Best answer from Twoboxer.

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I have been trying to research this question before asking here but basically needed some confirmation. I just purchased PNY MD4096KD2-800-X4 CAS 4 memory instead of the PNY MD4096KD2-800 CAS 5 due to the fact that they were about the same price and also due to the better CAS latency. On the packaging it says 2.0V. On PNY's web site it says 1.9V. In my BIOS there is no adjustment for the memory voltage. I am not planning on overclocking my memory so it will run fine at the 1.8V right? The higher voltage is only the maximum if you are going to overclock it right?

Normally, that's not the case. The voltage specified is the voltage required to run at the specified timings. However, as you saw, the data stored on your RAM says that 4-4-4-12 calls for 1.8V, so that's what the mobo should have set. Check that it did.

Note from a Newegg review:

"Pros: Working well now despite the voltage confusion.

Cons: The memory module's timing table shows 1.8V but the specification says 2.0V.

Other Thoughts: The web site did not help. The BIOS sets the voltage at 1.8V by default. I had a couple of crashes, so I updated the BIOS and then increased the voltage to 1.9V. No crashes since doing that. PNY does not have any support that I could find, so I could not ask them what voltage was correct."

Since you had already bought the memory, I did not bother to mention you might have a problem if you needed to adjust the voltage.
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Your mobo should set itself as requested by the memory chips. Once the memory is installed, you can use CPUID's CPU-Z, SPD tab, to see what the memory's available standard settings are.

Reply to Twoboxer

The memory is already installed and I ran CPUID's CPU-Z before I saw your reply. Under the SPD tab it says Frequency 266 MHz CAS# Latency 3.0 RAS# to CAS# 3 RAS# Precharge 3 tRAS 8 tRC 16 Voltage 1.8 V, Frequency 400 MHz CAS# Latency 4.0 RAS# to CAS# 4 RAS# Precharge 4 tRAS 12 tRC 23 Voltage 1.8 V
Just to verify I am understanding your reply correctly... because I have already installed it and everything seems to be working fine then there is no reason to be concerned about the voltage that is on PNY's packaging and the voltage shown on PNY's website because that is maximum voltage for overclocking correct?

Twoboxer wrote :

Your mobo should set itself as requested by the memory chips. Once the memory is installed, you can use CPUID's CPU-Z, SPD tab, to see what the memory's available standard settings are.


Reply to Zeonis
Best answer

Normally, that's not the case. The voltage specified is the voltage required to run at the specified timings. However, as you saw, the data stored on your RAM says that 4-4-4-12 calls for 1.8V, so that's what the mobo should have set. Check that it did.

Note from a Newegg review:

"Pros: Working well now despite the voltage confusion.

Cons: The memory module's timing table shows 1.8V but the specification says 2.0V.

Other Thoughts: The web site did not help. The BIOS sets the voltage at 1.8V by default. I had a couple of crashes, so I updated the BIOS and then increased the voltage to 1.9V. No crashes since doing that. PNY does not have any support that I could find, so I could not ask them what voltage was correct."

Since you had already bought the memory, I did not bother to mention you might have a problem if you needed to adjust the voltage.

Reply to Twoboxer

The only way I could figure out how to check the memory voltage was through NVIDIA Control Panel under View System Information. It says Voltage Interface Level: SSTL (1.8V). Thanks for all the information. I have had to learn a lot about memory since I decided I wanted to upgrade my computer's memory. You helped me learn even more. I don't anticipate any issues with this memory now that I understand that those timing tables in CPU-Z represent what is programmed on the memory modules. I already ran Microsoft's program for testing memory on the intensive tests and it did not detect any problems.

Reply to Zeonis

FYI: Three more handy programs are CPUID Hardware Monitor (gives you voltage and other info), GPU-Z (CPU-Z for your vidcard gpu), and RealTemp (puts cores and gpu temp in tray).

Reply to Twoboxer

Zeonis wrote :

The memory is already installed and I ran CPUID's CPU-Z before I saw your reply. Under the SPD tab it says Frequency 266 MHz CAS# Latency 3.0 RAS# to CAS# 3 RAS# Precharge 3 tRAS 8 tRC 16 Voltage 1.8 V, Frequency 400 MHz CAS# Latency 4.0 RAS# to CAS# 4 RAS# Precharge 4 tRAS 12 tRC 23 Voltage 1.8 V
Just to verify I am understanding your reply correctly... because I have already installed it and everything seems to be working fine then there is no reason to be concerned about the voltage that is on PNY's packaging and the voltage shown on PNY's website because that is maximum voltage for overclocking correct?



The "SPD" page doesn't tell you what speed and timings your memory is actually running at, it tells you what the board is supposed to detect it at. The "memory" tab tells you what it's actually running at.

Reply to Crashman
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > Memory > [Solved] Memory
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