Gigabyte X58 Extreme.... Dimm Voltages.

[LeeKay]

I was worried. I could not find any ram at the time of ordering that offered feeds over 1066mhz at 1.65v in 6GB packs so I took a chance and I ordered 3 packs of 2x2GB Extreme Performance Low Latancy Patriot ram. The 1600mhz 7-7-7-20 timings at 1.9V give me hope that it would run at 9-9-9-23 at 1.65v.

Anyway I went on to gigabytes website and looked at the memory compatability list for the board and I am shocked. They have 2000mhz ram listed as compatible with 1.9v.

http://www.gigabyte.us/FileLis...ry_ga-ex58-extreme.pdf

Are they saying that you can run 1.9v on these boards without fear of permant damage to the cpu?

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: LeeKay
Are they saying that you can run 1.9v on these boards without fear of permant damage to the cpu?

No, they are saying you can run 1.9v on these boards.

Most enthusiast motherboards allow settings that can kill components. Too high memory voltage is nothing new, just that this time you risk your CPU and not your memory.

Additionally, Anandtech articles have hinted that voltages above 1.65v can be safe for the CPU if you balance voltages appropriately for the core, uncore and QPI. I guess the "trick" is to not allow too huge a disparity between voltages.

The question is... are you willing to risk your CPU to be the first to find out?

I don't know if they're just spreading FUD, but Intel has stated that non-Intel branded boards sometimes will set unsafe (to the CPU) memory voltages if left on "auto."

 

[o1die]

Let others take the risk of higher voltages and overclocking. Are you a millionaire? If not, just relax and enjoy the default settings for awhile. If I spent that much money, I would.

 

[Cheesetogo]

If I recall correctly, my DFI NF4 board will let me put the ram voltage up to 3.0. Given, DDR runs at higher voltages, but not that much higher.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: LeeKay
Are they saying that you can run 1.9v on these boards without fear of permant damage to the cpu?

No, they are saying you can run 1.9v on these boards.

Most enthusiast motherboards allow settings that can kill components. Too high memory voltage is nothing new, just that this time you risk your CPU and not your memory.

Additionally, Anandtech articles have hinted that voltages above 1.65v can be safe for the CPU if you balance voltages appropriately for the core, uncore and QPI. I guess the "trick" is to not allow too huge a disparity between voltages.

The question is... are you willing to risk your CPU to be the first to find out?

I don't know if they're just spreading FUD, but Intel has stated that non-Intel branded boards sometimes will set unsafe (to the CPU) memory voltages if left on "auto."

I believe you don't want a difference in voltage or more than 0.5v. That's not a huge limitation as the available triple-channel memory bandwith of anything over DDR1333 is more than enough for the average user. If you want insane memory voltages, it probably means you want to feed extra voltage to the CPU as well. I could see many enthusiasts running 1.4-1.5V+ on the CPU and then 1.9-2.0V+ for the VDIMM.

IMHO, it would be pretty silly to run 1.25v on your CPU (stock or skightly higher) and then go ahead and OC your RAM to DDR2000+ with a VDIMM of 1.9+.