New Sandy Bridge Build ... ditch the "old" DDR3 Ram I have?

mcsmoothearl

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Jun 28, 2010
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I built a computer for myself in September of 2010, using an i5-760 and 4gb of this RAM (spent $120 at Fry's for it) ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220286

... now I am preparing to build my daughter an i3-2100 computer for Christmas, and caught a good deal on 8gb of G.Skill Sniper RAM (paid $35 at Newegg for it).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231417&Tpk=F3-10666CL9D-8GBSR

I'm happy enough with my computer as it is, it works great. However, I have a friend who insists that I should put the 1.5v "Sniper" 8GB into MY computer, and use the 1.7v "Viper" 4GB into my daughter's build ... he's concentrating on the GBs, not the voltage of the RAM.

The more I read about Sandy Bridge architecture, it seems that putting 1.7v RAM along with it isn't the smartest thing to do. I don't want to worry about small stuff, but this computer "stuff" can get intricate ...

Should I just leave it alone and use the "Sniper" 8GB in her build, as I originally planned? Or do what my computer friend says? Or, put the "Sniper" 8GB in MY computer, SELL the 1.7v "Viper" RAM (at a loss, obviously, because RAM is so damn cheap now) and get another set of 1.5v memory for daughter's build?
 
Solution
The 1.7V RAM is designed for Intel P35, X38 and X48 chipsets.

you definitely want 1.5 V for any Sandy Bridge builds. Especially the lighter weight i3's

billj214

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Jan 27, 2009
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1.65v is the max you can run on Sandy Bridge chipsets, Intel recommends 1.35v to 1.5v.
Even if you got it to work by lowering the voltage, speed and timings it makes it not worth it, I would consider giving your daughter your entire PC and keep the Sandy Bridge! :)
 

x Heavy

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Aug 16, 2011
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I agree don't listen to your friend or anyone who pushes 1.7 volts.

I am perfectly happy using 16 gigs of Gskill ram divided by 4 modules on 1.5 volts running at 11-11-11-24 timings at 2133 speed. They do however have a set of memory fans on top of them to keep cool.

Yes I run sandybridge and used the information availible for that platform in choosing a proper board and voltage ram for it.

It is already intricate now.
 

mcsmoothearl

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Jun 28, 2010
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Thanks for all the great answers, guys ... I hadn't even realized until the other day that I've been running the WRONG RAM in MY system for the past year ...

... I will stick to the specs, and even try to get 1.25, if Newegg makes it cheap enough!