RAM for a Gulftown system

[dkm777]

Hi,

I've had some bad luck with Corsair Vengeance recently - one stick failed and the replacement is also flaky. If the third kit is bad as well I'm going to demand a refund as per my country's laws.

The problem is that RAM selection here is pretty awful - we mainly have bottom-of-the-barrel brands unheard of in America such as Apacer and A-Data. The only 1.5V triple channel 1600MHz RAM kit available is the Corsair Vengeance and if I look at 1.65V offerings there are Kingston HyperX, Patriot Viper Extreme and Sector 7 and Geil Ultra Plus. Will I ruin the memory controller in a Gulftown (980 non-X) running at 1.65V? If not, then which of these 3 companies would you recommend? I'm leaning towards Geil, because there's a 2000MHz 1.65V kit available that might run at 1600MHz using 1.5-1.55V.

There are also Crucial Ballistix separate 4GB modules rated for 1600MHz, CL10 1.5V for sale. They're pretty cheap and might also be worth of giving a shot. I'm just reluctant to buy a non-kit for multiple channel operation. Is the "matched kit" really a guarantee for stability or is it just snake oil?

P.S. If they sold G.Skill here I'd be all over it. As a last resort I can ask an acquaintance of mine in UK to buy some for me but I'd lose the warranty.

 

[Makaveli]

I think you are confused Sandy bridge based chips are the ones that require 1.5v DDR3

Bloomfield,Gulftown work fine on 1.65v ddr 3.

 

[dkm777]

Yes, I am confused . I thought all 32nm chips had this problem.

 

[Gillbot]

I think the max recommended is still 1.5v, but some have used 1.65v as well.

 

[dkm777]

I tested my XMS3 at 1.55V and the CPU temp shot through the stratosphere. I think I'll just keep pestering the service department until they give me a good Vengeance kit.