X3 720 Memory Question

[Excidium00]

I've been playing with my 720 for a few days and started wondering about my memory choice. I'm currently using some G.Skill running at DDR3-1333 with 9-9-9-24 timings. Would getting higher speed RAM give me more of a performance boost than getting some DDR3-1333 with tighter timings like 7-7-7-18?

[JBags]

i believe tighter timings boost performance more than higher speed

[Coors]

As long as the timings aren't as loose as IVY's mom , higher Mhz is still king.

[Excidium00]

As long as the timings aren't as loose as IVY's mom , higher Mhz is still king.

 

Heh, maybe I'll find some G.Skill around 1600 and 7s for timing.

[Coors]

These are probably what i'll be buying soon. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231247

[Guest ajmatson]

At 1333MHz you should be able to get 7-7-7-20 timings however, all ram is not created equal so you have to play with it. I have had the best luck with OCZ Spec Ops DDR3-1600 and Corsair XMS3 DHX DDR3-1600 running at 1333MHz 7-7-7-20.

Edited April 29, 2009 by ajmatson

[Verran]

Is it just me, or is DDR3 of any variety already overkill for a chip with HTT as low as a PhenomII? Maybe you're running some applications that just need ungodly memory bandwidth but if you're using regular applications and games like the rest of us, all that extra memory speed isn't doing you any real good outside of synthetic memory benchmarks. At least that's my take. You can load DDR6-4800 if you want, but the question is can your system make use of it? I'd bet no. If anything, I'd shoot for better timings. Cas9 is bad.

[Waco]

Is it just me, or is DDR3 of any variety already overkill for a chip with HTT as low as a PhenomII? Maybe you're running some applications that just need ungodly memory bandwidth but if you're using regular applications and games like the rest of us, all that extra memory speed isn't doing you any real good outside of synthetic memory benchmarks. At least that's my take. You can load DDR6-4800 if you want, but the question is can your system make use of it? I'd bet no. If anything, I'd shoot for better timings. Cas9 is bad.

This, although I'd be surprised if you saw any real increase from dropping the latency down as well.

[Excidium00]

Sounds like if I were to really wring this chip out, try to get it to 3.7Ghz or something wicked, I don't need to change anything. Saves me some cash so I can save for my 955

[IVIYTH0S]

As long as the timings aren't as loose as IVY's mom , higher Mhz is still king.

lol what?

 

DDR2 800mhz 4-4-4-12 sticks are my recommendation for a Phenom II. Last time I checked the Gskills were cheapest but I'm not sure if they still are

[The Smith]

I would recommend 1600MHz RAM along with a nicely overclocked memory controller(and L3 cache). The increased frequency on the memory controller will greatly increase memory bandwidth as well as latency.

 

Look here. The RAM went up from 1600MHz to 1628MHz, so not much of an increase on that. However, 2.65GHz on the memory controller resulted in an extra 3GB/s as well as the latency going from 78 to 69ns.

 

Now the question is, as other brought up, will you see a difference in everyday applications? Most of the time no, but there are some cases where the answer might be yes.

[IVIYTH0S]

I would recommend 1600MHz RAM along with a nicely overclocked memory controller(and L3 cache). The increased frequency on the memory controller will greatly increase memory bandwidth as well as latency.

 

Look here. The RAM went up from 1600MHz to 1628MHz, so not much of an increase on that. However, 2.65GHz on the memory controller resulted in an extra 3GB/s as well as the latency going from 78 to 69ns.

 

Now the question is, as other brought up, will you see a difference in everyday applications? Most of the time no, but there are some cases where the answer might be yes.

but also most of the time he will value having that extra money still in his pocket too . I wish they had a review of a 955 with DDR2 against one with DDR3

Edited April 30, 2009 by IVIYTH0S