DDR 3 1600 has CL9 timings

[D_o_S]

There is one disturbing fact about DDR3. The timings will go bad but the speed of the memory will increase.

DDR3 800 memory will work at CAS latency 5 and 5-5-5 timings and as we all know DDR 2 can beat these settings as some good DDR 2 modules work at 3-4-4 timings and CAS Latency 3 (CL3). Well, that is not the worst latency you will see with DDR3. Some DDR3 800 modules will work at 6-6-6, CL6 timings but will probably end up cheaper.

DDR 3 1066 will start with CL7, 7-7-7 timings and DDR 2 at this speed works well at 5-5-5, CL 5 settings.

DDR3 1333 will work at CL8 with 8-8-8 settings while the fastest DDR 3 at 1600 will end up at 9-9-9, CL 9 settings. The good part is that all of these modules should work at 1.5 V.

We are sure that the companies such as OCZ and Corsair or similar ones will make these modules with even better settings and timings but these are the numbers to start with. CeBIT, the world's biggest IT tradeshow, will reveal a bunch of motherboards and DDR 3 memory modules.

Is the era of low-latency memory over for good?

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[killatia]

jezz, this could hurt the athlon 64 processors the most since the preform better with low latency.

 

[Eric_Cartman]

ddr2 had high latency problems when it came out too

we just started to see CL3 ddr2 800 hit the market in the past few months

besides that the latency time is actually the same or less if you think about it

the speed doubles but the latency only goes from 5 to 9

so in the same 1 second span ddr3 is actually able to take more instruction than ddr2

 

[WarEagleAU]

yeah I was thinking that too. Ive read numerous articles where balance is key. However, faster memory helps in everything. Lower latencies are nice for accessing stored info though.

 

[infrared]

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the ddr3 to mature to the point where the latencies are acceptable again. As cartman said, ddr2 had latency problems from the start, but as it's matured it's doing as good or better than most ddr1 now. I can get 41ns out of my pc2-5300 kit.

The frequency vs timings for the new ram looks terrible though. High-end DDR2 can do more than 1200mhz these days, and at CL5 timings no less.

 

[Wile E]

You also have to consider that these are rated at 800 at 1.5v and DDR2 is rated at the same speeds at 1.8v. Wonder what would happen if you pumped 2v thru them. It would basically be equivalent to puttiing 2.3v into DDR2, which isn't actually uncommon for top performing sticks. I don't think there will be much to worry about.

 

[Pinchy]

Super high clocks FTW

 

[Deleted member 3]

jezz, this could hurt the athlon 64 processors the most since the preform better with low latency.

If Athlon 64 would support DDR3 yes. Once they do they'll probably get adapted slightly.