RAM Voltage

[ohsonoob]

Hi Community,

I recently purchased some ram for a LGA 1156 mobo, but the RAM's native voltage was at 1.85v versus what the i3 processors support of up to 1.65v (Fry's got me to buy it on a spur of the moment as soon as I saw the difference in price....). I put together my computer and it does run fine with my 4 GBs of RAM at that voltage without any issue, however I'm not getting it's full speed it's rated at (DDR3 1600) because my mobo reads the RAM at 1333 (not a major big deal). Now I'm just wondering if the voltage would hurt my computer in the long run, and if there's any way I could get the full speed of the RAM (if not no biggie).

Thanks in advanced.

 

[Lmeow]

I really do not suggest you go past 1.65V with any Core iX series processor. 1.7V might be OK, but really anything higher than that is mainly for professional overclockers. 1.85V is far too high, and is that voltage is more common of DDR2 memory. It would hurt your computer in the long run I'd say (anything higher than 1.65V). If you want to increase your RAM speed you will need to increase your FSB : DRAM ratio (it's called FSB but it really means BCLK). However, I'm not sure you'd be able to run 1600 MHz on 1.65V, but I wouldn't really care because the speed difference is negligible, and also the lower automatic latencies at 1333 MHz would prove more of a benefit than the extra speed from 1600 MHz with higher latencies.

 

[ohsonoob]

I really do not suggest you go past 1.65V with any Core iX series processor. 1.7V might be OK, but really anything higher than that is mainly for professional overclockers. 1.85V is far too high, and is that voltage is more common of DDR2 memory. It would hurt your computer in the long run I'd say (anything higher than 1.65V). If you want to increase your RAM speed you will need to increase your FSB : DRAM ratio (it's called FSB but it really means BCLK). However, I'm not sure you'd be able to run 1600 MHz on 1.65V, but I wouldn't really care because the speed difference is negligible, and also the lower automatic latencies at 1333 MHz would prove more of a benefit than the extra speed from 1600 MHz with higher latencies.

Yea when I asked this same question on another forum they said not to go past 1.65v on my setup because of the incompatibility of the RAM and processor. I didn't set my RAM voltage to anything other than the auto which the board reads at 1.5v and I figured that could be what is causing the RAM to be at a lower speed.

I've never been too smart with RAM and memory in general, but would it be better to find RAM more compatible with my setup or would it be okay to keep the RAM I have now and just have it at automatic voltage settings?

P.S. Why is lower latencies better than faster speed?

 

[Lmeow]

I suggest setting it at 1.65V or lower volts and stock speed. Auto might work but to be sure it's better to set it manually.

Lower latencies are better, because latency is the time that it takes for the RAM to essentially communicate with the CPU and some other computer components. The quicker the communication, the less time you need to wait for the RAM to 'reply' to the CPU, although it's not noticeable, only in benchmarks.

 

[4745454b]

You don't go past 1.65v on these CPUs because it will literally burn out the memory controller on the CPU. Meaning there will be a bad burn mark on the CPU and it won't work anymore. 1.7v might be ok for short overclocking attempts, but I wouldn't use it for daily use. 1.65v MAX. Unless you like replacing your chip.