Memory timing on Rampage III Extreme

[wanabflyer 53]

Could the OC gurus please help me out with my memory timing. I have mildly overclocked my i7-950 to Just a tad over 3.6ghz. (for now) and everything apears to have gone fairly well. It has passed the sress test with temps. at 58deg. C tops (am using NH-D14).My problem is, i want to manually set the timing to the factory settings (3X2G) (9-9-9-24) (G.SKILL DDR3-1600) but on the Rampage 3 when it comes to manually setting the tRAS, i only get a choice from a pre-deturmined list. So i would end up with 9-9-9-17 (17 being the highest value available) so for now i have left these options on Auto and manually set my DRAM BUS to 1.5v as per G.SKILL spec for this ram. Being a complete novice at this i would like to find out what i should be doing and why. I have done a lot of reading on ocing but cannot find anything that really explains this in relation to a Asus Rampage III Extreme board.Sorry if this question sounds a bit dumb but if you don't ask you don't learn.

[Guest firehawk44]

Could the OC gurus please help me out with my memory timing. I have mildly overclocked my i7-950 to Just a tad over 3.6ghz. (for now) and everything apears to have gone fairly well. It has passed the sress test with temps. at 58deg. C tops (am using NH-D14).My problem is, i want to manually set the timing to the factory settings (3X2G) (9-9-9-24) (G.SKILL DDR3-1600) but on the Rampage 3 when it comes to manually setting the tRAS, i only get a choice from a pre-deturmined list. So i would end up with 9-9-9-17 (17 being the highest value available) so for now i have left these options on Auto and manually set my DRAM BUS to 1.5v as per G.SKILL spec for this ram. Being a complete novice at this i would like to find out what i should be doing and why. I have done a lot of reading on ocing but cannot find anything that really explains this in relation to a Asus Rampage III Extreme board.Sorry if this question sounds a bit dumb but if you don't ask you don't learn.

This article about understanding ram and timings just came out - http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Understanding-RAM-Timings/26. I think you're okay with the 17 vs 24 as long as it's passing the stability tests. I just downloaded a diagnostic program for ASUS MB's that they just released and it contains a stress test that may be more accurate than some of the other software programs. Sorry I can't answer your ram question but I know there are a lot of experts who visit this forum and I'm sure you'll get more help. Just wanted to tell you about the link and the new diagnostic program.Best regards,Jim

[wanabflyer 53]

Thanks Jim. I just don't know why Asus makes things so difficult on what is supposed to be a top class board. All of the guides out there tell you to just set your ram multi for your ram frequency and just set your timing. Not so on this board.Regards,

[idahosurge 2]

The below ram timings are for 6-7-6-18 and you want to set yours at 9-9-9-24. Are you saying that when you select DRAM RAS# ACT Time you do not have a choice higher than 17? Is there not a slider on the right that you can move up/down to see choices higher than 17?Your DRAM Frequency/UCLK Frequency/API Link Data Rate Frequency are all dependant on your BCLK, so you will not find a DRAM Frequency setting that is exactly 1600MHz, you just choose the closest one to 1600MHz that is available (1596, 1604, 1436, whatever). The same thing with UCLK, but you need to pick the UCLK that is twice the amount of the DRAM freq that you picked, so if you picked a dram freq of DDR3-1603MHz then you pick a UCLK freq of 3208MHz. You can generally leave QPI Link Data Rate on auto.DRAM Frequency: DDR3-1603MHzUCLK Frequency: 3208MHzQPI Link Data Rate: Auto (3600 MHz)DRAM Timing Control1st Information :CAS# Latency: 6DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 7DRAM RAS# PRE Time: 6DRAM RAS# ACT Time: 182nd Information :DRAM Timing Mode: 1N all other DRAM Timing settings are on autoThese are for a 920 with an Asus P6T MB, but they are close to a R3E, the R3E just has a lot more BIOS options. Anyway read these two guides, they will explain a lot. Also below is a link to a calculator that you can use to see how BCLK affects your DRAM/uclk/QPI Link fregshttp://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overclocking/22106-core-i7-overclocking-guide-beginners.htmlhttp://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?board_id=1&model=P6T+Deluxe&id=20081220191040237&page=1&SLanguage=en-ushttp://icrontic.com/files/apps/nehalem-calc/

[wanabflyer 53]

Are you saying that when you select DRAM RAS# ACT Time you do not have a choice higher than 17? Is there not a slider on the right that you can move up/down to see choices higher than 17?

There is no slider. Just a pop-up list which you can scroll down as you do in the main menus and the options are 'Auto' then 3 through to 17 inclusive.Because i am not into major overclocking untill i gain more experience, i have maintained a cpu multiplier of 23 and used a BCLK of 157 which gives me a modest oc freq. of 3611mhz. From the DRAM freq. options i chose 1574mhz and chose a UCLK freq. of 3147mhz.For now i have set my DRAM BUS voltage at 1.5v per spec on my ram and left everything in the DRAM timing control at auto until i can find out where i am going wrong. This seems to force a default of 9-9-9-24 and is giving me stability at this time and has passed stress tests on prime95.Many thanks for your interest and would welcome any comments on what i have done so far.Regards,

[idahosurge 2]

Use the key board down arrow to scroll from auto down to 17 and then hit the down arrow one more time, does that take you to a page that has 18 to 31?It does on my R3E.It should not make a difference, but I am using BIOS 901.

[wanabflyer 53]

Wooh, do i feel stupid. I can't believe i didnd't try that. Am now manually set with my timing.Thanks and regards,

[idahosurge 2]

No problem and glad that I could help!