Memory Tuning / Overclocking guide.

OcUK Staff
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Made a start on this for you guys. I am aware I need to do more work on it so will add to this post as I go. First step is Z77. I will be covering X79 in future and Z87 on release too.

For Z77 I am going to cover ASUS and Gigabyte boards as most users on these use these manufacturers. There is no reason the timings would not transfer to other bios such as MSI and ASROCK. I am covering PSC, Samsung and Hynix IC also as almost all overclocking RAM is one of these IC.

What IC are your DIMMS?? This can be difficult to spot but here is a basic guide to this.

PSC Dimms are usually 2gb sticks that slope up then down sharply at XMP timings. Usually like 6-8-6 at 1600mhz, 9-10-9 at 2000mhz or similar. With PSC CL usually equals TRP. These DIMMS scale well with high voltage and cold.

Hynix DIMMS are usually 4gb sticks slope up then down slightly. Hynix standard timings are usually 2133 9-11-10-28 at 2133. Hynix scale well with Volts and cold.

Samsung DIMMS are usually 4gb sticks the timings on these sticks are up and then flatten out. So 10-12-12 at 2400mhz is a good example. Samsung scale with volts to around 1.75 and like to be chilled but not sub zero.

Samsung and Hynix can be easily mixed. The best way to differentiate between the two is set TRAS 21. If its stable then the sticks are Samsung.



When tuning follow the simple diagram above which shows which timings you should try to reduce to gain performance. The number next to the timing indicates the order of importance e.g CL first then tune Tras etc etc. For values Like TRFC try the following when tuning 160, 150, 148,128,124,114,107,96,88 and finally 74. Stop moving down if the dimms refuse to boot or are not stable through memtest and windows.

For stability test initially with Memtest focusing mainly on Tests 2 and 5 if time is a premium. Then in Windows use Pi 32mb and Prime blend for a short period before using the PC.

Here we have PSC Overclocking bench tuned results on Giga and ASUS. For these tests the CPU is on standard Air cooling as is the RAM. I am going to put this set of PSC on LN2 also later to show how the cold improves PSC. I am hoping for C6-11 or 10 -7-24 1T 74 TRFC at 2600+

PSC DDR 2566 C8

ASUS



GIGA



Samsung (Green) DDR 2456 C9

ASUS



GIGA (To follow)

Hynix at DDR 2600 C10 and 2780 C11

ASUS






GIGA (To follow)


LN2 PSC to follow.


As you can see I have much to do on this including X79 but I thought I would make a start. Any questions comments please ask.
 
Soldato
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Thanks look forward to x79, could you touch on what voltage ranges (besides dram voltage) we should expect to use if thats possible?

When going to seconds and thirds is it advisable to slacken them all off/disable auto before tuning?
 
Associate
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Check and check! :)

The only thing left is to drop freq/tighten or up freq/loosen. Suggestion on which way to go? Guess i should just go find out for myself anyway!
 
Associate
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13 Sep 2013
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Morning dude,

Ended up with 9-12-11-21-1T @2666mhz on my set of doms (had v set at 1.85v). Very nice indeed but now oc'ing at 2800mhz. Highest freq i could run was 2830.4mhz, any higher and couldn't boot (all timings on auto) so guess thats the limit of my IMC.

Different plan of attack this time and making sure voltage is set appropriately and not just a blanket guess. [email protected] no problem. I can drop it down to 9-12-12-21-1T if i run 1.8v+, with maxxmem didn't see too much change dropping RP but did with RAS.

Anyway, question on voltage, i'm adjusting in priority as you've highlighted above (excluding RP which was just for a nosey) and away to jump onto the tertiary timings. If i drop a timing, run pi and fail, should i test increasing voltage to a maximum pre set amount (1.9v on these?{dom plats 2666c10/sam) then if still not passed move onto next?

Not sure how SA/IOA/IOD come into this as well but at the moment i've got IOA/D running at 1.15v and SA around 1.05v. I'm thinking SA should be sitting higher but not had the balls to add +.35v upwards offset yet! (.8v stock)

Also starting to think a M6E would be better than MSI on mem, struggling to translate which timings are which from one platform to another. (secondary/tertiary).
 
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Associate
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Aberdeen


Just in the door mate from two weeks away so not much different than before. Fastest run so far above, couldn't drop below 7:30@5ghz but knocked off 3-4 secs from previous max run playing about with Wazza. :) IIRC i was still running sub 1.9v on them, SA around +.1.1-1.15v. I reckon they could run faster no problem but IMC on the current chips the limiting factor now.

Ram's away to be sent back for RMA (one stick's duff) so it's either 2200c7 Pi's or 2600c10 team going in next.

Think one thing i learned is it's maybe not all about getting every timing as low as poss. I'm sure at one point i dropped 2 seconds when i lowered one of the tertiary's past a certain point. Sound right?

Anyway, away to go pick up a certain mobo though which i'm looking forward to having a play with. ;) Especially since i've got what will hopefully be a slightly better 4770 on the way. Rock on!

Got some IVE as well now (mostly 4960) but need to wait for a BE to come through the door. Fingers crossed there'll be an easy 4.8+ in there somewhere to sort out the 3D side of life!

There's just not enough time in the day!
 
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