Could my memory hurt overclock performance

[davidst99]

Hi,

I'm not sure what section I should post this question, CPUs and Overclocking or Memory and Storage. I was trying to overclock my I7 4770K but couldn't go past 4.3 ghz. I have a Z97 Gigabyte Gaming 7 motherboard with a Corsair H100i cooler. I have 4 x CORSAIR XMS3 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 memory. Could the memory be affecting my overclocking ability? I'm not sure the quality of these memory chips but they pass the Memtest86. I have XMP enabled so they are running at 1.65 V at 1600 mhz. Thanks.

David

 

[blackened23]

Generally speaking, higher memory clockspeeds only benefit in certain synthetic benchmarks. In the real world it truly does not make a difference that you would ever see. If you're a gamer (I assume you are by your motherboard ) then you won't notice a difference.

Also, higher memory overclocks can impact CPU overclocks negatively on the Haswell platform. So I would leave the memory as-is to be honest.

 

[davidst99]

Generally speaking, higher memory clockspeeds only benefit in certain synthetic benchmarks. In the real world it truly does not make a difference that you would ever see. If you're a gamer (I assume you are by your motherboard ) then you won't notice a difference.

Also, higher memory overclocks can impact CPU overclocks negatively on the Haswell platform. So I would leave the memory as-is to be honest.

Ok. Thank you for the advice.

 

[x3nzox]

yeah i dont think it does much for gaming, unless you are playing games, doing work watching tv all at once

 

[mistersprinkles]

You're going to gradually damage your CPU's integrated memory controller with that RAM. It's rated at 1.65V. That's a no no. You want 1.5V or less for your CPU. I highly suggest that you swap for 2x8GB DDR1600-2133 1.5V.

Don't keep running that RAM.

 

[blackened23]

You're going to gradually damage your CPU's integrated memory controller with that RAM. It's rated at 1.65V. That's a no no. You want 1.5V or less for your CPU. I highly suggest that you swap for 2x8GB DDR1600-2133 1.5V.

Don't keep running that RAM.

Uh. It's going to be fine. Pretty sure i've run 1.65V RAM for years now with no ill effect.

 

[Rakehellion]

Uh. It's going to be fine. Pretty sure i've run 1.65V RAM for years now with no ill effect.

Like two years or ten years? The effect is gradual and Haswell has a different memory controller than other chips.

 

[davidst99]

You're going to gradually damage your CPU's integrated memory controller with that RAM. It's rated at 1.65V. That's a no no. You want 1.5V or less for your CPU. I highly suggest that you swap for 2x8GB DDR1600-2133 1.5V.

Don't keep running that RAM.

Could you expanding why running the memory at 1.65V damage the CPU? I'm a newbie to this type of stuff?

 

[mistersprinkles]

Could you expanding why running the memory at 1.65V damage the CPU? I'm a newbie to this type of stuff?

The IMC just isn't rated for a higher voltage than 1.5V. You degrade it by running it higher. Just like you degrade a 2500K by running it at 1.45V or above. Higher voltage=shorter lifespan.

 

[coffeejunkee]

Could you expanding why running the memory at 1.65V damage the CPU? I'm a newbie to this type of stuff?

Some people (even people working at Intel and posting here) have said it causes degradation to the IMC. The Intel spec sheet mentions 1.575V as upper limit, but that's just the usual Jedec 1.5 +/- the allowed 5% deviation so that doesn't really tells us much.

It's also been mentioned that Intel rejects warranty on cpu's used in combination with 1.65V ram. But no one forces you to tell them you did. Then there's the fact some people have in fact experienced degradation of their cpu's imc, but it might also be due to the cpu itself being overclocked.

On the other hand, there is a lot of 1.65V ram being sold and most mobo manufacturers have 1.65V ram on their QVL lists. And there are many people who say they have been running 1.65V ram fine for a long time.

All in all I guess we just don't really know. If you want to be safe, use 1.5V ram. If you don't care too much, use 1.65V ram.

Anyway, ram is not hindering your overclock. Back in the day max ram speed determined max clock speed but nowadays cpu clock and ram speed are independent.

 

[davidst99]

Hi,

I found that running my memory at 1333Mhz at 1.5V instead of 1600Mhz 1.65V seems to keep my desktop cooler during stress tests. Would it be worth upgrading to 1600Mhz or higher ram at 1.5V? Thanks.

David

 

[nurturedhate]

For the most part the answer is no. Mostly you will only see benefits in synthetic benchmarks. The only game that I have ever seen that shows a measurable difference in performance from ram speed is bf4 and even then it was negligible.