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Increasing Latency for FSB speed

masamune2387

Senior member
Mar 25, 2005
581
0
0
Currently, my FSB is running at 260 Mhz with 2-2-2-5 timings. Is it worth increasing the timings to increase my maximum FSB?

Thanks, I'm kinda new to overclocking.
 

PurdueRy

Lifer
Nov 12, 2004
13,837
4
0
what cpu? AMD's don't get hurt too much based on timings, intels I don't know about

When in doubt....BENCHMARK!
 

Elfear

Diamond Member
May 30, 2004
7,165
824
126
Must have some nice VX or BH-5. Seems like the guys at Xtremesystems.org needed about 30MHz higher on ram with loose timings vs. ram with tight timings. That was on an A64. Results will vary of course depending on how loose the timings are and what you're max fsb turns out to be. Like rleemhui said, just bench it.
 

vtqanh

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2001
3,100
0
76
Originally posted by: rleemhui
what cpu? AMD's don't get hurt too much based on timings, intels I don't know about

When in doubt....BENCHMARK!

I thought AMD does benefit from RAM timings. RAM speed doesnt affect it much
 

PurdueRy

Lifer
Nov 12, 2004
13,837
4
0
of course it benefits, but its not HUGE. It all depends on how much of a gain you can get in FSB from loosening the timings.
 

Painman

Diamond Member
Feb 27, 2000
3,728
29
86
Benching isn't my favorite pastime but I did do some runs of 3DMuck05 at various RAM clocks and timings... the best score was achieved with the timings in my sig, but the overall spread was quite tiny.
 

imported_whatever

Platinum Member
Jul 9, 2004
2,019
0
0
Originally posted by: Painman
Benching isn't my favorite pastime but I did do some runs of 3DMuck05 at various RAM clocks and timings... the best score was achieved with the timings in my sig, but the overall spread was quite tiny.

That is because 3dMark05 is almost entirely Graphics Card dependent.

Try loosening the timings to 2-3-3, it may get you higher speeds, it may not. CAS2.5 will not get you higher speeds though.
 

Painman

Diamond Member
Feb 27, 2000
3,728
29
86
Yeah, I'm aware of the nature of the 3DMark beast... you can reduce its GPU dependency by selecting the most craptastic image quality levels possible in the drivers. This is a double edged sword; it's what makes 3DMark a joke as a box-to-box comparison tool, but more useful as an indicator of the impact of other factors like CPU and RAM on gaming.

Having said that, I did try a variety of RAM dividers, speeds and timing levels and the benchmark confirmed what I felt on a more subjective level - the timings that I currently use with this RAM give a nice balance of subsystem speeds in a gaming session. The bandwidth and latency settings are also nicely above what the RAM is rated for by Crucial (DDR500 @ 2.5-4-4-10) with no overvolting in the BIOS required, and I should add that this is part of what pleases me about the settings too.

3DMuck05 <- This entry is a POS as a box-to-box comparison for the reasons I gave above, but it was achieved at the RAM settings in my sig on a Neo4... the current DFI is a hair slower but overall a better board IMO for other reasons.
 

Doctorweir

Golden Member
Sep 20, 2000
1,689
0
0
What I experienced regarding the bandwidth vs. timing discussion is everyone having a different opinion here...you will never get a straight answer ;)
You have to rely on your own impressions and benchmarks...but beware of synthetic benchmarks like sandra bandwidth, which will give you higher bandwidth regardless of the timings, if you raise fsb, but you won't recognize in the real world...others say their desktop being "snappier" with tight timings...
I for myself stay with the tight timings and the divider...as long as asus has not solved their memory / 250 issue, I have to stick with it anyway and can't even test the difference... :roll: