1600Mhz 7-7-7-20 OR 2000Mhz 9-9-9-28?

[Dougx1317]

With my i7 860 @ 4Ghz (20x200) and GA-P55A-UD3 board I have my 4GB of DDR3 G.Skill RAM at 1600Mhz 7-7-7-20. I can also set it to 2000Mhz 9-9-9-28. Would I be better to go with the faster speed and looser timings or stay with what I have?

 

[Dougx1317]

Actually, 2000Mhz 9-9-9-28 didn't work at all. It only got 10 seconds into Everest.

 

[cyberkuberiah]

1600 at 7 is enough ... in fact , pretty good ...

 

[Dougx1317]

I know it's fine. I was just surprised that it couldn't get to 2000Mhz CL9 with 1.65V. It's rated for 1866Mhz CL9 with 1.6V. It can do 1740Mhz CL 8, but that isn't an option when I'm using a BCLK of 200.

 

[hell_storm2004]

2000MHz CL9 would just be too overpriced. 1600MHz with CL7 is an awesome RAM spec!

 

[Pointertovoid]

The achievable frequency and timings depend also on the individual Cpu you have, and on the Northbridge with older Cpu.

To test stability, I wouldn't use any software within Windows, as hardware crashes may damage any installed software. Try these:
http://www.memtest.org
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp (a bit faster)

Even within Windows, Everest is no heavy load and will let you use unsafe settings. Prefer iBurnTest
http://www.ultimate-filez.com/?page=downloads

On my Core 2 duo with P45, Ram timings have very little effect (frequency has more) in Everest nor in more general software like SuperPi or 7zip. Does this hold for a Core i7?