dunno that much about what these mean, so if one of you wiser members could explain what each option means, and what i should set them to, i'd appreciate it. thanks guys (and gals)

 

[NeoHC421]

anyone?

 

[Nih]

I believe (don't quote me please) that cas is column address strobe, or how many clock cycles it takes the system to access a column in ram. Vector layout, with columns vertical and rows horizontal. Ras is Row access strobe, Again setting the timing delay. Cas to Ras is the delay between the 2. 2-2-2 is excellent of course, if you can run it stable. I have hyundai ram <pc-133> that runs 2-2-2 at 100, but defaults to 3-2-2 at 133. The cas 3 setting at 133 totally anihilates the 100 setting , so i'm happy. You can find more info @ overclockers.com , they have some excellent ram guides there.

 

[NeoHC421]

^^

 

[TechieChick]

Nih..you're alright. We can quote you.
Row Address Strobe signal that the address is a row and the Column Address Strobe signal indicates that the address is a column.
During operation the memory controller tells the memory chip the row in which to look for a memory cell then the column the memory is in. This delay coupled with the need for refreshing are the two main limits on performance of memory.

 

[NeoHC421]

in a 2-2-2, what do the last two 2's mean?
also, what should i set for these settings? (k7m motherboard)
page idle timer (1, 8, 32, or 64 cycles)
precharge time (3, 2, or 1 cycle)
RAS active time (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 cycles)
CAS Latency (3, 2, or 4 cycles)
RAS-to-CAS delay (1, 2, 3, or 4 cycles)

some of you people... are smart. others, like me... are idiots.
so, share the wealth

 

[TechieChick]

Neo, here's a link to an online manual for your board. Asus k7m It's in pdf format and their ftp site seemed to have some problems tonight but hopefully when you look at it, it'll be working fine.

 

[NeoHC421]

^^

 

[NeoHC421]

ANYone know?? c'mon, someone out there is bound to know, i mean does your mobo set the speed settings or something?

 

[Nih]

Here you go memory timing settings

 

[NeoHC421]

Thanks for the link.
big help.