Memory timings are a vast mystery

[SoIdidItAgain]

Hi, i read alot things like "memory timings of 2,3,3,3,9" and such like, i have a fair idea what they mean, response times or something the lower the number the better, but how can i find out what mine are and also how can i (if possible) change/play sensibly around with them??
A smaller additional point, my memory is 1 x 512mb kingston ddr400 and 1 x 512mb samsung ddr400, but after memory check it says "memory runs at single channel" both blocks are in the same color-coded slots of each bank (1 in orange and the other in orange, the two blue ones empty) and i can find nothing in the bios to help either. Why cant i get it to run in dual channel? i tried combinations of banks but to no avail. the two blocks are both ddr400 so why the problem? Ive got a p4 3ghz and a gigabyte ga-8ipe775 mobo - the new variety with hyperthreading.

all help is much appreciated, thats why i recommend this board to everyone with a pc problem!

cheers

 

[Didou]

Well before you go burning down the nearest PC shop, does your motherboard/CPU support dual-channel memory ? Just so you know, there are no SDRAM motherboards that support dual-channel configuration. It has only appeared (as far as I know) with RDRAM & later on with DDR Ram.

As for timings just as you said, the general rule is the lower the better. You'd need to play around with them by changing them one at a time by no more then 1 each time & then test your system with different stress tests & see if it is still stable.

Generaly, if you set the BIOS to set the timings via the SPD, it will set the timings for which the memory module has been tested & validated. When you have different modules of different brands, the system will more then likely default to the slowest timings of the modules. You can always set them manualy to make sure one of the modules isn't over-stressed by running timings it's not supposed to be running.