Dram timing

[Rudie]

Does anyone know whats the deal with dram timing?
If I set it to turbo will my pc speed up?
Should I change the Sdram cycle lenth as well?

[bassvax]

I've not seen "turbo" as an option in my bios for setting the SDRAM parameters. If the settings are not automatic and your ram sticks are IDENTICAL then set the CAS Latency to what your ram is (usually 2 or 3). The speed listed in ns (nanoseconds) ranges from 7-11 I believe and this as well needs to match your ram. If you don't know the specs of your ram it may be possible to ID them by finding the manufacturer's numbers and name and doing some research on the web (I don't recall where to look though). If you are using multiple sticks of differing ram then you will have to settle for the settings of the slowest stick (ie CAS 3 and 10 or 11 ns).

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Jerry

[Paleo Pete]

If you have turbo in your RAM settings that's a new one on me too. Usually turbo is the system speed, normally used on pre-Pentium systems. It's actually a bit misleading, turbo is the normal speed of the computer, and when turbo is turned off it slows it down a few notches for compatibility with software designed for slower machines, usually helpful with games.

Turbo is useful with 486 and older machines, but normally not used with Pentiums, which mostly run win95 or higher, and the really older games that would benefit from turbo mode won't play at all.

As far as the CAS and RAM timing settings go, bassvax covered it pretty well.

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[kenja]

Turbo lives! At least it does in my Tekram S3AP-A (socket 370) motherboard. The default "Bank x/x DRAM Timing" is 10ns, but "Turbo" is an option.

An excerpt from the User's Manual:

This setup menu contains advanced configuration options relating to the
mainboard chipset. These options are rarely changed by the user.
Bank 0/1 DRAM Timing : SDRAM 10 ns
Bank 2/3 DRAM Timing : SDRAM 10 ns
Bank 4/5 DRAM Timing : SDRAM 10 ns
SDRAM Cycle Length : 3
DRAM Clock : Host CLK

Bank 0/1, 2/3, 4/5 DRAM Timing – DRAM timing is controlled by the DRAM
timing registers. The timings programmed into this register are dependent on the system design. The slower timing may be required in certain system designs to support loose layouts or slower memory. Options are Turbo, Fast, Medium, Normal, FP/EDO 60 ns, FP/EDO 70 ns, SDRAM 10ns and SDRAM 8ns.
[End of Excerpt]

So what does "Turbo" do? Darned if I know, I couldn't find anything at Tekram.com (good deals on discontinued motherboards, though).

I've emailed Tekram support with this question.

[Ghost_Hacker]

Yeah..I've seen it too. I got a MB with a KT-133 chipset that has 10ns,8ns,turbo,fast and normal. (?????) What the hell speeds they are..who knows http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif I run the system at "fast" and everything seems OK.

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"It's just a whisper in my Ghost"

[Rudie]

Well the motherboard is not that old!!! I remember the turbo setting on my
486 but this motherboard is a Chaintech CT-6AJA4 supporting PIII up to 700Mhz. The chipset is a Via Appolo pro 133A.
So the only thing left for me to do is just try the turbo setting and see what happens. At the moment the timing is 10ns. I will let you know what happened in a couple of days.
Thanks to everybody for the feedback.

[Randy_tx]

Whether it's set to Turbo, Non Turbo, Slow, Fast , VEry Fast or Dead in the Water..........the truth is that on most newer mobo's ...YOU WILL NEVER NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE !!! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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When all else fails...I'm a heck of a parts swapper!