memory timing question

yellowm50

Member
Jul 3, 2004
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right now i have my memory timing at 2.5-3-3-6 and iv seen in a few places where i saw people having timming at 2-3-2-6 for my memory and motherboard tipe. what usually happens if i set it to low dose the computer just tell me that i failed memory test? or could it just not boot up like it did to me when i first put it all together. so what should i expect if i do set it to low?

thanks..
 

JackHawksmoor

Senior member
Dec 10, 2000
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You're basically "overclocking" it if you set it too low. I'm pretty sure I've wrecked RAM by running it out of spec before, but if you want to risk it you'd definetly want to run MEMTEST after lowering the settings to see it seems to be stable.

In my opinion it's not worth it. Memory timing don't make much of a performance difference, especially on Athlon 64 systems.
 

dakels

Platinum Member
Nov 20, 2002
2,809
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yea timings generally dont help as much as a faster speed but they can help depending on what you are doing. If you run your ram out of spec it can start getting alot of errors (errors can happen anyway though). It could be your machine not posting up if its real bad or you get errors when running the OS and apps, which can be harder to spot and more annoying. Like Jack said, its best to run a thorough memory tester after you mess with your timings. If it runs a long loop for hours with no errors, then you may be ok. Heat is a factor too though. On cool temps you may run fine overclocked, then under warmer conditions start having problems.
 

yellowm50

Member
Jul 3, 2004
72
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a7n8x-e motherboard, and memory is the corsair xms pc3200 LL memory. it supost to be able to do 2-2-2-5 but i herd that with my board the lowest i may be able to go is 2-3-2-6.