1.35 V RAM in a 1.5 V system - Will it fry or overclock?

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The general question is:
When installing low voltage RAM in a board that outputs a higher voltage to the memory module, will this fry the RAM or will it be like overclocking it?

My specific case is:
I have the Alienware m17xR3 laptop with a 2630QM Sandy Bridge board. Currently, I have the stock 1.5 V modules and when I check the overclocking options in my bios, the RAM voltage option ranges from 1.5 - 1.65 V. Is this simply because the bios recognizes that these are the values which my current RAM support and thus they will change when I install 1.35 V RAM or will I have to run the 1.35 V sticks at minimum 1.5 V?

If the case is the latter, would I fry my 1.35 V sticks? Or would they become automatically overclocked and get tighter timings with a higher voltage? Or both? Or neither? I'm a bit lost :p

joelostblom

Posted 2013-03-11T14:41:44.213

Reputation: 1 833

As far as I know, the voltage of the board in the bios shows the max voltage that can be drawn by the hardware, so if the RAM only draws 1.35, that's all it should use. I'm not 100% though so this is purely a comment, not an answer. – Simkill – 2013-03-11T14:48:12.163

Thanks for the comment. I just found this over at anandtech, suggesting that they should at least not fry: "1.5V is a JEDEC spec and all DDR3 DIMMs have to follow it... Lower voltage ones often have their SPD report 1.5V to the BIOS, which is perfectly safe." I'm still interested in exactly what would happen though. – joelostblom – 2013-03-11T14:54:51.143

4@Simkill that's usually the case for current, from my EE studies. In the case of voltage, if the parts are only rated for 1.35v with less than a .15v tolerance, you could damage the RAM, if it can even be detected at all. – MDMoore313 – 2013-03-11T14:58:51.157

Answers

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1.5V is the JEDEC standard for DDR3, therefore you will never fry a module at this voltage.

Some sources:

  • Hynix: "Hynix DDR3L SDRAM provides backward compatibility with the 1.5V DDR3"

  • Crucial refers to this as Dual Voltage: In the past, most DDR3 memory voltage ranged from 1.5 - 1.65v. More recently, dual 1.35/1.5 voltage modules came available at Crucial.com. The dual-voltage module will run only run at 1.35V if your specific system supports that voltage, otherwise the memory will run at 1.5V.

  • Kingston: As DRAM manufacturers shrink their dies and/or increase their yields of DDR3L, they soon reach a point where the majority of their DRAM output becomes DDR3L or dual-voltage, handling 1.5V or 1.35V voltages.

DDR3L (low-voltage DDR3) is just an "extension" of the DDR3 standard, so companies has to be aware that plugging a module will default to 1.5V on most systems. At 1.5V, the worst that will happen will be a waste of electricity/battery.

RAM modules contain pre-defined configurations (SPD, XMP, etc.) but the default one is often safer value that will work on as many systems as possible. For compatibility purposes, that setting might not be factory-set to 1.35V, but 1.5V instead. The default timings can also be different and slower from the ones indicated on your module package (I have an other answer on this topic).

For this reason, there's no chance it will overclock by itself even if it's running at a higher voltage (unless your current BIOS settings are manually set to run at specific speeds higher than your new modules would support - if so, reset your memory settings to AUTO before installing them).

If your RAM contains a XMP profile, try that as it can be factory set to 1.35 and all ideal settings - but you still have to select it manually in the BIOS.

In conclusion, 1.35V is perfectly safe. It's still always a good idea after installing RAM to go in the BIOS and verify/adjust the settings to ensure they match the module packages and perform optimally.

mtone

Posted 2013-03-11T14:41:44.213

Reputation: 11 230

1Does this mean that I can also plug in a 1.5V RAM into an 1.35V slot, right? – arielnmz – 2015-06-29T19:22:27.683

1

This is a great response, thanks! I read about the dual crucial dual voltage support but I couln't find out if it was the case for all crucial 1.35 V modules or just specific ones. The one I'm looking at http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CT2KIT102464BF160B wasn't listed as dual so I wasn't sure what would happen if it got 1.5 V.

– joelostblom – 2013-03-11T16:10:54.137

You can always ask Crucial customer support to confirm for that specific module. But 1.35v is a improvement over 1.5V, not a limitation. – mtone – 2013-03-11T16:29:48.907

1Hehe, yeah i did that, but they didn't seem to understand my question, maybe because it's as you say with the Ferrari. At least they were able to confirm that the specific module will work on my system. – joelostblom – 2013-03-11T16:32:42.590

@cheflo they should be able to answer this question. Maybe ask again so you get someone else! – mtone – 2013-03-11T16:40:58.127

@cheflo the recommended ram for your laptop on Crucial website are all 1.35v: http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/Alienware-memory/Alienware+Notebooks/M17xR3-upgrades.html

– mtone – 2013-03-11T16:49:39.207

1Yeah, I noticed that, but at the same time I was suspicious since the particular one i wanted didn't show up for some reason. Si I thought that maybe all the 1.35 V ones that show up can handle higher voltage but the one i want cannot (this was before reading your answer). But now I got a guy from crucial support who looked at the specific one I linked him and said that it will work for me. All is well. – joelostblom – 2013-03-11T17:00:28.217

1Just wanted to report back and say that I got the RAM and it is working fine, thanks! CPU Z even shows them at 797 MHz, 11-11-11-28 and 1.28 V without me having to change any XMP profile in BIOS. A little confused regarding the voltage though. Do you have any idea why they show up as 1.28 V and not 1.35 V? – joelostblom – 2013-03-13T16:59:13.393

1Nice to hear! CPU-Z doesn't show the active voltage. In the SPD tab, those are default ROM settings stored in the RAM chips, not the current BIOS settings. You can try HWMonitor (same company) to see DDR voltage, but it only works on some systems - otherwise you can see that in BIOS. 1.35v is what's required to run at CAS 11 @ 1600mhz (which you appear to be using), but perhaps it doesn't need the whole 1.35V with some slower timings. Maybe post a screenshot of your CPU-Z Memory & SPD tabs as a new question? – mtone – 2013-03-13T18:32:32.847

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You don't "draw voltage". Voltage is impressed on the part.

I believe the difference is that the lower voltage 1.35 V parts have their ratings at this voltage. Parts will normally slow down with lower voltage, so rating the part for a given speed, at lower voltage allows the part to be used in those applications.

FredZ

Posted 2013-03-11T14:41:44.213

Reputation: 59