Power requirments of RAM

[DHFF]

Greetings,

I am calculating to see if I need to upgrade my power supply, I went to otervision.com and put in my specs but I noticed for all the detail the website offers...right down to what model CPU and GPU you have, it is very vague on RAM. it only asks the socket and how many sticks. I was under the impression that RAM drew more power depending on how much memory you have and not just how many physical sticks you have installed.

According to outervision however, it doesn't seem to matter if you have (4) 1 gig sticks installed or 32 gigs installed with (4) modules. is this right?

Don

 

[wanderer11]

RAM really doesn't draw much power. Why don't you post your specs (including make/model of psu) so we can say for sure?

 

[Guest]

DDR3 ram uses 4 watts per stick; so it does make a minor difference with many sticks of ram are used.

 

[luciferano]

DDR3 doesn't necessarily use 4W per stick. Different chip count, frequency, timings, and voltages change power consumption as well as other factors such as the manufacturing process that it was made on and more. They can range from probably less than 4W to significantly higher (although still not much power per stick).

 

[Guest]

DDR3 doesn't necessarily only use 4W per stick. Different chip count, frequency, timings, and voltages change power consumption. They can range from probably less than 4W to significantly higher (although still not much power per stick).

the only difference would be 1.5 volt to 1.65 volt but the difference would be absolutely negligible.

though you are right since the JEDEC spec for ddr3 1.5 volt ram can get up to 8-11 watts but will not go anywhere near that unless severely benchmarking/testing. when operating in windows, it will be much less.

 

[rds1220]

In most DDR3 RAM sticks each stick will draw 1.5 volts at stock settings (no voltage overclock).

 

[luciferano]

You're generalizing far too much. For example, I guarantee that modules using Samsung's newer chips use less power than otherwise seemingly identical specification modules. I guarantee that modules with 8 chips will use much less power than otherwise seemingly identical specification modules that have 16 identical chips.

 

[Guest]

You're generalizing far too much. For example, I guarantee that modules using Samsung's newer chips use less power than otherwise seemingly identical specification modules. I guarantee that modules with 8 chips will use much less power than otherwise seemingly identical specification modules that have 16 identical chips.

i really don't care what you guarantee; i stated the JEDEC specs and the usage under normal conditions in an explanation to answer the question that more ram sticks will use more wattage.

if you want to debate details with any speculation; good luck with that.


have a good day.

 

[rds1220]

i really don't care what you guarantee; i stated the JEDEC specs and the usage under normal conditions in an explanation to answer the question that more ram sticks will use more wattage.

if you want to debate details with any speculation; good luck with that.


have a good day.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[burgessanthony]

correct me if Im wrong, but doesnt RAM use the 3.3V rail? in which case, surely the question is moot because so little actually uses the 3.3v rail that even modern PSU's will have ample of headroom?

I am not claiming to be an expert on this just something I thought i read somewhere...

 

[luciferano]

RAM can be more or less left out of the equation without much issue for two and four DIMM slot systems. It doesn't make much difference either way. I'd think that it uses the 3.3V rail, but I haven't checked that to be sure.

 

[Guest]

correct me if Im wrong, but doesnt RAM use the 3.3V rail? in which case, surely the question is moot because so little actually uses the 3.3v rail that even modern PSU's will have ample of headroom?

I am not claiming to be an expert on this just something I thought i read somewhere...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061-2.html

 

[DHFF]

here are my specs:

Power Supply: Ultra LSP650 650-Watt

Motherboard: ASUS M5A99X EVO
CPU: AMD FX 4100
GPU: ASUS Gforce GXT550 1 GB PCIe 2.0
RAM Kingston HyperX Blue 1600mhz (4) 8GB Sticks
Wireless Card: D-Link DWA-552 PCI
DVD/CD drive: Plextor PX-L890SA-26
Hard Drives: (1) OCZ Vertex 4 128GB, (3) 7200rpm SATA drives: 250GB,500 &1TB
Generic Media Card Reader
Fans: (5) 120mm fans

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

You're fine. Not a great PSU, but you're way overpowered anyway.

This is off topic, but 32GB of RAM for that system? That seems to be the one area you overkilled it (when the rest of the system is average to below average). Why though?

 

[DHFF]

This is off topic, but 32GB of RAM for that system? That seems to be the one area you overkilled it (when the rest of the system is average to below average). Why though?

LOL that took the wind out of my sails, I actually thought I did pretty decent with this one.
the 32 gigs was because there was a sale on 32GB kits and since the board accepted 32 I figured I would plan for the future. To be honest I have been kicking around the idea of selling half of it to the local computer shop. at the time I saw a sale and my eyes glazed over

Don

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

LOL that took the wind out of my sails, I actually thought I did pretty decent with this one.
the 32 gigs was because there was a sale on 32GB kits and since the board accepted 32 I figured I would plan for the future. To be honest I have been kicking around the idea of selling half of it to the local computer shop. at the time I saw a sale and my eyes glazed over

Don

I mean, it's fine, it's just strange to me, lol.

 

[DHFF]

I mean, it's fine, it's just strange to me, lol.

I remember a time when we though 640k was all the memory we would ever need. and an 84MB hard drive was considered overkill. I figutered with 32 gigs it would buy me a few years before the latest version of Windows Required that much just to boot up


Don

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

I figutered with 32 gigs it would buy me a few years before the latest version of Windows Required that much just to boot up

Haha Oh my, I hope that doesn't happen for a while... You can still boot Win 7 on 1 GB (I've tried), so hopefully that'll be a while yet.

 

[luciferano]

IDK about Windows needing so much RAM any time soon. MS has been decreasing the amount necessary for the last two releases and this trend might continue for a while.

 

[DHFF]

You're fine. Not a great PSU, but you're way overpowered anyway.

It actually came with the case as a combo. what would you suggest as a replacement?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

It actually came with the case as a combo. what would you suggest as a replacement?

Something from Corsair, SeaSonic, XFX, Antec, PC Power & Cooling, Silverstone, or OCZ in the 500-550W range would be just fine.

 

[DHFF]

Something from Corsair, SeaSonic, XFX, Antec, PC Power & Cooling, Silverstone, or OCZ in the 500-550W range would be just fine.

Thanks. I am comparing the Corsairs, XFX and OCZ models right now.
The corsair 80+ Gold units look very promising and a reasonable price too.

Don

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

The corsair 80+ Gold units look very promising and a reasonable price too.

They're great units.

 

[Guest]

They're great units.

seasonic X series FTW!

 

[DHFF]

Best answer selected by DHFF.