Ram voltage for sandy bridge

N

nelis

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Hi there

I have this issue. I want to upgrade my system cause my dad have this Apacer Giant II DDR3 2200MHz memory that he wants to get rid of.

My main problem is that the memory is 1.65V. I've been reading some forums etc saying that the RAM shouldn't go over 1.5V. Will this be a problem or will I be fine using the 1.65V memory. I'm planning on getting the i5-2500k with MSI p67A-GD65 motherboard. I don't want to get all the stuff and then in the end I have to buy memory aswell.

Thanks
 
nelis said:
Hi there

I have this issue. I want to upgrade my system cause my dad have this Apacer Giant II DDR3 2200MHz memory that he wants to get rid of.

My main problem is that the memory is 1.65V. I've been reading some forums etc saying that the RAM shouldn't go over 1.5V. Will this be a problem or will I be fine using the 1.65V memory. I'm planning on getting the i5-2500k with MSI p67A-GD65 motherboard. I don't want to get all the stuff and then in the end I have to buy memory aswell.

Thanks
Click to expand...

The problem could be that ur mobo cant drop the ram voltage below 1.65v
Maybe 1.65 is fine...
Have u read whats the max voltage the ram can run?
my ram is running over the normal voltage but not the max voltage...

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First, you can't run RAM at 2200mhz on Sandy Bridge, since it has set timings on 266mhz intervals, I think, e.g. 1600/1866/2133 etc. Second, recommended max RAM voltage for SB is 1.5v +5%, i.e. 1.575 max, and this is a guideline by intel. Almost every motherboard should let you set it higher than 1.5v, and many people run RAM at 1.65v on SB setups fine.

My recommendation would be to run that RAM at 1600mhz, since there is negligible performance gain above that, and that should let you drop it down to at least 1.55v, or lower. I'm running ADATA RAM rated at 2000mhz 1.65v at 1600mhz 1.53v with no problems, and on that exact motherboard.

Also, you should note that when you put RAM in, it will default to 1333mhz, so it should boot fine and then you can change the speed/timing.
 
Last edited:
You can still use your old memory, but it might have to run slower. (either timings, clock speed or both). Not that you would notice it with most games being made for 2006 class hardware (consoles) these days. Simply, the higher the speed of the RAM, the higher voltage it requires to work at that speed. So yes, it will still work. There is newer RAM available that can reach those speeds at only 1.5V, but as you may have noticed, it's quite expensive.
 
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