memory timings, and memory ratio? im confused

[fsstrike]

I see stuff about memory timings and memory ratios and what not, and i have no idea what they mean. What would be a good timing and a good ratio? and is it important to have good timings and ratios?

 

[John]

[*]cas 2-2-2-6 would be considered tight timings
[*]1:1 (synch) & 5:4 (asynch) would be considered FSB (front side bus) / memory ratio. AMD should stay 1:1, and Intel can do either one without diminishing returns. As an example the benefit of an asynch on Intel boards is that if you have PC3200 (200MHz) but want to run 250MHz to overclock the cpu, you'd use a 5:4 setting since your memory will most likely not run @ 250MHz.