What do the Ram timings mean and does it matter which SATA port?

Question

hi
is it a thread or could you guys add 1. i just bought 2x p55a- gd65 mobos. im sorry i do not build pc's all the time. i buy every few years and try to get up to date tech..
my problem is. each new tech i go up say kn8 to an9 ddr to ddr2 etc. some of the wording in memory set up changes and or more setting options. im not sure what the 4 main settings are. say i have memory that is 8-8-8-24 and want to make it 9-9-9-24. im not sure exactly which settings to change.. i think 1 settings has cl in the wording- i know what cl is- im not sure of the others.. this lil bit of info added to the manual would help us simple folks a lot..
well maybe you guys could start another thread- maybe you can sticky them. or put all of this in a general new p55 build thread.. but.
i noticed in the manual for my 2 new p55a- gd65 and or on the mobo. the satas are stacked 2 in a stack which one is sata 1 and sata 2. its not clear in the manual. i want to guess sata 1 is the 1 closest to the mobo or pcb and 2 is on top.. i have not checked yet. but what about the io plate and say usb. i guess some of them are stacked and maybe a few of them. which is stack 1 or usb 1 and 2 etc. again id guess the 1 closest to the mobo is 1. but what about if it is a few different stacks. where would the count start from top of mobo or the bottom up.. lil things like this can snag us simple folks. but in less than 1/3 of a page in the manual for these issues could be explained with ease or by adding a few numbers to the photos etc. if i remember right my abit mobos always added the lil numbers what ever to the system photos or drawings. it helped to set up the system faster and helped even more us that do not build systems often.. we should not have to guess- a few simple lil numbers on the drawings would be sweet.
thank you if you guys could start a thread and answer these few things- i know it would help me a lot. i will have the rest of my 2 system builds by the end of the week.. i was just reading on the msi flash drive thingy- its seems cool. as long as my drives like it etc- i have 1x 512mb 1x 1g and 1x 2g drives. im not sure how much space it needs exactly. im not sure it said anything about that. it just said- make sure you have extra space- but not how much? i want to guess my 1 gig drive will be enough. i have to make sure i know what letter it will be called etc.. but i think i will be ok.. i more want to use memtest- i hope my bios will be up to date- or good enough to get it running- but i will check and see what is out and download it maybe burn it to disc etc.. i have a few days to get all of this together..
* mods feel free to move this post if need be. i started this post here because its memory related or part of it anyway.. im not sure it is threads for these lil things- maybe sticky s in another area. im not trying to take over the thread or anything. im new here..
thanks in advance.. see ya..

Answer 1

The timing explanations are all over the net.  For instance, at techpowerup, there is page explaining all the timings.
http://www.techpowerup.com/printarticle.php?id=131
An excerpt from the webpage.
Quote from: http://www.techpowerup.com/printarticle.php?id=131
Introduction
Have you ever wondered what those numbers “2.5-3-3-8” or “2-2-2-5” and so on mean? Or have you seen words like “CAS” and “tRCD”? These are the timings for the memory, or the speed at which it processes certain commands. This whole settings area can be quite confusing and you have to have a certain knowledge of it, if you plan on overclocking. But some of you may just be plain curious as to what they are.
Rated Memory Timings.
    * CAS (tCL) Timing: CAS stands for Column Address Strobe or Column Address Select. It controls the amount of time in cycles between sending a reading command and the time to act on it. From the beginning of the CAS to the end of the CAS is the latency. The lower the time of these in cycles, the higher the memory performance.
      e.g.: 2.5-3-3-8 The bold “2.5” is the CAS timing.
    * tRCD Timing: RAS to CAS Delay (Row Address Strobe/Select to Column Address Strobe/Select). Is the amount of time in cycles for issuing an active command and the read/write commands.
      e.g.: 2.5-3-3-8 The bold “3” is the tRCD timing.
    * tRP Timing: Row Precharge Time. This is the minimum time between active commands and the read/writes of the next bank on the memory module.
      e.g.: 2.5-3-3-8 The bold “3” is the tRP timing.
    * tRAS Timing: Min RAS Active Time. The amount of time between a row being activated by precharge and deactivated. A row cannot be deactivated until tRAS has completed. The lower this is, the faster the performance, but if it is set too low, it can cause data corruption by deactivating the row too soon.
      tRAS = tCL + tRCD + tRP (+/- 1) so that it gives everything enought time before closing the bank.
      e.g.: 2.5-3-3-8 The bold “8” is the tRAS timing.
(The 2.5-3-3-8 figure is just an example for memory timings.)
These are the four timings that you would see when memory is being rated. It is in the order of CAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS. The lower these timings, the higher the performance of the memory. Some motherboard manufactors (DFI for example) list the timings in their bios CAS-tRCD-tRAS-tRP.
Certain memories can take tighter (lower) timings at higher speeds. These are the more expensive memory modules out of the bunch. There are also other timings to consider in your BIOS. Not all boards will have options like these.
http://www.techpowerup.com
It doesn't matter which sata port on the same controller you insert a connector.  This is not like the PATA controller where master and slave can be determined by the end or middle connector.