need some help on understanding how i've built this pc...

if this is my speccy screengrab on the RAM
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/EUuraHK3MGIdJq0p1RJkEUE

and this is the RAM...
http://www.cclonline.com/product/108889/PVI38G160C9K/Desktop-Memory/Patriot-8GB-Intel-Extreme-Masters-Dual-Memory-Kit/RAM0934/

am i wasting speed?

Could you run CPU-Z to give us a bit more info?

http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.65-en.zip

You're actually running at PC3-10700 speeds instead of PC3-12800 but its probably running with tighter timings ie 670Mhz 9-9-9-24 2T instead of 800mhz 10-10-10-27 T3

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5937476/ramspeeds.PNG

Could do with seeing the SPD page too, that will tell us the rams pre-programmed speeds

sorry, was just adding that after seeing it.

Quote from: bytejunkie on July 12, 2013, 22:47:06 PM
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I would set it in the bios to the xmp1600 setting on that, the bios should do it automatically if you set it to 'as spd' but they sometimes dont, mine doesnt for some reason I have to set it manually.

so thats what the bit on the right is reporting?

xmp 1.3?

so the ram actually should run at 800 with some sort of multiplier at 2x to make it up to 1600? or is that where the dual channel comes in?

I think the multiplier is the FSB:DRAM ratio. But as said, if you try by SPD/XMP profile in the BIOS it should set the correct settings for you automagically.

I think we're better off already.

but realistically, will i notice anything different?

there is a practical edge to this question too. a server at work has been specced by dell with 10 32 GB sticks in and the boss has decided to go with 16 x 16s because we don't need that much RAM and because it'll raise the FSB speed to 1600 from 1333 with the 32s in.

I'm saying you won't notice two tenths of bugger all, but you will notice the massive cost of replacing them all when you need 32s to populate the server with 512 down the line (24 slots at 16 means you cant hit 512 withs 16s).

how much difference does increasing the bus speed of the RAM mean, when the RAM will likely run increased timings as a balance to incresasing the bus speed?

and whats the laymans explanation for dual channel and quad channel?

Increasing bus speed or timings these days makes absolutely sweet F all differnce tbh. I'm sure my 32GB wouldn't feel any faster for having a CAS latency of 9 instead of 10, the capacity you have is much more important.

It's not like the old days where we used to push for every Mhz from our CPUs and memory, there's really no need to overclock at all now.

Quad channel is essentially just that the RAM manufacturer tested the four modules together and approved that they function well in a 4x set, it makes no real difference, its a bit of a gimmick.

confirmation on both points, thanks for that.

agree with what nige said, a few Mhz here and there hardly make a difference at all, everything's so fast now that the cpu/ram are hardly ever the bottle neck