Ram voltage with regardst o amd phenom???

[mroldboy]

I've seen some people mention they cant use a ram because it uses a high voltage. I see it mention with regards to intel cpus, like "my i5 can handle this ram"

But what about a amd phenom x2 555 unlocked to 4 cores?

I tried googling but no help, I dont know what I am looking for I guess. But does the ram voltage matter, I am interested in buying some ram that is 1.8-1.9v.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Most of the time the RAMs voltage does not matter. In fact what you are talking about with the Intel CPUs is the RAM frequency. Most CPUs have a support up to, and most AMD and Intel CPUs support up to 1333MHz DDR2/3.

My mobo has 4GB of DDR2 1066 and is running at 2.1v and is paired with a Q6600 from Intel.

So in your case, 1.8-1.9v RAM will be fine. Just make sure its the right one (DDR2/DDR3) for your mobo.

 

[mroldboy]

Well I'd be upgrading from ddr3 1.7v to 1.8-1.9v. so just wanted to make sure it was ok. Thanks for a quick clearing up.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Yea its fine. Just make sure you set the voltage in the BIOS to the right one. Most likely the higher voltage is only needed for a higher RAM clock.

 

[andy5174]

I've seen some people mention they cant use a ram because it uses a high voltage. I see it mention with regards to intel cpus, like "my i5 can handle this ram"

But what about a amd phenom x2 555 unlocked to 4 cores?

I tried googling but no help, I dont know what I am looking for I guess. But does the ram voltage matter, I am interested in buying some ram that is 1.8-1.9v.

You need to get a 1.5V DDR3 according to AMD Phenom II datasheet:

http://support.amd.com/us/Processor_TechDocs/46878_Phenom_II_PDS_3.04_PUB.pdf

 

[Onus]

Wait a minute...back up a moment please.
The JEDEC standard for DDR2 is 1.8V. For DDR3 it is 1.5V. Higher voltages are used by many companies, particularly to achieve stability on timings that are essentially a factory overclock. A component on Intel DDR3 systems (memory controller?) limits voltage to 1.65V, so if your DDR3 RAM needs more, either it cannot be used on an Intel system, or it will run at worse timings at the lower voltage. I would be VERY worried about DDR3 that required 1.8V-1.9; it will generate a lot of heat, and stress your mobo, and likely be unstable at lower voltages. It is inferior RAM, and should be avoided. Get 1.5V-1.6V DDR3, and overclock / tighten the timings yourself.

 

[mroldboy]

Ive decided to stick wit my current 1.7v 2gb. After seeing some benchmarks, the extra 2gbs only gained a few fps on most games, some were exactly the same with 2gb vs 4gb on 64 bit vista or W7.

So I can handle a little less performance if it saves me some money for now. I'll definitely upgrade in the future. Although mine is not dual channel 2x1gb. But Ill see how it goes.

 

[Onus]

If you have just one 2GB stick, getting another identical one for dual channel will make a performance difference; not huge, but combined with just having more memory, you'll see it.