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Doubt about motherboard and memory RAM.

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Well, I'm gonna buy a new PC soon, everything is already chose, but I'm in doubt about the motherboard and memory RAM.

That's what I'm planning:
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Pro (P8P67 Pro REV3.0) or Asus P8P67-M Pro (P8P67-M Pro REV3.0)
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.4 GHz (BX80623I72600K)
Graphics Card: Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6950 2GB (100312SR)
Memory RAM: Corsair Dominator 8GB (2x4) DDR3 1.600MHz (CMP8GX3M2A1600C9) or Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4) DDR3 1.866MHz (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9)
HD: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7.200RPM 64MB SATA 6GB/S (WD6402AAEX)
Power Supply: Corsair HX750W (CMPSU-750HX)
Chassis: ThermalTake V3 Black Edition (VL80001W2Z)
Cooler for processor: ThermalTake Frío (CLP0564)
Cooler for chassis: 5x ThermalTake ISGC Fan 12 (AF0018)

So, about motherboard I'm in doubt about Asus P8P67-M Pro and Asus P8P67 Pro, in a far future I would overclock my i7 to ~4.0GHz and get more one HD 6950 to use in CrossFire. About the memory RAM, the Vengeance is cheaper than Dominator and also seems to be better than Dominator, but I need a cool system, I live in Brazil and my bedroom is really hot, I'm trying to get a cool system. So, which motherboard (Asus P8P67-M Pro or Asus P8P67 Pro) and RAM (Corsair Dominator or Corsair Vengeance) should I take?

I use the PC for hard gaming and video editing.

- Thank you

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Motherboard Master
Memory Master

I would get the P8P67 Pro board, as the Micro-ATX version is missing some overclocking/voltage features.

Either of those Corsair memory kits should work fine, but I'd buy the Vengeance kit. It will run a little bit hotter, so if you're really worried about temps just get a 1600MHz Vengeance kit.

The doubts are solved, I'm gonna take Asus P8P67 Pro and Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1.866MHz (I hope it won't overheat so much)

Others two doubts:
The M in front of P8P67(-M Pro) means that the motherboard is Micro-ATX?

Another thing: Is the Thermaltake V3 long enough for Sapphire HD 6950 2GB?
Motherboard Master
Memory Master

You are correct -- the "-M" means it's the smaller Micro-ATX size board.

And yes that graphics card will fit as long as you have your hard drives installed in the lower drive cages.
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Motherboard Master

On the memory both can be used but we would rather that you use the DDR3 1.5v (the second on your list). The 1.65v is pushing the tolerance on the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor’s memory controller so we would rather have you buy the 1.5v when everything else is equal.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team
Motherboard Expert

IntelEnthusiast said:
On the memory both can be used but we would rather that you use the DDR3 1.5v (the second on your list). The 1.65v is pushing the tolerance on the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor’s memory controller so we would rather have you buy the 1.5v when everything else is equal.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team


I'm not sure if you'll respond to this but I hope you will, Chris -- I had heard that Intel is recommending that we not exceed 1.5v+5% on the memory voltage to avoids stressing the processor's memory controller. This would imply a max voltage of 1.575. Is this true or are amateur enthusiasts on overclocking sites misstating Intel's recommendation?

How much will a DRAM voltage of 1.65 really stress the memory controller? Are we looking at reduced life? What is Intel finding in its test results?

There is a lot of 1.65v memory out there advertised as being suitable for SB -- it would help to have some good information on what the processor can really handle.
Motherboard Expert

Leaps-from-Shadows said:
Using 1.65v memory on Sandy Bridge voids the CPU's warranty. That says something right there. And believe it or not, that goes for all Intel desktop CPUs since Nehalem.


Two questions:

1) Who says that using a DRAM voltage of 1.65v voids the warranty?

2) How would Intel even know if one used 1.65v? I don't think the chip has a data recorder in it to track that stuff...
Motherboard Master
Memory Master

1. A forumite a few months back had a CPU (an i5-870 or something) fry on them. They called Intel for an RMA and were told that if the techs tested the CPU and found that 1.65v was used for the RAM, the warranty was void.

2. Who knows? Maybe Intel builds a "black box" into their CPUs. They can probably tell a typical failure apart from an over-voltage failure by examining the CPU die.
Motherboard Expert

Leaps-from-Shadows said:
1. A forumite a few months back had a CPU (an i5-870 or something) fry on them. They called Intel for an RMA and were told that if the techs tested the CPU and found that 1.65v was used for the RAM, the warranty was void.

2. Who knows? Maybe Intel builds a "black box" into their CPUs. They can probably tell a typical failure apart from an over-voltage failure by examining the CPU die.


Can you link me back to that thread? I can't seem to find it with the terrible tom's search functionality. I find this very surprising. Asus posted a list of qualified memory and the list is literally chalk-full of 1.65v memory. I find it hard to believe that Asus would included in its list of qualified memory parts a bunch of memory that, when properly used, would void Intel's chip warranty...
Motherboard Master
Memory Master

You'd have to ask a mod ... the post disappeared by the next day, so I assume it was deleted for some reason or other. I think people were getting hot about the voltage.

Anyway, Tom's did a roundup of memory for Sandy Bridge and they mention the 1.575v documented limit for this generation and previous ones. Anything above that limit would be warranty-voiding, despite the "wink and a nod" from engineers that up to 1.65v is safe. Linky.

ASUS and the other manufacturers simply tested a bunch of common memory. It works just fine, but the long-term effect is that it might fry your CPU.

They might even have the same memory on the lists for SNB-E and IVB boards, despite both of them needing lower-voltage RAM. 1.5v is likely the absolute maximum that should be used, with 1.35v being recommended.
Motherboard Master

A couple weeks ago I sent this question up to engineers to answer about the voltage if users can use 1.65v without any problems. The response that I got back was that it is possible to use the 1.65v memory but it is really pushing more stress on the processor’s memory controller then we would like and that if our Tech support finds out about you using memory at this voltage it can void the warranty. Now there maybe some setting in the Bios on a board that you can change the memory voltage down to 1.5v but I would rather tell you right off the bat to avoid it since most memory makers are offering both at the same price. Leaps-from-Shadows does a good job of covering this issue.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team
Motherboard Expert

Thanks, Christian. Appreciate the candid response; good to know.

The last point I'll make is that the difference between 1333MHz (which almost any memory can do at 1.5v) and 1600MHz (that some memory require 1.65v to do) makes no real performance difference, although I can't cite a study. You'll probably never notice it...

Ops, I forgot something.

I need also a NoBreak, here in my city the eletric energy falls almost every day (Brazil FTW), but during a small space of time ( ~5 seconds).

I need a NoBreak that keep the energy for ~20 minutes, without stabilizer (if there is one), support 1200W power supplies, support 110v energy

Which one would you recommend for me? I would prefer cheapest :D 
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