Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
parameters via the CMOS Setup. The time between refresh cycles is known as tREF and
is expressed not in milliseconds, but in clock cycles (see Figure 6.1 ).
Figure 6.1 The refresh period dialog box and other advanced memory timings can be adjusted manually
through the BIOS Setup program.
It's important to be aware that increasing the time between refresh cycles (tREF) to speed
up your system can allow some of the memory cells to begin draining prematurely, which
can cause random soft memory errors to appear.
A soft error is a data error that is not caused by a defective chip. To avoid soft errors, it
is usually safer to stick with the recommended or default refresh timing. Because refresh
consumes less than 1% of modern system overall bandwidth, altering the refresh rate has
little effect on performance. It is almost always best to use default or automatic settings
foranymemorytimingsintheBIOSSetup.Manymodernsystemsdon'tallowchangesto
memory timings and are permanently set to automatic settings. On an automatic setting,
themotherboardreadsthetimingparametersoutoftheserialpresencedetect(SPD)ROM
found on the memory module and sets the cycling speeds to match.
 
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