RAM capabilities for OCing CPU

[dualcorenoob]

it's been awhile since i tried to OC any computer.... last time i did it was on my single core AMD chip. It's been awhile, and I think many things have changed.... i've looked around, but haven't come up with a conclusive answer to my questions.

So my first question is that I bought new RAM that's rated for 2.1 V, yet i think most mobo's don't say what voltage rating their RAM is or they maybe rated for 1.9 V. I have a good Antec 500 W PSU that i'm pretty sure can handle the wattage, but will the difference in the 2.1 and 1.9 matter? if it does.... what will happen? how can i tell if a mobo supports 2.1 V on the RAM slots?

my second question is.... if i fill up all 4 of my slots on my mobo with RAM.... will that affect my headroom and my ability to OC? If i get all the same RAM will this not be a problem? Or if i get 2 types of dual channel RAM, but the same size (1 GB each for example) will I then only be able to OC based on the slowest RAM? Will voltage be a problem on my mobo nowadays? my old mobo that i OCed on had a problem when you tried to run all the RAM at the rated speed that it's supposed to run at (400 Mhz) and dropped it down (333 Mhz) in order to run all 4 slots.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: dualcorenoob
...Will the difference in the 2.1 and 1.9 matter? if it does.... what will happen?

...how can i tell if a mobo supports 2.1 V on the RAM slots?

my second question is....

It matters, and it may not post and will overclock badly if it does boot.

Read specs and or reviews.

Generally 4 sticks won't clock as high as 2 sticks. It depends on the motherboard and chipset.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: dualcorenoob
So my first question is that I bought new RAM that's rated for 2.1 V, yet i think most mobo's don't say what voltage rating their RAM is or they maybe rated for 1.9 V. I have a good Antec 500 W PSU that i'm pretty sure can handle the wattage, but will the difference in the 2.1 and 1.9 matter? if it does.... what will happen? how can i tell if a mobo supports 2.1 V on the RAM slots?

There's no such thing as a rating for motherboard's ability to supply vdimm (although a few can supply enough to kill any RAM in seconds, but that's different). Either your BIOS has the option to raise the vdimm, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, you won't be able to run your RAM at the speed it would be able to run at, at least using the same timings, period.

my second question is.... if i fill up all 4 of my slots on my mobo with RAM.... will that affect my headroom and my ability to OC? If i get all the same RAM will this not be a problem?

It isn't possible to overclock as far with 4 sticks of RAM. It doesn't matter whether you have an AMD processor or not. And it doesn't matter what 4 sticks of RAM you buy, it only matters that you are using 4 sticks.

edit: I just realized I didn't answer your other question. AMD fixed their processors' capability to be able to run the RAM at full speed with either the E3 (Venice) or E4 (San Diego) steppings, while using 4 sticks. That means that all AM2 processors and motherboards support it.