QPI/DRAM Voltage

[hawkin90]

Hey, I'm playing a little with TurboV for the first time and noticed I'm a noob when it comes to RAM voltage.

 

Current settings:

BCLK: 21x184 @ 1.25V (i7-930)

QPI/DRAM Voltage: 1.35V

DRAM Bus Voltage: 1.5635

 

Any suggestions to improve my ram? I don't know anything about RAM overclocking. Does it make a difference at all?

My RAM: 12GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz

Mobo: Asus Rampage III Extreme

 

Any help appreciated!

Edited January 7, 2011 by hawkin90

[wevsspot]

In the most general of terms overclocking your memory (increasing memory frequency above mfg. specifications) can yield increased read, copy and write bandwidth as well as reduce your latency. I think most people would agree that once you get to DDR3 1333 or above speeds, your normal day to day computer uses don't benefit that much from increased RAM frequencies - especially if you can run tighter primary timings at slower RAM frequencies. However, there are some users who perform memory intensive tasks and for that subset of users increased memory capacity and higher memory bandwidth can help with their productivity.

 

The real catch on socket 1366 based processors is the quality of the onboard memory controller. Once you start pushing your DRAM frequencies above 1600Mhz you'll often have to increase your QPI/DRAM voltage in order for the memory to work stable at those higher speeds. Specifically on Asus motherboards running i7 920 or i7 930 processors QPI/DRAM voltage may need bumped as high as 1.45 to 1.60v in order to run RAM at DDR3 1800Mhz or higher speeds. This increased load on the memory controller and the higher voltages result in much higher processor temperatures, so good cooling is a must.

 

You've got a great overclock on your processor at fairly low volts - and in most applications cpu clocks are king. If your rig is stable at your current settings, then there isn't much benefit from pushing the BCLK higher or changing the memory multiplier to yield RAM frequencies above 1600Mhz.

[hawkin90]

In the most general of terms overclocking your memory (increasing memory frequency above mfg. specifications) can yield increased read, copy and write bandwidth as well as reduce your latency. I think most people would agree that once you get to DDR3 1333 or above speeds, your normal day to day computer uses don't benefit that much from increased RAM frequencies - especially if you can run tighter primary timings at slower RAM frequencies. However, there are some users who perform memory intensive tasks and for that subset of users increased memory capacity and higher memory bandwidth can help with their productivity.

 

The real catch on socket 1366 based processors is the quality of the onboard memory controller. Once you start pushing your DRAM frequencies above 1600Mhz you'll often have to increase your QPI/DRAM voltage in order for the memory to work stable at those higher speeds. Specifically on Asus motherboards running i7 920 or i7 930 processors QPI/DRAM voltage may need bumped as high as 1.45 to 1.60v in order to run RAM at DDR3 1800Mhz or higher speeds. This increased load on the memory controller and the higher voltages result in much higher processor temperatures, so good cooling is a must.

 

You've got a great overclock on your processor at fairly low volts - and in most applications cpu clocks are king. If your rig is stable at your current settings, then there isn't much benefit from pushing the BCLK higher or changing the memory multiplier to yield RAM frequencies above 1600Mhz.

 

Thanks for the nice reply. Okey, thanks for the information. I think I will not bother with overclocking the RAM then. I already have an SSD and usb3 external hdd's, and my speed is awesome with winrar too.

I used to be at 4.1 GHz at fairly higher vcore, but i went down to 3.8 GHz again because I like to keep the vcore as low as possible to get decent temps, and I don't get much more fps (main reason I'm overclocking) from 3.8-4-1 GHz. I have water cooling, but still my computer is getting pretty hot from two GTX 480 cards as well.

Well thanks for your input.

[wevsspot]

You're welcome.