AMD nForce2 memory timings explored

Memory by piotke @ 2004-01-04

A couple of days ago, I read on a Dutch forum a question concerning AMD timings. This week I saw almost the same question on our forums. It was a question about the fastest memory timings for an AMD nForce2 setup. Nobody could give a clear answer, so started to test the most common used timings... Here are the results you?ve always wanted to know!

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Test setup & settings

The test setup :


The test setup !
CPU AMD Athlon XP 1800+ "DLT3C"
Mainboard Abit NF7-s Rev 2.0
Memory 1 * 256 Mb pc3200 Winbond BH-5
VGAClub3d GeForce FX5900 XT 128 Mb DDR


The CPU was running at 2.2GHz (11 * 200 fsb), with the memory on a 1:1 divider. Meaning it was running also on 200 Mhz = synchronous.

The different memory timings tested:

  • CL2 2-2-5
  • CL2 2-2-11
  • CL2 2-4-11
  • CL2.5 3-3-7
  • CL2.5 4-4-8

    I also wanted to test CL3 4-4-8, but nor the BH-5 stick, nor the 50B stick wanted to boot at these timings. So I used my OCZ pc3200 Revision 2. Worked flawlessly on these timings, but gave a performance that wasn't linear compared to the BH-5 stick. It was in most cases even faster at less aggressive timings. Weird! I asked around on Xtremesystems.org forums and there they told me that it was the OCZ behaving specially, not the timings. So these results were not included.

    To know how to change your memory timings take a look at our “AMD Bios settings howto”
    Madshrimps (c)


    Here are the different memory timings, you can verify them in windows by using CPU-Z

    Madshrimps (c)


    Madshrimps (c)


    Madshrimps (c)


    Madshrimps (c)


    Madshrimps (c)


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