Windows 7: Overclocking Corsair Vengeance Ram

Has anyone tried it? I bought a kit of it recently and would like to either tighten the timings to 8-8-8-24 or up the speed a bit, does anyone have advice or experience on the matter? I haven't tried overclocking before :P

Thanks

Ocing/tightening RAM is very much down to individual modules. Success/failure varies a lot.



To adjust your RAM, it's done throughout BIOS.

In the BIOS, not sure where it is on the giga boards, but it's usually in the advanced>DRAM timing control or some such.


If the stock timings are 9-9-9-24, start slowly ie 8-9-8-24. Check for stability. Don't go changing settings in one fell swoop.

If still stable, lower the tRCD down to 8 as well ie 8-8-8-24 Check.
If not stable, you could try keeping the tRCD at 9 and lower the tRAS to 22, or even 20 ie 8-9-8-20

There are further sub-timings, that can be adjusted - but that starts heading into advanced territory.


And since you only have two modules totalling 4 GB, you could also try lowering the command rate (CR) from 2T to 1T.



To up the mhz, it's pretty much the reverse. You'll have to start loosening timings ie 10-10-10-32 (CR) 2T. If the RAM can handle a higher frequency, you can then start the tightening procedure. 9-10-9-28 etc

Tbh, there's a lot of trial and error for some dubious returns. How much you want to play/test with it is up to you.

Thanks a lot for the advice, although I'm not sure what things like tRAS actually means, it's still helpful. Also if it makes a difference it's 4x4gb sticks, 2 8gb packs I got in a sweet deal.

I hear that it provides no noticeable difference and is hardly worth the trouble, but then you get 1333mhz kits at 8-8-8-24 latencies that run better, am I to assume this extra 2gb/s or 1.5 second improvement is not really noticeable?

You won't notice a lot of difference outside of benchmarks

Sorry. Got carried away

All those terms relate to the timings (and what affects what). They are what you see when in the BIOS and in apps like CPU-Z -

ie:




It does

4 filled dimm slots of 4GB modules - Ocing the RAM is now harder due to more variables involved (voltage/individual module capabilities etc)

Doable - but realistically not worth it.


The way RAM is sold, depends on how 'well binned' it is.

For example, from a production run (yield) of X amount of modules, those modules that perform better than others from the same yield are 'matched' with similar performing modules and then sold as kits.

Since some RAM quality is better than others, they are then sold at varying performance/price points. The 'poorer binned' modules are usually the budget/high latency kits. ie 9-9-9-24 1333mhz

The slightly better ones are sold at the same speed, but with lower latencies because they handle it. Or, they keep the 9-9-9-24 timings but sell it as 1600mhz and so on and so forth.

To keep quotas for a range etc, some RAM that is capable of high Mhz/low latency are sold as a slower kit to 'make up the numbers'. This is where luck of the draw comes into it. Those that can squeeze more mhz or tighter timings from cheaper/lower speed modules might actually have some of the modules that are better binned, yet 'sacrificed' to make up the numbers. Those that can't, have a module/s already at their limit.

It's a simplified explanation, but hopefully it gives you an idea why some can 'wring more out of' the same model you have.

(The binning process also applies to CPUs, GPU's etc. That's why some CPU's and GPU's will overclock really high with really low voltages, compared to others who have to max the volts just to hit the same clock speed. )






That pretty much sums it up. Particularly with 16GB.

If they have an X.M.P profile - set it and forget it. As tw33k mentioned, outside of benchmarks, the 'noticeable' performance difference is practically negligible.

(You've really got to start wringing the nuts off it to visibly notice a difference)

ive got vengence 1866mhz ram in my rig, im under clocking mine lol.

its 1866mhz at 1.5v, my asus board default is 1.25v, so its running at 1333mhz.

Like stated above its pointless. you wont notice it in gaming, and it will account for milliseconds when using desktop and stuff.

If your looking to speed things up shove in an SSD

these are my Timmings use-ing Corsair Vengeance Ram 1600 Mhz , I was able to clock it at it's normal speed because , I boosted the CPU to 4.0 Ghz with no Voltage tweeks my board has many overclocking features on it

Also if i didn't do that my ram would run at 1333Mhz so by playing with the cpu i got play with the ram as well

I simpley up the multiplyer and upped the ram to 1600Mhz and walla i was oc'ed stable and all

I set the RAM going on its XMP profile for now, which upped the speed to its stock 1600mhz, getting an extra 2-3 gb/s out of it. I would think it would be....but just to check, is this safe/stable?

That depends entirely on your specific configuration and hardware. Have a go with Memtest86+ at least 6 full passes with no errors. That will tell you it is fine. Any errors are not good and you'll have to adjust some parameters. Note the download is a ways down the page.