CL4 Or CL3: Boosts Performance By Up To 5%

03:00 - Monday 27 February 2006 by Bert Töpelt
Source: Tom's Hardware – Keywords: in, search, of, true, ddr2, bleeding, edge, memory, uk

Table of content:
5 – CL4 Or CL3: Boosts Performance...
  1. 1 – Optimal DRAM For Overclocking
  2. 2 – DDR2 Parts Details
  3. 3 – Two DRAM Sides Are Better Than One
  4. 4 – BIOS Settings To Boost Performance
  5. 5 – CL4 Or CL3: Boosts Performance By Up To 5%
  6. 6 – More Speed By Tightening Latency Timings
  7. 7 – Boosting Memory Clock Speed: 23% Performance Gains
  8. 8 – Here's How We Tested At THG's Munich Labs
  9. 9 – Wstream And Everest Benchmarks
  10. 10 – Overclocking Tests And Motherboards Used
  11. 11 – Default Settings Test: DDR2-667
  12. 12 – Default Settings Test: DDR2-667, Continued
  13. 13 – Overclocking By Tightening Timings
  14. 14 – Overclocking By Tightening Timings, Continued
  15. 15 – Overclocking To The Max
  16. 16 – Overclocking To The Max, Continued
  17. 17 – Only Asus Boards Convince
  18. 18 – An Overview Of The 16 Test Candidates
  19. 19 – Aeneon DDR2-533: Unbeatable Price/Performance
  20. 20 – Buffalo's DDR2-667 Is Unspectacular, But Solid
  21. 21 – Corsair DDR2-1000: Absolutely The Fastest
  22. 22 – Crucial/Micron DDR2-667 (Ballistix) Is Geared For Overclocking
  23. 23 – GeIL's DDR2-533 Fails To Impress
  24. 24 – G.Skill's DDR2-675 Confusing Label
  25. 25 – Kingmax DDR2-667: Choose The Chip's Colour
  26. 26 – Kingston DDR2-900 Offers Minimal Overclocking
  27. 27 – Mushkin DDR2-667's Double-Sided Module With A Need For Speed
  28. 28 – OCZ DDR2-800: The Third-Fastest Test Candidate
  29. 29 – Patriot Memory DDR2-1000 Offers Top Performance Reads At 8.6 GB/sec
  30. 30 – PQI's DDR2-667 Is Fast, With No Overclocking Headroom
  31. 31 – Samsung DDR2-667: Conservative RAM Sans Overclocking
  32. 32 – Twinmos' DDR2-667 Is Slow, But Overclocks Well
  33. 33 – Wintec's (AMP) DDR2-667: 475 MHz When Overclocked
  34. 34 – Conclusion

CL4 Or CL3: Boosts Performance By Up To 5%

Ad

When CAS Latency (latency timing) for a 200 MHz system bus (FSB) is set to CL 5.0, the column access time (tCAC) takes 50 nanoseconds and the clock cycle time (tCLK) 10 nanoseconds (this follows the well-known formula tCLK * CAS Latency >= tCAC). Other items are explained in the following table:

RAS Row Access Strobe
CAS Column Access Strobe
tRCD The time interval between RAS and CAS access
tRP The time interval to switch between memory banks
tAC The time interval to ready output transmission
tCAC The column access time

Latency information from CPU-Z on a PC running Windows XP.

A typical memory configuration looks something like this: DDR2-533 with CL 4.0 or DDR-667 with CL 5.0. Only rarely can you find DDR2 memory with nominal latency timings of CL 3.0, and when you do, it's pretty expensive because short reaction times in connection with high clock rates are difficult to achieve.

A complete set of parameters is stored in this SPD chip; the motherboard can read these directly from the memory module itself.

The CPU-Z program also reads SPD values directly from your memory modules.

Increasing input voltage improves signal stability.

Another concern surrounds input voltage for DDR2 memory modules. The standard level is 1.80 volts, with a tolerance of ± 0.05 volts. Some manufacturers permit their memory modules to be operated at input voltages of up to 2.2 volts. You can set input voltage levels this high for your RAM without risk, because DDR2 demands only modest power intake and thus heats up only slightly during operation. Even in our most extreme experiments we sustained no damage to our RAM modules resulting from over-voltage.


Talkback
Be the first to comment on this review!

Note You are going to post a comment as anonymous.



  •
Submit my comment
Google Ads