Memory Timings and Overclocking Questions

[jhuang0]

I've just finished putting together my new computer.

Relevent Specs:
AMD X2 3800
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
1GB OCZ DDR 3200 2-3-2-5 (http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_el_ddr_pc_3200_platinum)

Anyhow, I set the memory timer to auto, but it's falling short of the SPD: (2.5-3-3-5). Is there a reason why CPU-Z can pickup the SPD correctly while my motherboard fails?

There is a way to manually enter the timings in in the BIOS. Does anyone know what (and how to get) the TRWT (read to write delay), WTR (Write recovery time), TRFC (Row refresh cycle time), TRC (Row Cycle Time), and the TRP (Row precharge time)?

I'm a noob at this whole overclocking deal. How does setting the memory voltage affect the memory timings? How would I go around overclocking the memory itself (and match up all the timings, etc. for stability?)

Also, the motherboard and included software seem to cheat. The system tends to varry the CPU clock all the time... for additional power I suppose. Anyone know how far (and what BIOS settings) I can safely overclock the X2 3800? Does anyone know if the default overclocking void the AMD warantee?

Agh... and on a completely sepearte note - I was having stability trouble... went online and found out the the onboard firewall was to blame. Is this a temporary issue? Or am I never going to use the Nvidia firewall?

 

[numark]

I'm pretty sure CPU-Z just read the timing information that's burned into the EEPROM on the module. On the other hand, the motherboard's adjusting the timings by itself for whatever reason. That I don't know why it's happening.

Memory voltage just allows you to give a little bit more juice to the memory in order to possibly push it to higher timings that it won't support without the extra bit of power. However, raise it too high, and you're going to blast the memory with voltage and possibly make it fail. Since I've never overclocked memory, I unfortunately can't say exactly how to go about it for best results.

The overclocking on the board should be fine; many motherboards have that dynamic overclocking nowadays. While it may possibly void the AMD warranty, the likelihood of them being able to identify an overclocked chip is virtually nil.

And finally, the nVidia firewall is probably less useful than a standalone firewall or, preferably, a hardware firewall such as that found in a router. If you're stuck on using non-router firewalls, it's probably better to use something like Zonealarm.