11900k Gear 1 Vs Gear 2

Ane of the changes that Intel has made in the circuitry of its Gen 11 desktop CPUs, with Rocket Lake-South architecture, is the renewal of the retentiveness controller or Northbridge. The part of the CPU in accuse of communicating the dissimilar cores with the RAM. These changes affect when choosing DDR4 modules for the PC. Nosotros tell you which is the all-time choice.

Gear 1 versus Gear 2 in Rocket Lake-S

When it comes to communicating with RAM, the retentiveness controller in Intel's Rocket-Lake-Southward compages CPUs has two different modes of operation called Gear i and Gear two. Gear 1 refers to the clock speed of retention or MCLK, while in Gear 2 mode, that speed is halved.

DDR4 being a type of DDR memory, the memory clock speed is half that of the Gbps that are stipulated in the memory model, so the memory speed of the DDR4-3600 is 1800 MHz. Regarding the communication of the integrated memory controller, IMC, with the DDR-3600 in Gear one mode information technology is 1800 MHz and in Gear 2 fashion it is 900 MHz.

The reason why this is washed is none other than increasing the memory interface clock speed increases energy consumption, then cut its clock speed can support higher speed RAM. Another reason is that as we increase the bandwidth of a memory with its processor, its latency also increases.

CPUs unlike GPUs do not have internal mechanisms to mask latency and RAM with increased latency due to increased bandwidth is counterproductive in operation. With Gear 2 mode, Intel sacrifices bandwidth, but keeps latency low and thereby maintains CPU instruction performance.

BCLK and QCLK on Intel Gen eleven

At present that we know the differences between both modes, it is necessary to know when we should actuate Gear 1 mode or Gear 2 fashion on the processor. Since it has been shown that the Gear ii mode at certain clock speeds is not only the simply way that the CPU supports them, but in certain settings the Gear two mode gives ameliorate operation than the Gear ane mode. Admission through Gear 2 works with lower didactics latencies.

The Rocket Lake-S onboard retention controller works with the following settings:

• BCLK: BMI base clock speed, this can be 100 MHz (100 x 1) or 133 MHz (100 x one.33) in Gear 1 way, while in Gear 2 mode it is fifty MHz (50 x 1) 0 66.67 MHz (50 x 1.33).
• QCLK: The multiplier of the clock speed, in Gear 1 way information technology tin go from x 6 x 27. While in Gear 2 it tin reach up to ten 63.
• MCLK: Equally we have said before it is the memory clock speed.

The formula to know both the BCLK and the QCLK to achieve a specific MCLK is the following:

MCLK = BCLK * QCLK / 2

The reason for dividing it by 2 is that we are talking almost a DDR retentivity, to make it more accessible we have decided to eliminate the partition, since if nosotros want to know if a DDR4-2400 retentivity is going to be compatible with Rocket Lake-S nosotros just take to make certain that BCLK * QCLK of a result of 2400.

DDR4 not supported past Rocket Lake-S

From the information explained higher up nosotros can know which DDR4 memory is uniform with Rocket Lake-S, which BCLK can be used and which QCLK multiplier must be placed on the BMI in the BIOS of our PC. That is why nosotros have decided to make ii tables, i so that you lot tin can know how to configure the BCLK and the QCLK in Gear 1 modes, the other in Gear ii mode.

The types of memory supported in Gear one mode tin can be seen in the post-obit table:

As you lot can encounter in Gear 1 fashion, information technology is possible to connect a DDR4-3600 memory by modifying the BCLK to 100 MHz x i.33 style, which is college than the DDR4-3200 as the maximum clock speed that Intel ensures that its Gen CPUs. 11 support. Which is proficient news. Every bit for the DDR4-2800, it is not supported with the BCLK in 100 MHz x i mode, and requires the 100 MHz x 1.33 mode. Why have nosotros marked it in orange? By the fact if you are lucky you may get i of the Rocket Lake-S with a fully functional multiplier 10 28.

As for Gear 2 manner, the table is as follows:

In Gear 2 mode, the DDR4-4200 is the type of DDR4 with the highest speed supported, merely for this it is necessary to activate the BCLK at 50 MHz x 1.33 manner. If we don't we will exist limited to DDR4-3100. Since Gear two way has lower latencies than Gear 1 fashion, we recommend using it. Not only to be able to employ memory beyond DDR4-3200, which is the fastest blazon of retention officially supported, but as well due to the fact that Gear 2 has higher operation.

How practice I change the BCLK and QCLK on Rocket Lake-S?

It is very simple, you merely have to do information technology in the RAM, many BIOS adapt the speed of the BCLK straight without further complications. Others on the other manus volition make you have to modify the BCLK and the QCLK manually. In any case, yous must not forget that if y'all update the DDR4 retentiveness for your PC with Rocket Lake-S then you must make the respective changes in the BIOS to activate a Gear or another In Rocket Lake-South.

Source: https://itigic.com/ddr4-on-rocket-lake-s-gear-1-and-gear-2-mode-settings/

Share this post