Memory Timings for: DDR3 1600Mhz -> 2133Mhz Overclock?

[JoJo-JCLDJB]

A8-7650K + Hyper 212 Evo
-3.3Ghz@1.3375v
-OC to 3.8Ghz@1.3125v or left stock.

APU
-720Mhz
-OC to 960Mhz
-2Gb of RAM allocated to iGPU by selecting Dual Graphics in BIOS.

MSI A68HM-E33 V2
-Copper heatsinks on VRMs + directed fan for additional cooling.

Corsair CX600w PSU

Hyper 212 Evo

2*8Gb Crucial RAM (greensticks, no fancy heatspreader)
DDR3 - 1,600Mhz - CL11

Additional Software:
-AMDMSRTWEAKER to force all P-states
-Core parking/unparking
-AMD Overdrive for undervolting/voltage control only

*****RAM Question for all you memory gurus out there*****

I've had this cheap system for almost 1 year now, trying to squeeze every last ounce of FPS out of it.
Most of the day the system is on no OC, but when I come home and game, I set my OC settings on, so the OC is not a 24/7 setup to prolong the life of the system.

Since the beginning I've had the RAM at 1,866Mhz@1.5v with memory timings left on 'AUTO' which means the AUTO sets it to:
[13-11-11-28 T2]

Recently I've had the urge to bump this up to 2133Mhz to squeeze more performance out of my APU.

At first, with timings on AUTO and setting it to 2133Mhz, my PC wouldn't post.

I then tweaked the timings at: [13-13-13-30 T2] no voltage change (still 1.5v)

This worked!!

And I was extremely impressed with no errors on #6 tests (not full passes) of memtest86.

From value RAM rated at CL11 1600Mhz!

But I believe I can do better especially with the timings.

My questions are:

1.) what timing steps would you recommend and should I go down to T1 Command Rate, to try?

2.) Should I do a [13-13-13-30 T2] down to [12-13-12-29/28 T1] or is there some other pattern I should follow?

3.) how many #Tests of memtest86 tests should I do // or // or how many FULL passes should I do, before I consider it stable enough? Should no errors appear, of course.

The main reason for doing this is, with my
[APU@960Mhz & RAM@933Mhz - DDR1866] // [-]
I was able to go to:
{APU@1029Mhz & RAM@1066Mhz - DDR2133} // {-}

This new {-} setting increased my performance immensely!

***
Rome 2: Total War
Forest Benchmark
720p, medium settings.
on [-] OC === 49.1FPS
on {-} OC === 60.8FPS
***
One of the responses I got from TomsHardware was "just try" :mellow:
But the thrill of Overclocking 'just that little bit more...' is too tempting and addictive

And I want to do it right, so am looking for people with experience on 'memory timings' and memory overclocking, as this is the one things I do not have a lot of experience with, but have already read many 'tutorials' about.

Thanks for the read - sorry for wall of text!

Cheers

JoJo

 

[tinytomlogan]

Sadly you will have to play and see how you get on. With the silicone lottery youve done well to get 2133 without having to loosen off the timings loads.

So if you now want tight timings to its just going to mean keeping notes and doing lots of testing.

We would be interested in how you get on though.

 

[JoJo-JCLDJB]

Hi Tom! Loving your Ryzen review BTW.
Thanks for quick reply!!

Would you recommend any memory-specific benchmarking software for me to post results?

So I can give more detailed info rather than a simple "it works with X timings".

And in terms of the MemTest86 - 1 full pass enough or more/less?

 

[Wraith]

Try SISoft Sandra which has great benching tools in its suite.

 

[JoJo-JCLDJB]

Try SISoft Sandra which has great benching tools in its suite.

Hi.
Thanks for reply.

I got SiSoft Sandra and I'm a little confused but determined to get those benchmark results!

Any idea which ones I should specifically be benching for under the Memory section?
Memory bandwidth first?
Others to watch out for?
Bearing in mind I am specifically testing for RAM overclocking improvements with frequency and timings.

Thanks for your time.

It's going to be a benchmarking weekend for me... If I can figure out which ones to do.
Cheers

 

[JoJo-JCLDJB]

Sadly you will have to play and see how you get on. With the silicone lottery youve done well to get 2133 without having to loosen off the timings loads.

So if you now want tight timings to its just going to mean keeping notes and doing lots of testing.

We would be interested in how you get on though.

In response to your interest on how I get on, using SiSoft Sandra (which I've never used before!) here are the first results:

Memory Bandwith test:

http://ranker.sisoftware.net/show_run.php?q=c2ffcdffd9b8d9e4dcebd9eadbe8cebc81b197f297aa9abccff2c2

So this is DDR3 Crucial (normal sticks) rated at 1600Mhz CL11, running at 2133 CL13

13-13-13-32 T2 (T1 not stable) with still an unchanged 1.5v

Gamed for a whole weekend (+20hrs)on these settings, one full pass of Memtest & not a single crash, so all seems OK.


I think I can do better though.
But seriously, something tells me I haven't optimised some settings to their fullest potential.


I did notice, however, when benchmarking and even gaming, my BCLK jumped from 100Mhz to 101.4Mhz, which is something I didn't expect - but to be honest makes sense as this is a cheap board.

Be interested to know what your thoughts are on these results.

I'm assuming Rank #96,612 & Score 15.12GB/s are the ones to beat with the next tweak(s)?