Timings measure the time the memory chip delays doing something internally. Here is an example. Consider the most famous parameter, which is called CAS Latency (or CL or “access time”) that tells us how many clock cycles the memory module will delay in returning data requested by the CPU. A memory module with a CL 9 will delay nine clock cycles to deliver a requested data, whereas a memory module with a CL 7 will delay seven clock cycles to deliver it. While both modules may run at the same clock rate, the second one will be faster, as it will deliver data sooner than the first one. This issue is known as “latency.”